Ahmed Hafnaoui Explained

Ahmed Hafnaoui
Fullname:Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui
National Team:Tunisia
Birth Date:4 December 2002
Birth Place:Métlaoui, Tunisia
Height:1.95m (06.4feet)
Weight:84kg (185lb)
Strokes:Freestyle
Collegeteam:Indiana University
Coach:Jobrane Touili (2018–2021)Mark Schubert (Since 2023)
Show-Medals:yes

Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui (; born 4 December 2002) is a Tunisian swimmer. He is the African record holder in the long course 400-metre and 1500-metre freestyle, and the short course 800-metre and 1500-metre freestyle events. He competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he won a gold medal in the men's 400-metre freestyle.[1] He ranked No. 16 in the world and was the slowest qualifier for the final race but won Olympic gold with a time of 3:43.36.[2] Hafnaoui was the only Tunisian to win Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.[3] [4]

He finished 8th in the final of the 400 m freestyle at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.[5]

Hafnaoui competed as a 16-year-old at the 2018 World Championships (SC) in the 400 meters, and the 1500 meters, but failed to make the final in either events. In 2021, Fina had him ranked as No. 3 in the men's 400 meter freestyle.[6] At the age of 20, Hafnaoui competed at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, and took gold in the 800 m freestyle, as well as also winning gold for the 1500 m freestyle with the second-fastest 1500 free time in history of 14:31.54.[7]

Background

Hafnaoui's father, Mohamed Hafnaoui, was a Tunisian national team basketball player.

Hafnaoui began swimming at the age of six. He gravitated towards swimming rather than his father's sport of basketball in spite of the fact that there were just three 50-metre pools in all of Tunisia.[8] When he was 12 years of age, Hafnaoui began training with the national swim program.[9]

Career

2018

At the African Championships in Algiers, Algeria, Hafnaoui competed in the 800 meter and 1,500 meter freestyle events, as well as the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle events. He placed third in the 800 meter freestyle (8:08.74), 1,500 meter freestyle (15:45.46), and 4x100 meter men's freestyle (3:27.92), as well as second in the 4x200 freestyle (7:31.55).

At the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Hafnaoui competed in the 200 meter, 400 meter, and 800 meter freestyle events; he placed eighth in the 400 meter freestyle with a time of 3:55.94 and seventh in the 800 meter freestyle with a time of 8:04.43.

At the World Championships Short Course in Hangzhou, China, Hafnaoui competed in the 400 meter and 1500 meter freestyle events; he placed 19th in the 400 meter freestyle with a time of 3:45.98 and 17th in the 1500 meter freestyle with a time of 15:02.25.

2019

Hafnaoui competed in the 400 meter, 800 meter, and 1,500 meter freestyle events at the World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary; he placed fourth in the 800 meter freestyle with a time of 7:49.08 and sixth in the 1,500 meter freestyle with a time of 15:16.04.

2021

Hafnaoui competed in the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, where he placed first with a time of 3:43.36.[10] He is only the third swimmer in history to win an Olympic gold medal out of the 8th lane, the slowest qualifying lane. He also placed joint 10th in the 800 meter freestyle, missing qualification for the final.

In October, Hafnauoi announced he would be competing at Etihad Arena in December as part of the 2021 World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[11] He entered to compete in the 400 metre freestyle and 1500 metre freestyle events.[12] Starting his competition on day one of the championships, 16 December, Hafnaoui swum a 3:40.30 in the prelims heats of the 400 metre freestyle to rank tenth overall.[13] On Day five, Hafnaoui ranked second in the 1500 metre freestyle prelims heats, qualifying for the final with a time of 14:25.77.[14] He won the silver medal in the final of the 1500 metre freestyle on day six in an African record time of 14:10.94.[15] His time at the 800 metre mark also set a new African record in the 800 metre freestyle at 7:33.69.[16]

2023

On 11 January 2023, Hafnaoui won the gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, with a time of 7:53.10, which was over three full seconds faster than second-place finisher American Robert Finke.[17] Two days later, he won the gold medal in the 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:47.41. On the fourth day, he finished in a personal best time of 15:07.07 in the final of the 1500-metre freestyle, dropping 8.97 seconds from his previous personal best time, to win the silver medal.[18] On 1 March, he lowered his personal best time by 6.83 seconds to a 15:00.24 and won the gold medal in the 1500-metre freestyle at the second stop of the Pro Swim Series, in Fort Lauderdale, United States.[19] The following day he won the 400-metre freestyle in a time of 3:46.02.[20] On day four of four, he finished in 7:48.50 in the 800-metre freestyle and won the gold medal.[21]

