Rami Anis: Telegraph Magazine

July 2016

I was commissioned to travel to Ghent to photograph Olympic swimmer Rami Anis for the Telegraph magazine.

Rami started formal swimming training as a 14-year-old growing up in Aleppo. As bombings and kidnappings there grew more frequent, his family put him on a flight to Istanbul to live for a few months with an older brother who was studying Turkish.

Months turned to years and he used the time to hone his technique yet, without Turkish nationality, he was unable to swim in competitions. He rode a dinghy to the Greek island of Samos and eventually he reached Ghent, where he’s been training nine times a week with former Olympic swimmer Carine Verbauwen.

This year he will be going to Rio as part of the first official refugee team at the Olympic Games.

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