The Swimmers

When their house was destroyed during the civil war in their home country of Syria in 2015, the sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini fled. They made their way to Lebanon and then Turkey, where they made arrangements to board a dinghy and sneak into Greece. However, the refugees were in the middle of the Aegean Sea when the overcrowded dinghy's engine broke down. The pair and two others who could swim rescued the passengers. Yusra was a member of the Refugee Olympic team and participated in two swimming events at the Olympics in Rio just a year after their harrowing experience.