Swimming video is courtesy of Universal Sports Network, a SwimSwam partner. Video can only been seen by U.S. viewers.
Alzain Tareg photo vault
10 year old Alzain Tareq of Bahrain swims the prelims of the 50 breaststroke at the 2015 FINA world championships Kazan Russia (photo: Mike Lewis, Ola Vista Photography)
10 year old Alzain Tareq of Bahrain swims the prelims of the 50 breaststroke at the 2015 FINA world championships Kazan Russia (photo: Mike Lewis, Ola Vista Photography)
10 year old Alzain Tareq of Bahrain swims the prelims of the 50 breaststroke at the 2015 FINA world championships Kazan Russia (photo: Mike Lewis, Ola Vista Photography)
SWIMSWAM REPORT:
The 2015 FINA World Championships are set to begin Sunday morning. An athlete from Bahrain will make history as the youngest swimmer to ever compete at a World Championships.
10-year-old Alzain Tareq will swim in the biggest meet of 2015 with the best competition in the world. She’s prepared to swim the 50 meter fly and 50 meter freestyle in Kazan.
Alzain has been swimming since she was 4 years old with the support of her father, Tareq Juma Salem. She trains twice a day and has been traveling to meets since she was 5 or 6. Salem isn’t worried about Alzain feeling overwhelmed. She loves a challenge, and has been competing in championship meets in Bahrain since the age of 7.
“Everyone is asking her what she is going to swim, asking her how old she is. One of the coaches who works with Campbell interviewed her the other day. I’m sure the World Championships will be an unforgettable experience for her,” Salem told Sport 360.
Salem also spoke of one of his daughter’s coaches, Khalifa Ali, who recently passed away. Alzain will be swimming in honor of him.
Alzain’s goals at the meet are to clock a 34 or faster in the 50 free and a 41 or faster in the 50 fly. She’ll swim the 50 fly on August 7th and the 50 free on August 8th.
Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
Yes, my initial reaction was – she’s not that fast. BUT this is a FEMALE athlete competing for Bahrain. Women in Bahrain gained the right to vote in 2002, they have more rights than some in the middle east – but there is still a very long way to go. She is wearing a swimsuit. She is being taken seriously as an athlete. Her government is supporting her. She is a shining star for Bahrain.
For all those who keep saying she is too young to get up there and compete or questioning her presence on the international scene… Did you watch the video?
Yes she is ten. Yes her time isn’t spectacular. However she is by far and away NOT the slowest athlete out there (body lengths ahead of some of these older girls in a 50!) and displays some really good technique.
She makes the headlines because she is the youngest. Is that really such a bad thing?
In this World Champs, different from Olympic, you can send 2 athletes per event if they meet A time standard. Or send 1 athlete per event if he/she meet B time standard.
If you don’t have qualified swimmer (A or B), you can send 4 swimmers (2 men, 2 women).
If you have 1 or 2 qualified swimmer, you can send additional swimmer up to max 4 swimmers (2 men, 2 women).
If you have 3 qualified swimmer, you can send 1 additional swimmer, provided that both gender represented.
For Mexico, they “lie” about their athlete qualifying time. Most of their swimmer has only B time standard, so they should only send 1 swimmer per event. But they… Read more »
I like the concept of people not caring about this. If a country that qualifies puts a 4 year old who can complete a 50m lap in for fun, then let’s do it
Just what this sport needs…promote doing something as early and young as possible. I wonder how many parents will want their 10 year old moved up to their team’s National group this fall so that they can “get their trials cuts.”
Yes. Because we should absolutely cater to these delusional, hypothetical parents you’ve made up.
Steve-O…you are just an angry person towards anyone who has an opposing viewpoint! So lets get you a little more “fired-up”! Some might consider the parents of a 10 year old swimmer (with sub-standard times for a world championship meet) competing to be “delusional” and self-indulgence! Again, just another perspective that I am sure you will take offense towards!
This is The Internet. You have to Be Angry, it’s right there in The Rules.
I just want people to start thinking beyond their experiences, basically just put yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s nowhere near prudent to compare the experiences of a 10 year old in the US to a 10 year old in Bahrain, same with people that would want to disparage any other automatic entry athletes. (ERIC THE EEL 4 LYFE!) I think Eric trained in a hotel pool or something, doing so because he loved it. Let’s reward that.
It doesn’t add any undo burden to World Champs by inviting these athletes. It makes morning sessions a little longer. If that ruins the meet for… Read more »
I like the concept of universality, but I’d be in favor of age limits for universality qualifiers, say, 14. A ten-year old can’t fully comprehend the significance of competing at this level, and I’d rather have it held out as a carrot to motivate her to continue training until she is 14. On the other hand, if a swimmer legitimately achieves a qualifying standard, I think they should be able to compete regardless of age.
What is probably most questionable about this is that I would bet that she is not the fastest representative from her country, but the daughter of someone with influence. What was her country’s qualifying process? I bet there am many faster swimmers than she that could have represented.
I was wondering this myself. Was someone bumped to make room for her? Bahrain is not exactly a swimming power house, but surely there is someone in the country who swims faster than a 10-year-old.
The FINA rule doesn’t say that you have to send the fastest swimmer in the country. Maybe they figured sending a 34 sec 10 year old girl is more meaningful than sending a 32sec 17 year old. by the way, the fastest girl in my country (Rwanda) has never broken 30 sec on the 50 free and she is 18.
Please educate yourselves about Bahrain .it is a nation that has it’s Majority Shiite population under suppression . All its social norms are fully backed by Britain & the presence of The US fleet both of whom advised , trained & supplied the Bahraini government forces with their actions .
A quick look at the 2014 Bahraini Swim Championships have The Bahraini registered swimmers differentiated from the Expats & British / -american service children.
Their numbers are Girls …
15 & over – nil
13-14 – nil
11-12,- 1 Zainab Todd
9-10 – 6 with Alzan ranked 2nd Bahraini in total points
Under 8 – 4 girls including Alzan’s 6 year old sister .
That… Read more »
The really sad thing about this is that she probably IS arguably the fastest, but as Gina Rhinestone implies with her statistics, opportunities for girls diminish in swimming for as they grow older. I was glad to hear that Alzain plans to go on to 2020 at least; it implies that she doesn’t anticipate being pushed out of the sport.
I’m just wondering who exactly is the person who sent her? Like her coach, or their country’s ruler (not sure what kind of government they have), or did she apply to FINA and was chosen? I’m being rude… I’m just curious as to how she was the one chosen out of her whole country.