Paralympic Syrian swimmer, Iranian discus thrower hope to put spotlight on refugees

After losing his leg in Syria's civil war and escaping his native land, Ibrahim Al Hussein never imagined he would be competing with the world's top disabled athletes in Brazil as one of two members of the first refugee team in the Paralympics.

A swimmer in Syria before the war, coached by his father, he fled first to Turkey and then onto Europe after losing one of his legs in 2013.

"My friends helped me across the border. I used sticks to walk," Al Hussein told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview ahead of the opening of the 2016 Paralympic Games on September 7.

"Now I dream of being the first paralympic refugee to win a gold medal," said the 27-year-old who will compete in the 50 meter and 100 meter free-style swimming races.

Al Hussein and Iranian athlete Shahrad Nasajpour, a refugee who lives in the United States, are the two refugee athletes...