Halfway across the Aegean Sea, the motor on the boat carrying sisters Sara and Yusra Mardini away from war-torn Syria suddenly stalled. They had boarded the leaky rubber dinghy, designed to carry seven people, with 18 other refugees determined to make the journey from the Turkish coast to Europe, via Greece. As the overcrowded boat started to take on water, Sara knew that they had to reduce the weight onboard. Clinging to a rope, she leapt into the sea, closely followed by Yusra. The young sisters then spent three hours swimming alongside the boat, icy waves slapping them in the face. Incredibly the boat made it to the Greek island of Lesbos. All of the passengers survived.
There was a reason the sisters felt confident enough to leap into the water that day: they had a lifetime of swimming training, thanks to their coach father, Ezzat. Yusra had competed for Syria in the world championships, travelling to Dubai and Turkey to take part in competitions. “I was always special, all of my life,” says Yusra today. “I had so many Syrian records, everyone knew who I was. My sister, too. We had had a leadership role since we were young, we were taught how to be winners, to lead, to come up with ideas out of nowhere.”
