Athletes without a flag: Refugee Olympic Team is taking Rio by storm

The Syrian civil war rages on, and the image that remains emblematic of these harrowed times is that of three-year-old Alan Kurdi lying lifeless on a beach in Turkey. He and his family were Syrian refugees and were trying to reach Europe on a boat that drowned.

Astonishingly, supporting millions of these refugees has created a political storm among conservative politicians in many European countries denying these desperate souls asylum, fearing an ISIS backlash.

Only the German chancellor Angela Merkel had the gumption to turn "Mama Merkel", and welcome more than a million refugees in the last year. This, in the wake of constant backlash by her own people, and the public weakening of her political stature.

Meanwhile in Syria, Damascus and Aleppo, bustling cities once, are now a pile of rubble. Tens and thousands are dead, children and women included.

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But, there's one heartwarming story amid all these soul-crushing examples of collective political cruelty.

There's now a Refugee Olympic Team, which participating in and taking Rio, and indeed the world, by storm.

In March this year, the International Olympic Association president Thomas Bach decided to allow the best of the refugee athletes to participate under the Olympic Flag.

Now they're at the biggest stage in the world, trying to bring attention to crisis which has resulted in displacement of millions from conflict-ravaged the West Asian country, and the surge of "refugees" in Europe.

But out of the ten athletes at the Refugee Olympics Team, only two are from Syria. Others are from South Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia.

These are their stories:

Yusra Mardini

Yusra is an 18-year-old who was forced to flee war-torn Damascus. She with her sister were trying to reach Greece by sea, when 30 minutes after leaving the coast, their motor boat, which was meant for six people but was carrying 20, began to fail.

Yusra, her sister and two other people jumped into the sea and pushed the tiny boat for three hours in open waters, eventually reaching Lesbos, Greece.

Now she is racing in the 100m Freestyle and Butterfly events at the Olympics.

Yiech Pur Biel

Yiech Pur Biel fled the civil war in Sudan when he was a teenager and settled in a Kenyan refugee camp. He didn't have shoes there, so kids in the camp played barefoot football and did some running. He started running only an year ago.

Yiech will be competing with the fastest people in the world in the 800m event at the Rio Olympics.

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Rami Anis

25-year-old Rami Anis started swimming when he was 14. He and his family fled to Istanbul as the Syrian civil got intensified.

He was a terrific swimmer but wasn't allowed to compete in national events because he wasn't Turkish. Rami then left for asylum in Belgium in a tiny boat, with a bag containing just two jackets, two t-shirts and two pairs of trousers.

If things work out for him this week, he might compete with Michael Phelps in the men's 100m event.

Rose Nathike Lokonyen

Rose spent 13 years in a refugee camp after fleeing from Sudan at the age of 10. She used to run regularly in school, sometimes running 10km without shoes.

She will compete in the 800m event at the Olympics. She started wearing running shoes only a year ago.

Yonas Kinde

Aged 36, Yonas Kinde is the oldest member of the refugee team. Yonas left Ethiopia years ago due to political turmoil.

He is now a taxi driver in Luxemburg. In his free time, Yonde runs marathons.

He has won several titles in Luxemburg, France and Germany. He will compete in the marathon in the Rio Olympics.

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Yolande Bukasa Mabika

Yolande was very young when he escaped from eastern Congo, so she doesn't remember much except getting separated from her parents and being picked up by a helicopter.

She was taken to Kinshasha where she lived at a centre for displaced children. There she picked up judo. As she got better, she suffered abuse at the hands of her coaches. She was competing in Rio when she applied for asylum.

Now she is competing in the 70kg category in the Olympics.

James Nyang Chiengjiek

James fled to Kenya to avoid being kidnapped by rebels who were taking children to be soldiers. He was 13.

In Kenya, he settled in a camp and began running but used to get injured a lot because of lack of equipment. Now he's an Olympic runner and will compete in the 800m run.

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith

Anjelina hasn't seen or spoken to her parents since she was six. She had fled from southern Sudan. Finding and helping them drives her to be a better runner.

She's 21 now and will compete in the 1500m at the Olympics.

Popole Misenga

Popole participated in the 90kg Judo event at the Olympics.

He got here after fleeing his home, where his mother was killed in the fighting. He was found in a forest and taken to Kinshasha, where he discovered judo. He was later given asylum in Brazil.

Paulo Amotun Lokoro

Paulo was a simple man, a cattle herder on his family's plains. He fled his village in southern Sudan due to conflict in the area. He reached his mother, who was in a camp in Kenya and began running.

He will compete in the 1500m event at Rio Olympics.