Yusra Mardini
Yusra Mardini
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini visits the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.
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About Yusra
Olympic swimmer and Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini was appointed the youngest-ever Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in April 2017, aged just nineteen. By sharing her inspiring story, Yusra has become a powerful voice for forcibly displaced people worldwide.
In August 2015, Yusra fled the Syrian Civil War with her sister Sara. She made the treacherous journey to Europe at just seventeen years old, crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece. Mid-crossing, the engine of the boat carrying Yusra, her sister, and eighteen others stopped working. The sisters jumped into the water alongside two others and swam beside the boat for several hours, guiding the dinghy and saving the lives of everyone onboard.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini meets TIGER (These Inspiring Girls Enjoy Reading) girls during a visit to a UNHCR-supported community centre in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini meets Miriam, a 12-year-old girl from Eritrea while visiting the Youth Centre "Centro di Aggregazione per Ragazzi" in Sicily, Italy.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini visits the home of Syrian refugee Rama (14) during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini meets Miriam, a 12-year-old girl from Eritrea while visiting the Youth Centre, Centro di Aggregazione per Ragazzi in Sicily, Italy.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini visits the home of Syrian refugee Rama (14) during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.
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Finding refuge in Germany, Yusra was then selected to compete as part of the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and then again in Tokyo four years later. Having previously written about her struggle with the title ‘refugee’, she became the proud flagbearer and spokesperson for the team at the 2020 games. From there, Yusra went on to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly, meet the Pope, and receive several prestigious awards. She has since become a prominent speaker and sports advocate, while also completing her studies at university in the USA.
Yusra’s incredible story is told in her memoir, ‘Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian – My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph’ and in Netflix’s The Swimmers, which was released in 2022 to widespread admiration across the globe. Yusra also announced the launch of her very own nonprofit, The Yusra Mardini Foundation, on World Refugee Day 2023, which works to advance access to sports and education for refugee communities.
In her role as a Goodwill Ambassador, Yusra has shared her experience of forced migration to shed light on the realities faced by people across the globe. She has spoken at high-profile events, including Google Zeitgeist, the World Economic Forum, COP and the Global Women’s Forum and given interviews to a range of publications, including the BBC, CNN, Harper’s Bazaar, The Times and Time Magazine (in collaboration with former UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie).
Yusra Mardini, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and Syrian former competition swimmer and refugee, announces the Multi-stakeholder pledge: Comprehensive Responses to the Protection Challenges Faced by Refugees and Migrants Moving by Sea, at the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023.
Refugee Olympian Yusra Mardini is announced as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador during a press conference.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini walks the main market street, the Champs Elysees, in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.
Yusra Mardini, swimmer, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, founder of Yusra Mardini Foundation, speaks at the High-Level Event on the potential of sports in fostering inclusion and protection, one of a series of discussions at the Global Refugee Forum 2023.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini at the special screening of "The Swimmers" in the UN building in New York.
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Recent advocacy
Yusra has been very active in her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR. Most recently, in December 2023, she attended the Global Refugee Forum, an event which also saw her pledge the support of her foundation to the Sport for Refugees Coalition.
In a series of major advocacy moments throughout 2023, Yusra gave a speech at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., spoke to renowned news outlets in the United Arab Emirates, and represented UNHCR at the Postcode Lottery Charity Gala in Dusseldorf, all to raise the profile and funds of the agency across the globe.
At the BAFTAs in February 2023, alongside fellow Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett, Yusra wore a blue ribbon on the red carpet to show her support for displaced people on the world stage. In the same month, she recorded an appeal for social media, which greatly aided UNHCR’s fundraising campaign in the wake of the Türkiye-Syria earthquake that devastated the region at the beginning of the year.
When I swim, I swim for every refugee. I swim to show people what we are capable of, and that we are all individuals with passions, skills and abilities. I swim to stand #WithRefugees.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini trains at a swimming pool in Catania, Sicily.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini trains at a swimming pool in Catania, Sicily.
Refugee, Olympic swimmer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini during training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini competes in the 100m freestyle race at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Yusra prepares to compete in the 100m freestyle race at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
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Support for sport
Yusra passionately believes in the power of sport to change lives. From her experience through swimming, she understands how sport can bring meaning, normalcy and identity to people’s lives after being displaced and how displacement should not be a barrier to competing at the very highest level.
Yusra met Hadi and Mahdia, Iranian and Afghan refugee athletes, at the Italian Taekwondo Federation in Rome in June 2023. Both Olympic scholarship holders are on their way to becoming world-class athletes, and they spoke with Yusra about her journey to Rio 2016. Yusra’s ability to understand and inspire others is extraordinary and she is an incredible role model for young people and athletes worldwide.
Yusra's work as a Goodwill Ambassador
News and highlights
Find the latest news and key highlights about Yusra's work as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.
