Manama: Alzain Tareq won’t be winning any medals at the World Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia, but the pint-sized Bahraini did set an unlikely new record yesterday.
Just 10-years-old, Alzain became the youngest ever competitor to race at the world championships when she competed in the heats of the women’s 50-metre butterfly yesterday.
She finished last among the 64 competitors, reaching the end of the pool in a time of 41.13 seconds.
“I am so happy to be here,” she said after the race. “I want to be able to learn the techniques and how they swim.”
“I am the fastest swimmer in Bahrain, and so they chose me,” she said.
Alzain’s father Tareq Salem was equally thrilled.
“Alzain is loving the dream she is living right now,” he said.
“It’s her first race in front of 4,000 people so she was very nervous and I expected that. It is not easy.
“The media attention on her is very big. All the Press have been after her. There is a hashtag created on her name “#Alzain” which has been trending in all languages.
“She expected the media coverage she was going to get knowing she is the youngest ever but never expected it to be this big,” he added..
Alzain’s participation in the sport’s most prestigious global championship drew a mixed response.
British freestyle sprinter Fran Halsall, said she didn’t “know what to make of it”, adding: “She’s tiny, but good on her to have a go. Bless her.”
Germany’s former world champion Franziska van Almisick, a child prodigy in the early 1990s, qualified for the 1991 world championships when she was just 13.
But she was not allowed to compete because the minimum age limit at the time was 14.
“I was allowed to start in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and I think 14 is a good age for it,” she told German media.
Alzain said the response from other competitors had generally been positive.
“A few of them have been surprised to see me swim here, but they have always asked my name and how old my age,” she said.
Alzain, who said she started to swim in 2009, is also entered in the 50m freestyle which is scheduled for today, and because she competed at the World Championships, she could be eligible to swim at next year’s Rio Olympics.
“I want to participate in the Olympics but I don’t want to be the last one there,” she said, adding that she has big plans for the future.
“It’s hard for me to beat the world record now but I can do it when I am older. When I am aged 15 or 16 I can do that I think.”
Alzain described competing against adults ‘cool’ and her idols are swimming stars Cate Campbell and Sarah Sjostrom.
“It’s hard for me to beat the world record now, but I can do that when I am older. When I am 15 or 16,” she said.
US star Missy Franklin, who won six worlds gold medals two years ago in Barcelona, is already charmed.
“She is so cute and tiny,” said the 20-year-old Franklin.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her so far, but every time I see her she gives me the biggest smile.”
While most of her peers back home are concerning themselves with homework, Alzain is busy juggling her studies with improving her swimming.
“I train five days a week, sometimes I train once a day, and sometimes twice,” she explained.
“I have school from 7am until 2pm, then I have an hour’s rest, then I go home and I study.
“We have a 50 and a 25m pool (in Bahrain), we have about 20 girls who swim, but there are more than 20 boys.
“I am the fastest swimmer in Bahrain and so they chose me, but there are younger swimmers there, they are eight years old.”
She admitted it was a nerve-wracking experience swimming in front of a crowd of around 4,000 for the morning’s heats and said she gets a surprised reaction from her fellow competitors.
“I was a bit nervous walking out there, I have never swum in front of so many spectators,” she said.
“The other swimmers are often surprised, they ask me my name and how old I am and then they are like ‘are you swimming here?”
Plymouth-based breaststroker Ruta Meilutyte and US freestyle-specialist Katie Ledecky both won Olympic titles aged just 15 at the 2012 London Games.
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