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At that 2009 event, Anis asked Phelps to take a selfie with him, and Phelps, with tunnel vision on his training, refused.

“I never told anyone about this, but this is true,” said Anis, abashed that the anecdote had been reported in the Olympic News Service. “I do hope that this time around, he will be able and willing to take a picture with me.”

They’re hardly famous athletes, by competitive standards, but they will march into Maracana Stadium on Friday night just ahead of the host Brazilians, and it will be the pinnacle of their lives.

“We are not from the same country, but the Olympic flag united all of us together,” said Mardini, whose back story and command of English have made her a natural spokesperson for the group. “And now we are representing 60 millions around the world.

“I want to tell everyone that I really miss Damascus, and I will go back one day. I want them to remember me, and I want everyone to think of their dreams, because a lot of people (in Syria) there forgot their dreams.”

“I dreamed about participating in the Olympics under my country’s flag,” said Anis. “I hope that by 2020, there will be no refugees.”

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“For me, I will think first that we are strong,” Mabika said, anticipating the march of nations — and now of the nationless — in the Opening Ceremony.

“I will think about my family, that I’m participating in this competition for us to be together, and that I have to compete for history, for the history of refugees, for all of us. I want to just show for one day in the world what we are trying to do.”

Call them the Team From Nowhere. But they will always be Olympians, whether they lose here or show well against the best of the best.

That, truly, is something.