Despite all that, many feel that the Olympics are a “way to put problems aside for two weeks” and
celebrate the soaring achievements of athletes around the world, many of whom have overcome great odds to get to Rio.

Last August, Mardini and her sister Sarah fled war-torn Syria and embarked on a harrowing, monthlong journey through Lebanon, Turkey and Greece, up through the Balkans and Central Europe, to Germany, narrowly dodging
capture and death.

…Mardini was officially named to the refugee team in June along with nine athletes from Syria, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. The team will compete under the Olympic flag and
anthem, entering the Maracanã stadium on Friday for the opening ceremony next to last, just before host Brazil. Mardini will compete in the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly.

What else did you find interesting in The Times this week? To enter the eighth week of our Summer Reading Contest,
tell us about it here by 7 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 12.

Here are a few other news and feature stories that may have caught your eye:

The album will be an Apple Music exclusive, a person with knowledge of the release plans said, and a printed publication will be distributed at Apple stores.

Need more details? The contest rules are here, and you can read the work of all of our winners so
far here. A quick overview, though:

You can choose from anything published in the print paper or on NYTimes.com in 2016, including videos, graphics and photographs.
(In your response, please include the URL or headline of the piece you pick.)

We’ll post this same Student Opinion question each Friday from today through Aug. 19, and you’ll have until the following Friday morning to post your picks. Then we’ll close that Student Opinion
post and open a new one with the same question.

We’ll choose at least one favorite answer to feature on the blog each week. Winners from this week will be announced on Aug. 23.

Feel free to participate each week, but we allow only one submission per person per week.

The contest is open to students ages 13 to 19, from anywhere in the world.

Please see our Summer Calendar for more information about our June, July and August schedule. And while this is the only Student Opinion question we’ll be asking this summer, here are 192 questions from the school year, all still open to comment.