I left as a child’: Yusra Mardini returns to Syria after a decade of fleeing war

Olympic swimmer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini has spent the last decade turning trauma into purpose. Now, for the first time since fleeing Syria at 17, she’s returned home to help rebuild her country.

Mardini’s return marked a full-circle moment for the 27-year-old whose dramatic escape from war was documented in the Netflix film The Swimmers. The movie chronicled how she and her sister fled Damascus, swimming for their lives across the Aegean Sea. But her latest visit marked a new part of her journey.