Tunisia’s Latest Distance Sensation Rami Rahmouni

Teenage swimming prodigy Rami Rahmouni has decided not to follow in the footsteps of his country’s outsized distance swimming legacy and will instead represent Saudi Arabia internationally going forward, the President of the Tunisian Swimming Federation Hadia Mansour has confirmed.

The move was first rumored in the fall, was later dispelled, but has now been confirmed. Mansour said that he stopped contact with the federation for two years and his parent club while training in France in spite of access to significant financial support in Tunisia.

Mansour also said that the country’s two active stars, Ahmed Jaouadi and Ahmed Hafnoui, are working on contracts and expected to continue representing Tunisia. Both swimmers train in the United States at hte University of Florida.

The 17-year-old last represented Tunisia at a major international meet at the 2024 World Short Course Swimming Championships. There, when he was only 15, he finished 49th in the 200 free and 20th in the 800 free.

He won the 1500 free at the 2023 Arab Games, and he currently boasts a best time of 15:05.43, the 4th fastest in Tunisian history behind heavyweights Ahmed Hafnaoui, Oussama Mellouli, and Ahmed Jaouadi.

The President of the Federation referred to the existence of “Tunisian parties,” who she didn’t name, that caused this change of citizenship.

In the fall, Tunisian sports club Espérance, which Rahmouni competed under, described the relocation as “opaque” and “sports smuggling”. The club’s swimming head, Hichem Najjar, added that Rahmouni’s parents were in talks with Saudi officials for their son’s potential naturalization to Saudi citizenship for “a large sum of money”.

Najjar went on to say that he worries about the precedent this sets, calling on the Tunisian Ministry of Sport to take action.

“Once this door is opened, it cannot be closed,” Najjar said.

Under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative, the nation has been paying and granting citizenship to elite athletes in several sports, such as U.S. soccer player Maryami Al-Tamimi.

The country allegedly offered Kenyan marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge US$1 billion up front to switch his citizenship, plus an ongoing stipend of $500 million per year and performance bonuses.

Other middle east nations have used this strategy to enhance their sporting profiles. In 2005, Qatar offered South Africans Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman about $1.4 million each to change their sporting citizenship. Olympic 200 meter champion Letsile Tebogo says that since his success at the Paris Games, he has received offers from Qatar, the UAE, and Tunisia to change sporting citizenship.

Russian-born, French-raised, and American-trained swimmer Michel Arkhangelskiy recently revealed that he would represent Bahrain going forward, though its unclear if any incentives changed hands with that process.

Saudia Arbia was represented by two swimmers at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Zaid Al-Sarraj finished 53rd in the men’s 100 free (51.21) and Mashael Meshari A Alayed finished 29th in the women’s 200 free (2:19.61).

The country was represented by male swimmers in 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2020 Olympic Games, but have never had a swimmer close to advancing out of prelims.