When the final penalty kick left the right foot of Brazil forward Neymar on Saturday night, swimmer Yusra Mardini clutched her older sister Sarahs hand. In the moment, Yusra was torn. Since she was a young girl growing up in the Syrian capital of Damascus, she has been a fan of Spanish football club FC Barcelona, which Neymar joined in 2013. She calls him her idol and says he, along with her other idols Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, made her believe she, too, could one day become an Olympian.But tonight, she said, I am cheering for Germany. Germany, now, is my home.One year ago on this day, Mardini, 18, and her sister became heroes to 18 people and symbols of hope to refugees around the world. Since being named to the 2016 Refugee Olympic Team, a first-of-its-kind team comprised of 10 refugees from four nations who competed at the Rio Summer Games under the Olympic flag, Mardinis story has garnered international attention. In Rio, she met swimmers Missy Franklin and Conor Dwyer and was overcome with emotion the first time she dove into the Olympic pool and realized she was swimming in the same water as Phelps.My life has changed completely, said Yusra, who competed in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly. It is incredible.No. It is unbelievable, Sarah corrected. One year ago today, we were in the boat. She looks down at her white iPhone, then picks it up and lights up its display. Yusra, look what time it is: 8:16 p.m. One year ago at this time, we are still in the water.The Mardini sisters story is as improbable and inspiring as any to come out of these Games, yet one that likely would never have been told if not for Yusra being identified as a candidate for the Refugee Team. After the war in Syria destroyed their familys home and the swimming facility where they trained, their parents agreed to allow Yusra and Sarah to flee the war-torn nation with two of their fathers cousins and a friend.They flew to Istanbul, Turkey, took a bus to Izmir with a group of about 30 refugees and smugglers and waited for four days before boarding a dinghy with 18 other refugees, including a 6-year-old boy, bound for the Greek island of Lesvos.On their first attempt at the crossing, they were stopped by border agents and turned around. On their second trip, the engine on their dinghy broke and the boat began to take on water. It was dark, the waters choppy and only the Mardinis and two men on board the boat knew how to swim.In the beginning, Sarah told me, Dont help anyone. Just go. Swim with me. If we drown, we drown, Yusra said. But then she was the first one who got out of the boat to push.For three-and-a-half hours, the sisters swam, fighting the current and the weight of their clothing, pulling and pushing the boat to help it remain on course. The two men also jumped into the water to help and took turns pushing the boat, but they eventually gave up, too exhausted to continue.They couldnt handle as much because they are normal people, Yusra said. We can handle more because we are sports people. At first, no one wanted us to jump in the water because we are girls. When we get in the water, the guys from Somalia were like, My god, you are brave. I was like, Shut up now. Please shut up. Dont tell me Im courageous. When we arrive safely, then say whatever you want.Throughout the swim, the Mardinis said there were times they werent sure theyd made the right choice to leave Syria, when they didnt believe they would make it to Lesvos alive.We missed home, Sarah said. You think, I dont want this trip. You are in the middle of the sea. No one is hearing you and no one is helping you. So you keep going.Around 10 oclock that night, the group arrived on the shores of Lesvos, safe but staring down months of grueling travel on foot and by bus. The Mardinis eventually arrived in a refugee camp in Berlin, where an Egyptian interpreter connected them with a swim coach who agreed to train the girls who had saved a boatload of people. It had been months since that night in the Mediterranean Sea, and the sisters wanted nothing more than to return to the water and to once again train in the sport they loved.In the water that night, I thought it would be a shame if we die in the water and we are swimmers, Yusra said.No, Sarah corrected. That it would be a shame to let the people with us die and we are swimmers. We didnt care about ourselves.For both sisters, swimming has been their passion and competing in the Olympics a childhood dream. Now that Yusra is an Olympian, they say their work has only begun. On Monday, Sarah, who speaks multiple Arabic dialects and English, will return to Greece, where she is volunteering to greet refugees upon their arrival and provide them with food, water and guidance. She has also started her own human rights organization in Berlin, which she named RTR, for Refugee to Refugee.I hurt my shoulder that night in the water, so for months I could not train with my sister, Sarah said. I decided to do something with my mind. Now I am a human rights activist. I want to give something back to others like me and my sister, not just from Syria but from all over the world. We have our papers and our family in Berlin. We have everything, so I want to give back to the others. I will be the wall they will rest on.Yusra, too, wants to help refugees, and she wants to become an activist who fights for the right for girls to participate in sports. She says already, she