Syria's 'refugee' swimmer splashes her way to stardom

BERLIN - As the crowd erupted in applause for swimmer Yusra Mardini at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, it was hard to believe the teenager nearly drowned at sea just a year earlier while escaping war in her native Syria.

Now the extraordinary story of the young athlete who took Rio de Janeiro by storm is to be told in a Hollywood movie and a memoir that she hopes will inspire others and challenge negative perceptions of refugees.

"It was the biggest sporting event in the world. It was crazy, it was amazing," Mardini, now 20, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in her new home city Berlin.

"When I was at the starting blocks, you just see lights and hear the people's voices. They were all cheering. I didn't feel my legs any more," she said at her swimming club in the German capital.

When Mardini was initially offered the chance to be part of the first refugee team to compete in the Olympics she nearly said no, fearing the response would be pity.

The experience of competing under the Olympic flag along with nine fellow refugees transformed that view, giving her a new sense of pride in her status.

"Refugee - you just feel ashamed when you hear the word," said Mardini.

"Then when I went (to Rio) I had a whole different view. I'm now proud about being a refugee."

Since then Mardini, the youngest person to be appointed as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency, has spoken at global summits and visited refugee camps in Italy.