Butterfly by Yusra Mardini

We can’t stop thinking about Yusra Mardini’s story, told in her gut-wrenching, enlightening, inspiring book ‘Butterfly’.

The Syrian swimmer was forced to use her waterborne skills to survive as she and her family fled their increasingly dangerous battle-scarred homeland, heading for the safety of Europe by taking a boat from Turkey to Greece.

The Olympics were a million miles away as she and sister Sara jumped in the water to guide their heavily laden boat after the engine failed.

Yusra doesn’t want to be a refugee, she just wanted to carry on being a teenager in Syria, aiming for the Olympics under the tutelage of her domineering coach and her father but Yusra realises the platform created by her unwanted situation could be used for a force for good.

Yusra is 17.