has received many emails and Twitter messages from women and young girls from around the world who say theyve been inspired by her story, and she makes a point to respond to every message.In Syria, the girl who does sport, she is called a whore by people, Yusra said. This is how closed their minds are in how they think. We fought all the time to swim. But we were lucky. We came from a good family. My mom and dad, they support us. But now we are still fighting and doing our best to rise women up in any way we can.One year ago, it would have been impossible for Yusra and Sarah to imagine their lives today, to believe they would be watching the final football game of the Rio Olympics from white leather chairs at a party thrown by Visa, Yusras Olympic sponsor, at an opulent hotel overlooking Copacabana Beach.One year ago, it was difficult for the Mardini sisters to imagine a future at all. 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Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. David Ortiz thanked New York Yankees fans, saying that they pulled the best out of me and even acknowledging a little bit of love for them as he prepares for his final series at Yankee Stadium.But the Boston Red Sox slugger also offered a clear warning -- hes still going to try to hit the ball all the way to the choo choo train, referring to the subway station outside the stadium.Ortiz reflected on his role in the heated rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees in an open letter published Tuesday on The Players Tribune, saying the intensity of their games brought out the best in him and that he was born to play against the Yankees.Our rivalry with the Yankees made me who I am, Ortiz wrote. The intensity of that competition is what Im gonna miss the most when Im done. I could wake up in the morning and my body could be feeling like s---, but as soon as the bus pulls up to Yankee Stadium and I see that white fence on the upper deck, Im like, Its on.Ortiz, 40, is batting .321 with 37 home runs and 124 RBIs this season, which he says will be his last in the majors. He also said later Tuesday that he has no intention of playing for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.Id probably need 15 months to recover, Ortiz told the media Tuesday. I would love to represent my country, but like I say, Im in a situation where Im trying every day to get ready to play a game. My body is so happy. My body is counting the days.The first-place Red Sox (92-64) clinched a playoff berth last week and are contending for the best record in the American League and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.But the Yankees (80-76) are on the verge of being eliminated from postseason contention, meaning their three-game series starting Tuesday against the Red Sox likely will mark Ortizs final games in the Bronx.It takes me a long time to get my body ready for these games now, he wrote. But I guarantee you this. When our bus pulls up to Yankee Stadium today, Im gonna be ready to go.Ortiz has spent the past 14 seasons with the Red Sox and has been a central figure in their rivalry with the Yankees, most notably in 2004, when he helped Boston erase a 3-0 series deficit in its historic American League Championship Series victory against NNew York.ddddddddddddis success in the Bronx, where he has 31 home runs in 114 regular-season games, has drawn the ire of Yankees fans, who routinely have booed the Dominican slugger. One fan even is attempting to organize a widespread mooning of Ortiz in the series finale Thursday.Let me tell you something, Ortiz wrote. If 50,000 people moon me, I promise you two things. First, Im gonna laugh so hard I might start crying.Then when the tears dry, Im gonna step up to the plate and try to hit the ball all the way to the choo choo train. You gotta be careful. You guys dont have Mariano [Rivera] no more, you know what Im saying?Though he may get booed inside Yankee Stadium, Ortiz said hes beloved on the streets of New York City.People are nice. I rarely bump into anyone trying to carry that out ... Ortiz told the media later Tuesday. People are super nice here. We have a lot of, what, 3 million Dominicans living here in New York. Most of them, I would say, are Yankee fans. I talked about it before, the relationship between Dominicans and New York Yankees. My people, they receive me just like I play for the Yankees. Much love. They know I play for Boston but I still represent with others, a Dominican coming into the stadium doing good things.Ortiz explained that he channels his intensity for games in Yankee Stadium because of his experiences in his native Dominican Republic, where he says the Yankees are extremely popular and New York City is viewed as the American dream.He also professed his appreciation for the rivalry on multiple occasions, writing that the intensity is just not the same against another team.The Red Sox let me be me, Ortiz wrote. You see my beard? The Yankees wouldnt let me have that beard. Id be shaving twice a day. But it goes beyond that. The Red Sox let me say what I feel. They let me be myself. If I was a Yankee, Id be just like my boy, [Derek Jeter].You know, One game at a time.But thats why Im gonna miss this rivalry so much. Because we were perfect opposites. Everything we had in Boston, New York had an answer for it.Information from ESPNs Scott Lauber contributed to this report. 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