A Syrian swimmer's inspiring story has captured the eyes of many at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Yusra Mardini had to flee her home country of Syria in August 2015 because of a civil war. Mardini wanted to be an Olympic athlete, and in order to achieve her dream, she knew she had to leave Syria. Mardini's parents allowed her to travel to Turkey with her sister to get away from the war. This move gave Mardini a chance at her dream. Once Mardini and her sister got to Turkey, they boarded a boat to Greece.

The boat they were on had 18 other migrants all trying to get to Greece. However, the boat was meant to carry six or seven passengers. Disaster strikes as the boat's engine failed and, shortly after, begins to take on water.

Most of the people in the boat could not swim, so Mardini and her sister being the only trained swimmers, had to jump out of the boat and swim. They swam while pulling this boat full of people until the motor began working again.

After three and a half hours of swimming and pulling the boat along, the motor began to work again. Everyone on board made it to Europe alive thanks to their help and courage.

Unfortunately, Mardini did not receive a hero's welcome upon arrival for saving helping everyone on the boat. She did not have much money and had to scrape by.

Mardini and her sister were able to make it to Germany and settled in Berlin in September 2015. Mardini continued her training with her coach Sven Spannenkrebs.

Mardini competed in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and won a 100m butterfly race with a time of one minute and nine seconds, which ranked 41st out of 45 competitors.

Mardini returned to the Olympics in 2020, a hungrier athlete ready to show the world how much she has improved.

-Evan Hale- The Halftimers Podcast/ Olde City Sports Network