DUBAI: Syrian Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini will champion the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games in Paris this week. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle She took to Instagram to post a message encouraging support for the team. In a video shared with her 804,000 followers, Mardini said: “I am here to introduce you to a very special team that have fought harder and traveled further to be here tonight. They are the Refugee Olympic Team. “Please support them with all your hearts, and when you see them, show your support by sharing your heart with them.” The Olympian also gave fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse of her career highlights. One snap shows her posing next to a sign reading “Brazil,” with the caption: “Where it all started eight years ago,” a nod to her participation in the 2016 Rio Olympics. On Wednesday, Mardini carried the Olympic flame while representing the Refugee Olympic Team. The Olympic torch tradition dates back to the 1936 Berlin Olympics when Carl Diem, secretary-general of the Olympic organizing committee, proposed the idea of a relay carrying the symbol from the founding site of the ancient Olympics to the Games. Yusra and her sister Sarah’s journey from Syrian war refugees to Olympic athletes has been chronicled in the BAFTA-nominated film “The Swimmers.” The sisters fled their war-torn home in 2015, making a perilous journey to Europe that included swimming for three hours to push a sinking boat to safety. Settling in Germany, Yusra resumed her training and joined the Refugee Olympic Team, competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She is also a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, and focuses on her Yusra Mardini Foundation, which facilitates education and sports opportunities for refugees.