Table of Biography
Sarah Mardini is a former competition swimmer, lifeguard, and human rights activist from Syria. Sarah Mardini gained international attention for her involvement in the “Lesvos case.” Also, in 2015, she and her sister Yusra Mardini fled Syria and, while attempting to reach Europe by boat, became involved in helping other refugees when their boat began to sink near the Greek island of Lesvos.
Early Life
Sarah Mardini was born in Damascus, Syria, on July 17, 1995. According to the astrological chart, she has a birth sign of Cancer and is currently 28 years old. She holds Syrian nationality and belongs to the Syrian ethnicity.
She was born to her parents; Ezzat and Mervat. In addition, her father is also a professional coach and former sports swimmer. She grew up in Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, with her two younger sisters; Yusra and Shahed. Along with her sister Yusra, she started to learn swimming from their father.
Sarah Mardini – Education
In terms of her academics, Sarah became a student at Bard College Berlin in 2017 after being awarded a full scholarship from the College’s Program for International Education and Social Change.
Professional Career
With the encouragement of her father Sarah Mardini and Yusra Mardini joined recognized swimming teams in Syria as well as the Syrian national swimming team. Meanwhile, she also competed in the competitive swimming competition.
Sarah was also a trained lifeguard and an excellent swimmer. However, she was forced to quit her professional swimming career owing to a shoulder injury, although her sister continued to pursue her ambition of being an Olympian by attending swimming training sessions.
Flight
In August 2015, the two sisters Sarah and Yusra decided to flee Syria when their home was destroyed in the Syrian Civil War. Both sisters travelled in Lebanon before moving on to Turkey.
Caption: Sarah Mardini and her sister swam a sinking dinghy to the Greek island Lesbos in 2015 (Source: Middle East Eye)
They planned to be transported to a Greek island by boat alongside 18 other migrants in a boat built for no more than 6 or 7 persons. Yusra, Sarah, and two other individuals who could swim jumped into the Aegean Sea after the motor stopped operating and the boat began to fill with water.
They dragged the boat across the ocean for more than three hours before reaching the island of Lesbos. Following that, they travelled by foot, bus, and train across Greece, the Balkans, Hungary, and Austria until settling in Berlin, Germany, in September 2015.
Detention
She and her sister Yusra have advocated for refugees by speaking before the UN General Assembly in New York, as well as in Germany, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria.
She returned to the Lesbos refugee camps following the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio to empower local children. Moreover, she joined the non-governmental organization Emergency Response Center International (ERCI).
However, she was arrested by Greek police in August 2018, along with ERCI’s field director Nassos Karakitsos and a German volunteer named Seán Binder, while waiting to catch a flight back to Germany at Mytilini Airport.
According to reports, Sara was charged with smuggling, forgery, espionage, unlawfully utilizing radio frequencies, and fraud, among other things. Since her arrest, she has maintained her innocence. Moreover, she was freed from jail on bond after 107 days, largely due to the efforts of her lawyers.
The Swimmers
Caption: The poster of the Netflix movie, The Swimmers (Source: IMDb)
In the 2022 Netflix biographical film, “The Swimmers”, it shows her life journey. The film follows the narrative of how she and her sister, Yusra, fled Syria in 2015. They ended up swimming from the centre of the Aegean Sea to Germany. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 82% rating based on 62 reviews. Metacritic rates the film 62 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.”
Awards
Sarah and Yusra Mardini became one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023. Sarah joined a non-governmental organization that helps refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after the sisters were given political asylum in Germany.
Sarah Mardini – Net Worth 2024
According to various online websites, her net worth is at around $2.12 million. She has been able to achieve this from her work as a former competition swimmer, lifeguard, and human rights activist.
Relationship Stats
Moving forward to her personal, Sara Mardini is possibly single and unmarried. Meanwhile, she has not talked much about her past or present love life and affair. She is quite concerned about her personal life and has kept it a secret from the media and the general public.
Sarah Mardini – Body Measurements
Caption: Sarah Mardini with his sister (Source: Digital Spy)
This beautiful lady has a pair of brown eyes with black hair colour. Meanwhile, she has an average height and weight, but there is no accurate information about her body measurement.
Social Media
On her Instagram page ‘@sara_mardini963’ there are over 159k followers. Likewise, there are over 2.8k followers on her Twitter page ‘@SarahMardini4’ and she is not present on Facebook.