10-year-old Alzain Tareq from Bahrain has became the youngest swimmer to ever compete at the World Championships.
She finished last in her preliminary heat clocking a time of 41.13 seconds, the slowest of all 64 swimmers. Nonetheless, being in a World Championship at such a young age is no mean feat. Her time wasn’t what mattered to her, Tareq was too busy soaking up the atmosphere and gaining knowledge from her opponents. “I want to learn the techniques and how they swim,” she said.
Her goal is to make it to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Tareq trains five days a week in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, where she has access to 25 and 50 meter pools. She attends school from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., rests for an hour and then swims.
She began to swim at age 4. Tareq’s mother is Scottish, and her father said the family would consider moving to Britain to train when their daughter turns 14. Her father is said to be anxious of all the media attention she is going to receive.