RIYADH, 8 July 2005 — The Saudi Arabian Swimming Federation (SASF) announced yesterday the prospective members of its 2012 Olympic Swimming Team.
The announcement, made by SASF President, Prince Abdulaziz ibn Fahd ibn Abdullah Al-Saud, coincided with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) selection of the host city for the 2012 Olympic Games. At 11:46 GMT, the IOC revealed that London won the bid for the Games. Paris, New York, Moscow, and Madrid had also vied for the honor.
“The Saudi Arabian Swimming Federation is proud to name its team of prospective Olympians for the 2012 London Olympic Games,” said Prince Abdulaziz. “Although these swimmers have a long road ahead of them, we are confident that they and the rest of the Saudi team will represent their country well in 2012.”
The Kingdom’s Olympic swimming hopefuls, according to Prince Abdulaziz, are as follows:
Badr Abdulrahman Al-Muhanna, a 16-year-old from Riyadh, represents SASF’s best hope in the butterfly events in 2012. He is a multiple gold-medal winner and record holder at the GCC level.
Yousef Eisa Al-Yousef, also 16 from Dammam, has the monumental task of filling the shoes of Saudi swimming superstar, Ahmad Al-Kudmani, who has already competed in 2 Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004). Like Al-Kudmani, Al-Yousef is a breaststroke specialist. He is a triple gold medal winner at the GCC level and is a multiple record holder at the national level.
Loai Abdulwahid Tashkandi, a 14-year-old from Jeddah, is one of the most exciting swimmers to ever enter the SASF’s national team program. With unparalleled talent, more than 15 GCC gold medals and multiple GCC records, Loai has the potential to be medal contender in 2012.
Other swimmers also being considered for the 2012 roster include Hazm Abdulwahid Tashkandi,13, Natheer Ahmed Al-Hamoud,13, Saad Ali Al-Qahtani, 12, Mousa Shukri Al-Mousa,12, and Nizaar Abdulwahid Tashkandi,11, all of whom are multiple gold-medal winners at the GCC level in their age divisions.
“With this announcement, SASF wishes to send a clear message that preparation for 2012 begins now!” said Prince Abdulaziz. “Long-term success comes from long-term planning, and our Project 2012 initiative starts today with our youth.”
Speaking from his summer national team training camp in Riyadh, SASF head swimming coach, Dr. Alex Borodai, reemphasized the importance of focusing on Saudi Arabia’s youth swimmers.
“Olympic caliber swimmers often devote more than 10 years to serious, consistent training,” said Dr. Borodai. “With the 2012 Olympics only 7 years away, we cannot lose 1 minute of time. Every moment counts. And every opportunity to train has to be considered an important one, because youth swimmers from other nations started training for their Olympic dreams 3 years ago.”
The idea of establishing a Project 2012 initiative has been welcomed by both Prince Sultan ibn Fahd and Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, the president and vice president of the General Presidency for Youth Welfare respectively.
At the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games, which concluded in Jeddah in April of this year, Prince Nawaf specifically encouraged the Kingdom to focus on individual sports such as swimming.
In recent years, under the guidance of Prince Abdulaziz, SASF has produced noteworthy achievements with its swimming program. In 2002 it took first place at the 1st Islamic Swimming Championships in Tehran, Iran. SASF also finished 2nd at both the 2002 and 2004 West Asian Games. And most recently, at the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games in Jeddah, SASF contributed 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal and 2 bronze medals to Saudi Arabia’s overall medal tally.
However, the swimmers who achieved these results - Ahmad Al-Kudmani, Mohammed Al-Yousef, Maher Al-Motar, Ahmed Al-Marhoun, Mohammed Al-Yamani, and other senior swimmers - will be too old to realistically compete at the 2012 Olympics. SASF has therefore refocused on developing its youth.
At the core of SASF’s long-term strategy is the process of building a strong base of youth swimmers. Towards this end, SASF provides an annual Summer Swim School program in many cities around the Kingdom in which children can learn how to swim and enjoy aquatic recreation activities. The program continues to be a success and already in 2005, SASF has more than 800 registered swimmers at its Riyadh facility alone.
Children who show a talent for swimming during the summer program are often invited to continue training with SASF’s national team program year-round. By continually feeding new swimmers into the program, SASF ensures continued success.
Speaking on this issue of building a strong base of swimmers, Prince Abdulaziz emphasized that the door for success is open for those swimmers willing to take up the challenge.
“Although we have named specific members of our current national team program as being 2012 Olympic hopefuls, we have not closed the door on other swimmers,” he said. “We don’t know when the next champion will walk into one of our swimming pools; so we encourage anyone interested in swimming to take part in our activities, especially our Summer Swim School.”
