“We are bodies without souls when we leave our dreams behind” Olympic Inspirations
Yusra Mardini
“We are bodies without souls when we leave our dreams behind”. (Mardini, 30 Jul 2016)
At age 14, six years ago, Yusra Mardini made the hazardous journey from her homeland in Syria to Europe after her home was destroyed in the Syrian Civil War. Mardini and her sister Sara reached Lebanon then Turkey then arranged to be smuggled to Greece by boat with thirty others. During the crossing, the motor on the dinghy, only meant for 6 or 7 passengers, stopped functioning and the dinghy started taking on water. Yusra and Sara were forced to tread water, taking turns kicking and dragging the boat for three-and-a-half hours before the motor started again, and they finally reached Lesbos.
Mardini swam for her life at age 14 and spoke about the experience “I was thinking it would be a real shame if we drowned, because we are swimmers. I hated the sea after that.” Mardini’s father was a swimming coach and she started swimming at the age of four, representing the Syrian Arab Republic in 2012 World Short Course Championships in Istanbul at the age of fourteen. Swimming represented an opportunity to Mardini and her family; “I swam before I could walk. We just swim, we always have. Sport was our way out. It was kind of what gave us hope to build our new lives”.
After walking from Greece to Germany she and her sister settled in Berlin and continued training with her coach Sven Spannenkrebs in hopes of qualifying for the 200m event. In June 2016 she was selected as one of the ten athletes to represent the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. She initially rejected the offer to be part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team as she tied the term ‘refugee’ to negative connotations of poverty and of traveling to make money and opportunities. Mardini says that all changed once she entered the Rio Olympic Swimming stadium and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team became “the community I’m fighting for…its about being a voice for people who don’t have a voice…And I will always fight for them”. Mardini competed again this year in Tokyo as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
Ellie Robinson
Ellie Robinson MBE is an British swimmer and Paralympian. She holds the World Record and Paralympic record in the S6 100m butterfly, which she set at the age of 13. Born with Cartilage Hair Hypoplasia and diagnosed with Perthes hip disease, which requires daily physiotherapy, Ellie is a testament to the resilience and strength of human spirit.
After watching Ellie Simmonds win four medals at the London 2012 games, Robinson was inspired to start swimming. Now, she hopes to inspire a new generation of Paralympic and Olympic swimmers to follow in her footsteps.
In 2021, Ellie was selected as an ambassador for the ‘Impossible To Ignore’ campaign, which aims to promote the growth of Paralympic sport and introduce new perceptions of disability into society. Ellie’s incredible achievement proves that we need to increase the visibility of disabled athletes and work to stop the Paralympics from existing as an afterthought to the Olympic Games.
From a young age, I’ve been an avid swimmer and have long admired those with the fitness and tenacity to pursue it professionally. Whether I’m in the pool or the sea, I often think about such athletes as Ellie Robinson, whose determination and strength against adversity inspires me to push myself a little harder. There’s an undeniable need to increase the diversity and accessibility of professional sport – it’s athletes like Ellie who are opening the conversation to create meaningful change.
Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese tennis player, and four-time grand slam champion. She has previously ranked No. 1 in the world at the age of 21. Alongside her achievements as a tennis player, she also is well known for her activism, notably for wearing face-masks carrying the names of Black Americans killed by the police, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Elijah McClain, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery and Philando Castile. After Jacob Blake was shot by police, Osaka was the only tennis player to announce that she would not play in the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open.
She prioritises activism, using her platform to promote Black Lives Matter, “As a black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention rather than watching me play tennis”. She adds, “I have a lot of regrets before I go to sleep,” she said, “and most of the regret is that I don’t speak out what I’m thinking.”
I am inspired by her commitment to goals oriented around mental health, and that she resists tying ‘winning to my worth as a person’. This partly comes from her refusal to stay within the confines of being a tennis player, and her determination to speak out against injustices as she sees fit. Her power in the game reflects her power to inspire social change, and her power to become mentally disciplined and achieve the goals she sets out to “work hard, do better, speak up, be kind.”
I respect Naomi Osaka’s commitment to others, and the respect she gives herself by pursuing balance and prioritising her mental health. She contemplates, ‘I want to become knowledgeable, to have a vast understanding of things, or even lots of tiny things that amount to one big thing.’ Her open-mindedness and drive to learn from others is evident, but within that she is not afraid to ground herself, recognise and prioritise her own needs as a tennis player and famous sports personality. Through creating space for herself to exist, she is able to increase her impact and open far more spaces through activism.
Bethany Shriever
Although this is the first Olympic Games to have BMX freestyle, BMX racing has been an Olympic sport since 2008. BMX racing takes place on a banked track, generally the bikes have no suspension and one gear. Speed is critical to the race but so too are the jumps.
Bethany Shriever, now in her early 20s, began BMX when she was 9 years old, securing the Junior World Champion title in 2017 as well as winning national titles. Disappointingly, this was not initially sufficient to secure her any UK Sport Funding to support her bid to get to Tokyo 2020. In its funding review after the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, UK Sport stipulated that only male riders would be ‘supported’ going towards the Tokyo Games.
Shriever worked part-time as a TA in a nursery to cover costs of travelling and training. Ultimately in 2019, Shriever resorted to ‘crowd-funding’ in an attempt to secure £50,000 to support her bid to get to Tokyo. Ultimately Shriever was able to secure funding from British Cycling, but this leaves me wondering why was it such an uphill battle for Shriever to get to Tokyo?
As a nation, we take great pride in success. And seeing great women athletes is inspirational. We appreciate their talent, endurance, courage and resilience as qualities we can all get behind. But what steps do we need to take to structure equal access for women and girls to the opportunity to represent Team GB?
Written by Sofia, Caitlin, Anya and Amirkaur - Conscience Collective
