Wow! Canadian swim team is doing amazing! They have won six medals already.

Penny Oleksiak wins gold medal in 100-metre freestyle. It’s Canada’s first Olympic title in the swimming pool since Mark Tewksbury won the 100 back in Barcelona 24 years ago.

Penny Oleksiak wins gold

My favorite team at the Olympics is the Refugee Team.

Olympic Refugee Team

Yusra Mardini is one of the members of this team. Mardini was a talented swimmer in war-torn Damascus and professionally backed by the Syrian Olympic Committee. Damascus became increasingly unstable and Mardini and her sister Sarah eventually left Syria, travelling through Lebanon and Turkey before trying to reach Greece.

Yusra Mardini

Thirty minutes after setting off from Turkey, the motor on their boat, which was meant for six people but carrying 20, began to fail. Most of those on board it could not swim. With no other alternative, Mardini, Sarah and two strong swimmers jumped into the sea and swam for three hours in open water to stop their dinghy from capsizing, eventually reaching Lesbos.  After Lesbos, Mardini and Sarah travelled through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria before arriving at their final destination: Germany.

“We were the only four who knew how to swim,” she said of the experience. “I had one hand with the rope attached to the boat as I moved my two legs and one arm. It was three and half hours in cold water. Your body is almost like … done. I don’t know if I can describe that.”

Notes:

All information about Mardini was taken from this article by the Independent.