:00:00. > :00:00.world are in training hoping to compete in the newly created Team of
:00:00. > :00:12.Refugee Olympic Athletes under the Olympic flag. This is a special
:00:13. > :00:16.programme, Team Refugee. All eyes are on Rio as the world's
:00:17. > :00:23.most elite athletes hope to make their countries proud. And, for the
:00:24. > :00:27.first time, the International Olympic Committee have announced
:00:28. > :00:36.there will be a new team created for refugee athletes. We will welcome
:00:37. > :00:45.these refugee athletes to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag
:00:46. > :00:48.and with the Olympic anthem. We are all touched and moved by the
:00:49. > :00:59.magnitude of the current worldwide refugee crisis. 43 refugees have
:01:00. > :01:05.been identified as hopefuls. Only ten will be selected. I am Catharina
:01:06. > :01:09.Moh and I will follow the journeys of some of those athletes in
:01:10. > :01:16.Germany, in Kenya, and here in Brazil. This is not just about
:01:17. > :01:21.winning medals, but a chance to reclaim their identity and save
:01:22. > :01:40.their families. We are going to Rio to show the world.
:01:41. > :01:48.Last year, Germany received almost half a million asylum applications.
:01:49. > :01:51.Officials say at least 1 million people have arrived seeking refuge
:01:52. > :01:58.across the country. Including here in Berlin. Many of them from Syria,
:01:59. > :02:18.forced to leave because of civil war.
:02:19. > :02:25.Yusra Mardini and her sister ended up in a refugee camp on the western
:02:26. > :03:02.outskirts of Berlin last September. She inspired me from the first time.
:03:03. > :03:06.She told me about her dream of a gold medal at the Olympics and I
:03:07. > :03:13.said well, well, well. Look at your best times. You did not this in two
:03:14. > :03:20.years. She said, I can do it, not now but give me the time to practise
:03:21. > :03:27.and do that. We started slow, in the first weeks.
:03:28. > :03:33.Now we are on a normal level. She has, each week, round about 30 hours
:03:34. > :03:43.of training. In intensive weeks, more.
:03:44. > :03:46.What is the goal for Rio? It is a goal to be there, take part and swim
:03:47. > :03:51.her personal best. That is a realistic bowl-macro. -- realistic
:03:52. > :04:25.goal. Whilst her father is not her
:04:26. > :04:33.official coach he still comes to the swimming pool every day. Tell me
:04:34. > :04:58.about how difficult it was training through the war.
:04:59. > :05:06.After much persuasion from his daughters, he eventually agreed to
:05:07. > :05:28.the girls leaving Syria. Yusra Mardini was 17 at the time.
:05:29. > :05:34.As Yusra's journey to Rio continues, in a different corner of the world
:05:35. > :05:45.there are others who share her ambition.
:05:46. > :05:58.In Kenya, this coach is putting her runners through their paces. Most of
:05:59. > :06:04.them are refugees. She held time trials in the country's two largest
:06:05. > :06:18.refugee camps and selected the fastest to develop elite athletes.
:06:19. > :06:23.It is early morning. Rebecca and the other athletes are preparing the
:06:24. > :06:29.training camp for an important visit by the IOC. She is one of 30 people
:06:30. > :06:33.living here. Most of them have left their families in the refugee camps
:06:34. > :06:41.and have since had little contact with them. My goal is to make sure I
:06:42. > :06:47.succeed in life, so that I move my family to somewhere they can feel
:06:48. > :06:51.safe, somewhere my siblings can go to a good school, and also this
:06:52. > :06:57.running, I am going to work hard for it and maybe it can take me
:06:58. > :07:07.somewhere. To have refugee status. As an
:07:08. > :07:10.athlete I realise there is so much I can do for our people instead of
:07:11. > :07:20.just competing in Europe, enjoying life. The new president of the IOC,
:07:21. > :07:25.who is a close friend, he loves sport and humanity. He said OK, I
:07:26. > :07:31.will help you to setup this camp. She told me that is when she went to
:07:32. > :07:36.the refugee camps hoping that out of the hundreds of thousands of people,
:07:37. > :07:37.she could find a handful with enough raw talent to turn them into top
:07:38. > :07:54.runners. The IOC finally arrived with
:07:55. > :08:01.Athletics Kenya to assess their progress and to start short listing
:08:02. > :08:06.athletes for the refugee team. They have been in their two hours in a
:08:07. > :08:10.closed meeting. We do not know the outcome of what will happen, but
:08:11. > :08:17.everyone is waiting in the sunshine, waiting to see what happens. I have
:08:18. > :08:21.some videos from the camp. While the meeting goes on, Rebecca tells me
:08:22. > :08:29.about her past. I was born in a refugee camp in
:08:30. > :08:33.Ethiopia and later we were repatriated and war broke out where
:08:34. > :08:39.my dad was killed. Where was your mother? She is in South Sudan, I do
:08:40. > :08:45.not know exactly where she is. What happened when she went away, and I
:08:46. > :08:51.was at home with my grandmother and siblings. We ran away together. Was
:08:52. > :08:58.that hard, leaving her? It was really hard because for some years,
:08:59. > :09:04.but we thought she was actually dead.
