Refugee swimmer Yusra Mardini, who is among 10 refugees competing under the Olympic flag in Rio, won her preliminary heat in the 100-meter butterfly Saturday.
However, the result wasn’t enough to advance her to the semifinals. She will compete in her second individual event on Wednesday when she swims the women’s 100-meter freestyle.
Mardini’s time of 1:09.21 put her 41st overall in the preliminary round, and only the top 16 swimmers moved on to the late-night semifinals. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden had the top qualifying time of 56.26 seconds.
Mardini was a competitive swimmer in Syria until she fled the war with her sister in August 2015 and survived a hazardous crossing on the Aegean Sea to reach Europe. The Mardini sisters had been among Syria’s brightest swimming stars and their family had been moving around to avoid the fighting so they could continue swimming. But the war intensified and eventually the decision was made to leave altogether.
(With inputs from AP)
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