Ahmed Hafnaoui Named Swimming World’s African Male Swimmer of the Year
The reaction was more memorable than the race. How could it not be?
Tunisia’s star had just stunned the world to win Olympic gold in the 400 meter freestyle. As his fellow swimmers looked on in astonishment, Ahmed Hafnaoui erupted in pure joy and jubilation.
“I just can’t believe that—it’s amazing,” he said after the race. “I felt better in the water this morning than yesterday, and that’s it. I’m the Olympic champion now. I just put my head in the water. I just can’t believe it. It’s a dream come true.”
And it began inspiring dreams throughout Africa.
That started with his family. A video went viral of his family screaming in encouragement and then celebration after he touched the wall first. They couldn’t be on hand since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Tokyo Olympic Committee to run the Games without spectators.
It was a rare Olympic gold for Tunisia (third) that earned Hafnaoui the honor as Swimming World’s Male African Swimmer of the Year. This gold medal, though, had to be the most unexpected: The 18-year-old was ranked No. 16 in the world in the event coming into the Games…plus he was the last swimmer to qualify for finals, putting him in Lane 8.
But as history has shown, anything can happen in an Olympic final, and Hafnaoui proved it with a brilliant race that saw him hang with the leaders, then overtake them on the final leg to claim the gold medal in 3:43.36, holding off Australia’s Jack McLoughlin and American Kieran Smith.
For Hafnaoui, who verbally committed last September to swim at Indiana University in the fall of 2022, it’s been an interesting rise to the top.
Hafnaoui’s father, Mohamed, was a professional basketball player with the Tunisian national team. The elder Hafnaoui put his son in a local swimming club, and from there, Hafnaoui began to hone his craft.
At the age of 12, he joined Tunisia’s national swimming program. One of Hafnaoui’s biggest inspirations in swimming was Ous Mellouli, the only other Tunisian swimmer to win Olympic gold. Mellouli captured the 1500 freestyle at the 2008 Games and was the 10K open water champion in 2012.
“I have a great relationship with him,” Hafnaoui said of Mellouli. “He wished me good luck before the race. And I wished him well in the 10K open water. He is a legend. I want to be like him one day.”
The gold medal was a huge start. Even more so, the aftermath of his gold medal will have a lasting impact on his country and community.
Following the Olympics, FINA president Hussain Al-Musallam announced an agreement to construct an international center for high performance in Tunisia that caters exclusively to athletes from North Africa. The project, Al-Musallam said, is a direct tribute to the achievement of Hafnaoui.
In a release through Tunis Afrique Presse, the Tunisian National Olympic Committee considered the new facility “an asset that adds to the Tunisian swimming school, which will boost its visibility on the international scene and reinforce sports diplomacy through investment in success.”
That is why Hafnaoui’s performance is so much bigger than a gold medal. It was the start of many more Olympic dreams— including, perhaps, more of his own in 2024.