ESC

Use This Refugee’s Success at the Olympics to Feel Worse About Your Life

I have to move out of my apartment in 6 months and I’ve been complaining about the prospect of moving for just shy of a year. As much as I hate my current living situation, I do not like to do anything that requires effort. I feel guilty every day for these certain aspects of my defective personality, but a little more today when I learn about 18-year-old Olympic qualifier and Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini.

Here’s a woman who sailed to Europe from Syria in a boat of refugees. Once the boat started taking on water in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, she rallied her sister as they began swimming and pushing the boat toward land. Upon arriving on the Greek Island of Lesbos three-and-a-half hours later, the last thing on Mardini’s mind was a career in swimming.

But when she found sanctuary in Germany, she wasn’t too tired to hit the pool for her own leisurely swim. It was there that Mardini piqued a coach’s interest. Since then, the Olympic Committee developed its first-ever team of refugees to accommodate the athletes from South Sudan, Syria, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo who otherwise wouldn’t have a country to compete for. The ray of sunshine took a bite of the world with a stunning sense of self-sacrifice and realism. When talking about her giant swim through the icy and unpredictable Mediterranean waters, she checks her pride with grace:

There were people who didn’t know how to swim. I wasn’t going to sit there and complain that I would drown. If was going to drown, at least I’d drown proud of myself and my sister.

I’d be proud of myself for drowning too. That’d be a good move for me. But I don’t have the accomplishments on my back. Mardini fucking made it to the Olympics. She competed in the 100m butterfly event and she won her fucking heat with a goddamn 1:09:21 time. Now, that’s not a time that got her into the semi-finals but one small swim for one refugee is one giant step for lots of refugees around the world. Use her story to make you feel even shittier about your inability to get out of bed in the morning.

[Image: Wikipedia]

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Nate
Nate
7 years ago

And 18, too?

I’d tap that.

Isadora Teich
Isadora Teich
7 years ago

Non story…

Isadora Teich
Isadora Teich
7 years ago

In real news…Hillary is a fucking g crooked dyke

AussieD
AussieD
7 years ago

Impressive

Lindarsey
Lindarsey
7 years ago

This inspirational story is tainted by the author’s profane and vulgar language.