A group of refugees will compete at the summer Olympics in Rio. One of them is 18-year-old Yusra Mardini.

She arrived in Germany from Syria in August after literally swimming for her life. CCTV America’s Guy Henderson reports.

Yusra Mardini’s 200-meter freestyle time is still just a few seconds short.

This 18-year-old Syrian refugee believes she might just make it to the Rio Summer Olympics if she trains hard.

In August last year, Yusra was crossing the Aegean Sea in a boat packed with refugees when the engine failed.

As the only swimmers, she and her sister jumped into the water and propelled the vessel to the safety of the Greek shoreline, very possibly saving the lives of the other passengers on-board.

During past 12 months, more than a million have risked the dangerous path to Europe.

Now Yusra and 43 others have a chance to form the very first Olympic Team of Refugee athletes.

And Yusra hopes to carry that message well beyond 2016. If Rio proves a stroke too far, she says: she’ll set her sights on the Tokyo Games in five years’ time.