A 27-year-old swimmer who is also a Syrian refugee and amputee will carry the Olympic torch on its journey to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Ibrahim al-Hussein is a Syrian refugee now living in Greece who had his leg amputated after being caught in an explosion, west-info.eu reports.
Al-Hussein fled Syria, arriving in Greece in a rubber dinghy. Now, he’s part of the worldwide relay of torch-bearers who will carry the Olympic torch from Greece to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
West-info.eu reports that al-Hussein will carry the Olympic torch through Eleonas, a temporary refugee camp that contains 1,500 refugees.
An excerpt from that piece:
At the announcement that he would be part of the relay team that will carry the historic symbol from Olympia to Brazil, the young man couldn’t hide his emotion. “I will carry the torch for the Syrians too, for asylum seekers around the world, for Greece, for my swimming team,” says Ibrahim. “My goal is to never give up.”
Al-Hussein will also compete at the 2016 Paralympic Games, which take place in Rio in September, about a month after the Olympics.
