Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation Hosts “Dash For Cash” Event

The Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation (FNGB) hosted the country’s first “modern” swimming competition in the country’s history on July 12, a “Dash for Cash” event at the Dunia Hotel in Bissau, Guinea Bissau.

Guinea Bissau is currently in the midst of a controversy regarding which party is the actual governing body, with FINA recognizing the former administration despite swimmer Siphiwe Baleka leading a new regime starting last year.

This event, head up by Baleka and the FNGB, was designed to introduce the sport to the country that has a population of just over two million people.

“There has never been a swimming competition in this country that loves football,” Baleka said, according to the FNGB press release. “We wanted to capture the attention of the people by doing something sensational and offering prize money.”

With no pools suitable for competition in the country, the meet was hosted at the only facility available, a 23.7-meter pool at the Dunia Hotel, which had no lane ropes.

“The country knows very little about the sport of swimming, but we knew that competing for money would interest a lot of people,” explained Baleka.

“So we did a lot of radio promotion and I was hoping we could get 20 people to compete. I was surprised that 40 people registered for the event.”

There ended up being 27 swimmers competing across four categories, with 16 & over (senior) and 15 & under (junior) age groups for both genders, with the winner simply being the fastest over two lengths of freestyle.

The winners in the senior category earned 75,000 XOF (converts to $116 USD) and the junior winners won 50,000 XOF ($77 USD).

According to BDEX.com, the average monthly salary in Guinea Bissau is in the vicinity of $75 USD, so the prize money for the winners was well over an average month of pay.

“The prize money was significant. For some families that’s enough rice or school fees for a few months,” Baleka said.

LIST OF WINNERS

• Men’s Senior – Osvaldo Júnior, 33.29
• Women’s Senior – Teresa Sambu, 1:08.24
• Boys’ Junior – Souleymane Fall, 52.96
• Girls ‘ Junior – Anais Gangbadjo, 1:21.13

Last year, Baleka attempted to become the first swimmer in Guinea Bissau’s history to swim at the Olympic Games, and would’ve also been the oldest Olympic swimmer in history had he been granted entry. Born and raised in the United States, Baleka became a dual citizen of the U.S. and Guinea-Bissau in 2021 after genetic testing showed he had paternal ancestors from the African nation.

After initially being in line to race in Tokyo, Baleka was then denied entry over a dispute with FINA over the qualifying period for ‘A’ and ‘B’ cuts versus the universality qualifying procedure.

A former Masters swimmers in the U.S., Baleka says developing a swim program in Guinea Bissau was his long-term goal when attempting to swim at the Games in 2021.

“A lot of people thought I came to Guinea Bissau to find a slick way to compete in the Tokyo Olympics and for self-promotion. But those people didn’t know me and that my plan was to use any attention from the Olympics to raise money to pay for the development of a national swimming program here in Guinea Bissau,” Baleka said.

“I’ve had to fight with FINA and corrupt officials in Guinea Bissau, but here I am making progress against all odds and with no money. Where I come from, that’s called determination and success.”

He hopes the swimming community recognizes his efforts and will help the country’s swimmers to continue their development and ultimately build a sustainable program.

“We need everything – suits, goggles, chlorine, pace clocks, lane ropes, a suitable pool for training,” Baleka said.

There is a GoFundMe campaign to support the federation that you can find here.

“More than anything, we need the spirit of sportsmanship and goodwill from the international community to take advantage of this moment. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, so as long as I am here, I will spend my days using my experience to develop aquatic programs in Guinea Bissau.”