:09:05. > :09:08.Rebecca was one of 4 million people forced to flee because of the
:09:09. > :09:19.Sudanese conflict. She has been living here, the
:09:20. > :09:27.largest refugee camp in the world. The majority of refugees there are
:09:28. > :09:32.from Somalia. And the South Sudanese, from Burundi, we are the
:09:33. > :09:40.minority. Most of us are Christian. We are facing challenges due to
:09:41. > :09:49.those religious differences. Also, Al-Shabab, it is really horrible for
:09:50. > :09:52.us. Sometimes a lot of bombing. Sometimes they will come and
:09:53. > :09:58.threaten our people in the community, especially when you have
:09:59. > :10:06.a shop. Many ladies from the refugee camp, they end up giving up on life.
:10:07. > :10:08.Every time we wake up we feel, OK, we have to thank god at least we
:10:09. > :10:27.have seen a new day. It is the day after the IOC visit
:10:28. > :10:35.and Rebecca and the others are training hard.
:10:36. > :10:39.They have been told that, as it stands, no one's running times
:10:40. > :10:46.aren't good enough to qualify for the refugee team and they have a
:10:47. > :10:51.week to resubmit the ones. Rebecca must shave four seconds from her
:10:52. > :10:55.personal best to qualify. Qualification, we are struggling for
:10:56. > :11:02.them to qualify. But the ones who will be selected will be the best to
:11:03. > :11:06.go to Rio. They are refugees. If they were in their countries and
:11:07. > :11:11.trading they could run better. We are not going to Rio to look for
:11:12. > :11:12.medals, but to show the world that through sport, peace can be
:11:13. > :11:33.achieved. With the help of the scholarship
:11:34. > :11:41.given by the international Olympics committee, Yusra Mardini is able to
:11:42. > :11:44.swim and go to an elite sports school at the Olympic Park. Her
:11:45. > :11:46.English and German have improved and she is ever more determined to make
:11:47. > :12:04.it onto the team. It is Sunday, a rare day off from
:12:05. > :12:07.training. After my mum had three German lessons with her, and she
:12:08. > :12:13.said she is the same age, you want to meet with her. We went to a 60s
:12:14. > :12:19.diner. We had a hamburger and we were friends.
:12:20. > :12:28.You can move his eyes. What did you think of each other when you first
:12:29. > :12:36.met? She is crazy like me. I thought she is crazy and I would have a lot
:12:37. > :12:41.of fun. For the short time she is learning
:12:42. > :12:56.German... Sometimes it is hard to pronounce some words. That is a
:12:57. > :12:59.famous shopping street. Yusra is settled in Germany but she misses
:13:00. > :13:19.Syria. She tells me about the day she left.
:13:20. > :13:27.Yusra told me the engine had stopped and the overcrowded boat was
:13:28. > :13:29.sinking. So she and her sister had to get out and swim, whilst other
:13:30. > :14:38.bailed water from the boat. After three hours in the water,
:14:39. > :14:42.Yusra and the others made it safely to Lesbos. From Greece they made
:14:43. > :14:44.their way like the thousands before and after them to Europe. It took
:14:45. > :15:09.them 25 days to get to Germany. In Brazil, Yolande Mabika and Popole
:15:10. > :15:11.Misenga are within reach of the Olympics. They are refugees living
:15:12. > :15:43.and training in Rio de Janeiro. They both came from one of the areas
:15:44. > :15:48.worst affected during the Congolese civil war. When they came to Rio in
:15:49. > :15:50.2013 for the world judo championships, they escaped from the
:15:51. > :16:12.team and made a bid for asylum. A local charity stepped in to help
:16:13. > :16:27.them continue training here in Brazil.
:16:28. > :16:37.They train in a favela west of Rio. The facilities are basic. But their
:16:38. > :17:45.coaches are among the best. One of the biggest challenges was
:17:46. > :18:51.having to change their approach to judo.
:18:52. > :18:58.That was the last day Yolande saw her family. She does not even know
:18:59. > :19:41.if they are still alive. Popole is now married with a
:19:42. > :19:42.one-year-old son. He is the stepfather to his wife's three
:19:43. > :20:06.children. Now they both have just one mission.
:20:07. > :20:07.Make it onto the refugee team and, perhaps, their families back home
:20:08. > :20:26.will know they survived. With just weeks to go, training has
:20:27. > :20:32.intensified. She does on average 240 lengths per day, including one hour
:20:33. > :20:34.in the gym on top of homework and school. There is little time for
:20:35. > :21:06.much else. It is quite great coming here to
:21:07. > :21:12.watch Yusra Mardini train because now, when I see her like everyone
:21:13. > :21:14.else, on the TV, I think I will feel proud watching what she has achieved
:21:15. > :21:26.and how far she has come. For the past seven months, the IOC
:21:27. > :21:34.has been following the progress of 43 refugee athletes around the
:21:35. > :21:37.world. Like Yusra Mardini, they have all somehow overcome huge personal
:21:38. > :21:44.adversity and found hope along the way. Now, ten will go to Rio to
:21:45. > :21:45.represent the 59 million people who have been forced to flee their
:21:46. > :22:18.homes. Yusra Mardini. They have qualified for the Olympic
:22:19. > :22:26.Games. Rebecca did not make the team. She remained four seconds
:22:27. > :22:32.short of the qualifying time. But, five runners from the Kenya group
:22:33. > :22:34.have been selected. And their coach has been chosen to lead the Team of
:22:35. > :23:22.Refugee Olympic Athletes to Rio. The working week ended on an active
:23:23. > :23:23.note with heavy downpours, thunderstorms and funnel clouds