Syrian refugee who lost his leg in the war to carry the Olympic flame
Before the civil war, Ibrahim al-Hussein used to train as a professional swimmer. The Euphrates River was his pool, Deir Ezzor's renowned suspension bridge his driving board.
"I used to climb to the top, dive into the water and swim in the river," he said.
Then, the war began: fighters destroyed his bridge; Ibrahim lost his leg as he rushed outside to help a friend who was severely injured. A bomb hit him and his right leg was amputated from the mid-calf down, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told Mashable.
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In 2014, the 27-year-old athlete, who fled Syria for Turkey, arrived in the Greek island of Samos after crossing the Aegean Sea in a rubber dinghy.
On Friday it was announced that Ibrahim will carry the Olympic flame in Athens as part of the torch relay for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
Ibrahim, who uses a prosthetic leg, now lives in Athens and follows a strict sports training schedule that includes swimming three times a week with ALMA, a Greek NGO for athletes with disabilities, and wheelchair basketball with his team in Maroussi, an Athens suburb.
"It's not just a game for me," Ibrahim, who works a 10-hour overnight shift at a cafe, says of his training schedule. "It's my life."
In order to get into the pool, Ibrahim has to remove the prosthetic leg and hop to the starting block on his other foot. At the beginning, his flutter-kick was not as strong as before, but after a few sessions Ibrahim recovered confidence in the water.
"I saw a strong athlete, nothing more,"his coach, Eleni Kokkinou, told UNHCR. "All that's on his mind is, 'training, training, training.' His target was to catch up to his personal best time in the 50-meter freestyle."
The Syrian now swims the 50-meter freestyle in about 28 seconds, less than three seconds short of his timing before he lost part of his leg.
Ibrahim will run the flame, which was lit April 21 in a ceremony at Olympia, Greece, through Eleonas, a temporary camp site in Athens that hosts 1500 refugees.
"I am carrying the flame for myself, but also for Syrians, for refugees everywhere, for Greece, for sports, for my swimming and basketball teams," Ibrahim says. "My goal is to never give up. But to go on, to always go forward. And that I can achieve through sports.”
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