Saudi dentist Mariam Saleh Binladen has become the first woman, and only the third person in recent history, to successfully swim 101 miles (162.5 km) of the Thames River in the United Kingdom.

Aiming to inspire more women to participate in athletics and to raise awareness about the plight of Syrian refugees, Binladen completed the endurance swim over 10 days. She began the impressive feat on June 3 and completed the swim on June 12.

"I am thrilled and very proud to be the first woman to swim 101 miles of the Thames. I wanted to show that a young woman from Saudi Arabia can achieve a lifelong ambition, whilst at the same time raise awareness to bigger causes, particularly the plight of thousands of suffering Syrian orphan refugees," Binladen said, according to PR Newswire . "I also want to encourage more women from around the world to participate in sport and show them that anything is possible."

With its strong currents, eddies and high levels of pollutions, the swim is considered one of the most dangerous and challenging. Binladen trained for nearly two years to prepare for the swim, supported by her coach Fiona Southwell.

"I have had the most amazing support from my coach Fiona, my support crew and my family in the preparation for this challenge. I would also like to thank all the people that came out and encouraged me along the way over the last 10 days - it was a great boost to be cheered on particularly when I was feeling exhausted after several days in the water."

Highlighting the mantra and motivation that kept her going throughout the difficult endurance feat, Binladen said, "It was this support and my belief that 'I aim and therefore I am' which is about beginning with the end in mind – that has got me to the finish line today."

Egypt will send its all-time largest Olympic delegation to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

With more expected to follow, 119 Egyptian athletes have already reserved their tickets to Rio 2016. Just recently, five additional Egyptian athletes have qualified for this summer’s Olympics, joining the Egyptian 2016 Olympic squad.

Runner Hamada Mohamed claimed his spot in Rio’s 800 meter outdoor event by fulfilling the 1:46 minute entry standard with a 1:45.55 finish in an athletics forum in Barcelona. This will be Ahmed’s second consecutive Olympic participation. The triple national-record holder competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games, where he reached the semifinals and finished in eighth place.

Additionally, Anas Beshr hit the 45.4 second target for Rio’s 400 meter outdoor race at the Star Athletics Pro Meet in Florida, setting a new national record for Egypt. Beshr won silver at the 2013 Mediterranean Games and at the 2015 IAAF Grand Prix Meeting.

According to the International Union of Modern Pentathlon, brothers Amro and Omar El Geziry, who rank fourth and sixth in the world , qualified for Rio 2016 via June’s Pentathlon World Ranking. The duo teamed up with Yasser Hefny for the 2016 UIMP Senior World Championship in Moscow in the last week of May and brought home a gold medal for the team event.

Amro Geziry earned Egypt’s first World Cup in modern pentathlon earlier this year when he won gold at the first stage of the 2016 World Cup. The 2014 World Championship runner-up took part in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic Games, while his brother will compete at the Olympics for the first time this August.

Reem Kassem is the second female swimmer on Egypt’s 2016 Olympic team, alongside African champion Farida Osman. Kassem clocked 2:00:13.20 and finished 32nd in the women’s 10 km race at the FINA marathon swimming Olympic qualifiers in Portugal on June 11. The top African finisher secured her Olympic spot at the open-water event in Rio through the continental quota allocation. She will be the first female Egyptian to compete in the Olympics’ open-water event.

Egypt has not won a gold Olympic medal since the 2004 Athens Games. Nonetheless, the Egyptians have high hopes for Rio 2016, especially since many of the country's competitors have qualified to the games via world championships rather than continental qualifiers.

According to Shorouk Net , Egypt's Minister of Youth and Sports Khaled Abdelaziz believes that the 2016 Olympic delegation will break Egypt’s record of medals earned for a single Olympic participation, which was set in 2004 when Egypt won five medals.