Rabat – Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Ayoub El Hefnaoui achieved a remarkable feat, winning the gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle swim race this Sunday, at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Al-Hefnawi, 18, recorded a time of 3:43.36 minutes, the third record of the year, ahead of Australian Jack McLaughlin by 0.16 seconds and American Kieran Smith by 0.58 seconds.
This is Tunisia’s second medal in the Tokyo Olympic games, after Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi secured a silver for the country, representing the 58 kg and below category in taekwondo.
Hefnawy is set to compete in the 800m race. Last month, El Hefnawy won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle at the French Championships.
El Hefnawy told NBC, “I can’t believe it, it’s great. I’m an Olympic champion now.”
The young athlete continued: “I put my head in the water and it happened. I can’t believe it, this is a dream come true.”
The Tunisian Swimming Federation indicated, at the end of last year, that El Hefnaoui was studying at the French Sports Institute Pierre de Coubertin, and was training in Tunisia under the supervision of coaches Sami Ashour and Gebran El Taweli.
This win constitutes the Arab world and North Africa’s first gold medal in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
Morocco is participating in the Tokyo Olympics, and counts 2 swimmers among its delegation.
The country’s athletes in the swimming races are Lina Khiyara and Samy Boutouil.
Lina Khiyara will compete on July 26, in the women’s 200m freestyle race.
Khiyara, aged 18, represented Morocco at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea. She competed in the women’s 50-meter freestyle and women’s 100-meter freestyle events.
As for Samy Boutouil, he will be competing for the men’s 100m freestyle medals, this July 27.
Boutouil won a bronze medal back in the 2019 African Games for the 4x100m Men’s Freestyle swim race, and a silver at African Youth Games in Algiers back in 2018, for the 100m butterfly race.
He also won a silver medal during the Youth All Africa Games Algiers in 2018 for the 50m breaststroke competition.
Throughout its participation, Morocco won 23 medals, won by champions in athletics (19 medals) and boxing (4 medals).
Morocco won 6 gold medals throughout its 16 Olympic competitions, all in athletics. The win were secured respectively by Said Aouita in the 5000 meters, Nawal El Moutawakel in the 400 meters steeplechase in Los Angeles 1984, Omar Boutayeb in the 10 thousand meters in Seoul 1988, and Khaled Skah in the same distance in Barcelona 1992, then Hicham El Guerrouj in the 1500m, and 5000m distances in Athens 2004.
Morocco is betting for a positive outcome in Tokyo, as opposed to the 2016 Olympics in Brazilian Rio 2016 where Morocco won one medal, secured by boxer Mohamed Rabie.
