学进去

It was dark as Ibrahim Al Hussein came to. He couldn’t move and thick dust filled the air, blocking out all but a few small flames dancing close by. It was hard to breathe. Something wasn’t right and he could not feel his foot. As the smoke of the bombing cleared Al Hussein was saved but lost his lower right leg forever.

After several twists and turns, Al Hussein managed to escape from war-torn Syria to Athens, Greece. With no money left on him, he had to sleep on the streets and look for fruit in trees or eat grass from the park. Luckily, he later found work cleaning toilets at a local cafe. He worked every day of the week with no breaks and was proud to be supporting himself. But he was missing something — sport.

Al Hussein used to be a sportsman. As war broke out in Syria in 2011, all sports stadiums were forced to close, but now settled and safe in Athens, he was desperate to return to physical activity. In May, 2015, his prayers were answered. A swimming club gave him permission to train there.

“When I looked at the address I realised it was the Athens Aquatics Centre,” says Al Hussein, who, at the age of 16, had watched the 2004 Olympics unfold on a small TV in his cosy Syrian home. “Seeing those Olympics gave me motivation to do sport and although it was a flashback to the past, it was also a look to a better future because I had made it to the pool I’d watched and dreamt of swimming in.”

For much of 2015 he swam in the morning and then worked at the cafe until late in the evening. It was tough, but it worked for him and, in early 2016, he secured two medals at the Greek Para Swimming National Championships. People began to take note.