Yusra Mardini Analysis

I thought that being an Olympic athlete would already be quite of an accomplishment, especially as an 18-year-old, but Yusra Mardini took it a step further: she and three other swimmers swam for three hours pushing a sinking boat that had 20 people to safety whilst entertaining the six-year-olds on that boat. Not only was that super exhausting to the point of pain, but she now has a fear of open waters. An Olympic swimmer who has a fear of open waters is not something you would expect; I definitely did not so my respect for her grew greatly as a result. Yusra is a young Syrian refugee who risked her own life and career as an Olympic swimmer to save 20 people that she did not know personally when more selfish options were available: wait for help, swim to safety solo, or even just choosing to not entertaining the children. Just based on these facts, I thought it would be extremely difficult to not call Yusra a hero. However, a fellow classmate introduced me to his non-heroic point of view of Yusra, and I admittedly see but do not completely agree with it.

Aside from any ridiculous arguments, like sexism, valid arguments against Yusra’s heroic act do exist. The entire incident was caused due to poor decision making by everyone on the boat, including Yusra herself. The boat was meant to hold six people yet there were 20; with over doubled the intended amount, an accident was bound to occur. Within the article, Yusra is the main focus on the incident, yet there were three other people who were also heroic. Besides Yusra’s sister, who may have only been mentioned due to familial relationships, the other two swimmers received little credit. They did not even get their names mentioned. Just because Yusra Mardini is the only Olympic athlete of them does not mean she deserves the most credit for the act. Although easily amendable mistakes were made, Yusra is still an imperfect human whose heroic deed outweighed her negatives regardless.