Once, there was a girl who loved to swim. Her name was Yusra Mardini. She was born in Damascus, Syria, a country long gripped by war. When her home was destroyed by a bomb she knew she had to leave the country, so she and her family fled by way of a boat filled with too many refugees. When the motor broke down, she and her sisters became heroes, swimming and pulling the boat to safety. In Germany, Yusra found glory as one of the first refugee teams ever to compete in the Olympics. [This episode originally aired March 2018.]

About Diana Nyad

On September 2, 2013, at the age of sixty-four, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage, swimming 111 miles in fifty-three hours from Havana to Key West. In the 1970s, she became known as the world’s greatest long-distance swimmer with her open-water achievements, including a record-breaking swim around Manhattan.

For the next thirty years, Nyad was a prominent sports broadcaster and journalist, filing compelling stories for National Public Radio, ABC’S Wide World of Sports, and others. She is the author of the upcoming memoir, "Find a Way," and three other books, is a national fitness icon, a talented linguist, and one of today’s most powerful and engaging public speakers.

Credits

This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, with writing and operation support by Darby Maloney and Elyssa Dudley. Sound Design and Original Theme Music by Elettra Bargiacchi.