When the swimmers took to the blocks in the final of the men’s 400m Freestyle, the spotlight was placed on the two fastest qualifiers- Austria’s Felix Auboeck and Germany’s Bennet Henning Muhlleitner. No attention was given to Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui in lane 8.
But lane 8 would soon capture the attention of all.
Hafnaoui was seeded last. His qualifying time of 3:45.68 was two seconds slower than Muhlleitner’s. In sports, two seconds can feel like a lifetime. So to his competitors, the media and those watching around the world, Ahmed Hafnaoui was an afterthought. He would be a footnote in the race, so the storylines were devoid of his name.
Yet Hafnaoui’s storyline was perhaps the most significant one.
Tunisia has been devastated by Covid. Suffering one of the worst outbreaks on the continent, other nations rushed to help the stricken North African country. Earlier in the month, Saudi Arabia rushed 1 million vaccine doses to Tunisia, adding to the 800,000 combined doses previously sent by the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, and Turkey.
Unfortunately, Covid wasn’t the only ailment plaguing the reeling country.
There was civil and economic unrest as well. Corruption, rising youth unemployment, mounting debt, and a crumbling economy all contributed to the country’s rising woes. When Covid hit, tourism was decimated. This further impacted the country’s fragile social fabric.
Despite the threats his country faced, Ahmed Hafnaoui trained. Even after the postponement of the Olympics and the suffering in his country, he swam.
He swam to qualify for the Games, swam to make the finals, and swam to make his country proud.
And with 50m left in the finals, he swam the race of his life and shocked the world by taking Olympic gold.
Ahmed’s primal scream was a moment for those suffering back in Tunisia to cherish. A feat that restored a sense of pride in a country rife with pain and suffering.
It was a win for the 11 million Tunisians back home by their 18-year-old swimmer. A teenager in a race he wasn’t supposed to be in, let alone win.
But he did.
“It’s unbelievable. I didn’t believe it until I touched the wall and saw my face first, ” said Hafnaoui. “I saw the Australian guy from lane six, I guess in the [last] 200m. It was a great fight at the end. I’m feeling great. I am feeling proud.”
That feeling extended to Tunisians world wide. In just 3 minutes and 43.46 seconds on Sunday, he gave his country a moment of reprieve.
On Monday, Tunisia suffered another calamity. The President sacked the Prime Minister and suspended parliament in what many call a coup. It resulted in additional clashes between supporters of the two factions, all while Covid continues to ravage the country.
But two days ago, Ahmed Hafnaoui was the force that united a hurting country.
“I was surprised myself. It’s unbelievable. I just can’t believe it,” exclaimed Tunisia’s second ever gold medal winner. ““I was in tears. When I see the flag of my country and I hear the anthem in the background, it was great. I’m so proud of it.”