At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan, Hafnaoui won gold in the 800-metre and 1500-metre freestyle events, and silver in the 400-metre freestyle. Hafnaoui will attend Indiana University in fall 2023 as a member of their men's swimming team.[22]

Personal bests

Long Course Meters
Event Time Meet LocationDate Note(s)Ref
50m freestyle 25.892020 Summer Olympics Tokyo, Japan25 July 2021 [23]
100m freestyle 53.822023 World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan23 July 2023
200m freestyle 01:49.502023 World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan23 July 2023
400m freestyle 03:40.702023 World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan23 July 2023 AF
800m freestyle 07:37.002023 World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan26 July 2023
1500m freestyle 14:31.542023 World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka, Japan30 July 2023 AF, CR

Continental records

Short course metres (25 m pool)

No.EventTimeMeetLocationDateStatusNotesRef
1800 m freestyle7:33.692021 World Short Course ChampionshipsAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates21 December 2021CurrentAF, NR
21500 m freestyle14:10.942021 World Short Course ChampionshipsAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates21 December 2021CurrentAF, NR

Awards and honours

Decoration

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 25 July 2021. Swimming HAFNAOUI Ahmed. live. 25 July 2021. Tokyo 2020. en-us. https://web.archive.org/web/20210724204526/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/swimming/athlete-profile-n1404312-hafnaoui-ahmed.htm . 24 July 2021 .
  2. Web site: Slowest to qualify, Tunisian Hafnaoui wins Olympic swimming gold. 26 July 2021. Al Jazeera. en.
  3. Web site: Kennedy. Merrit. 25 July 2021. A Young Tunisian Shocks The Swimming Field To Win Olympic Gold. live. 26 July 2021. NPR. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210725065921/https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/25/1020309605/tunisian-ahmad-hafnaoui-swimming-olympic-gold-tokyo-medal . 25 July 2021 .
  4. Web site: 25 July 2021. Tunisia wins Africa's 1st gold Olympic medal. live. 25 July 2021. The African Mirror. en-GB. https://web.archive.org/web/20210726000038/https://theafricanmirror.africa/headlines/tunisias-ahmed-hafnaoui-win-africas-1st-gold-olympic-medal/ . 26 July 2021 .
  5. News: Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui's gold medal surprised him, too . Roman . Stubbs . 25 July 2021 . . 25 July 2021 .
  6. Web site: fina.org Official FINA Website. 3 August 2021. FINA – Fédération Internationale De Natation. en.
  7. Web site: Li . Yanyan . 2023-07-30 . Ahmed Hafnaoui And Bobby Finke Become Second And Third-Fastest 1500 Freestylers Ever . 2023-11-25 . SwimSwam . en-US.
  8. Web site: He can hoop, but Olympic champ must wait to join IU swim tradition. The Indianapolis Star. November 3, 2022. June 14, 2024. Woods. David.
  9. Web site: Five things to know about Olympic champ Ahmed Hafnaoui. 31 July 2021. Tokyo 2020. en-US. 26 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210726030102/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/five-things-to-know-about-swimming-olympic-champion-ahmed-hafnaoui. dead.
  10. Web site: 25 July 2021. Shock as Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia powers to gold in 400m freestyle. 26 July 2021. The Guardian. en.
  11. https://www.arabnews.com/node/1955656/sport "Tunisia's Olympic gold medal hero Ahmed Hafnaoui to race at FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi"
  12. [FINA]
  13. [FINA]
  14. [FINA]
  15. [FINA]
  16. Hamann, Michael (21 December 2021). "Tunisia's Ahmed Hafnaoui Breaks Mellouli's African 800, 1500 Records". SwimSwam. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  17. Bregman, Scott (11 January 2023). "Tunisian star Ahmed Hafnaoui returns to competition with an impressive win over Bobby Finke at TYR Swim Series in Knoxville – Results". Olympics.com. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  18. Hy-Tek (11 January 2023). "Meet Results: 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series – Knoxville". swmeets.com. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  19. [USA Swimming]
  20. [USA Swimming]
  21. [USA Swimming]
  22. Web site: Hafnaoui Captures World Title in 800-Meter Freestyle. 1 August 2023. Indiana University Hoosiers. en.
  23. Web site: Ahmed HAFNAOUI Results World Aquatics Official . 2024-07-29 . World Aquatics . en.
  24. https://www.fina.org/news/2347884/tokyo-olympics-top-10-moments "Tokyo Olympics: Top 10 moments"
  25. https://olympics.com/en/news/swimming-tokyo-2020-olympic-games-review-watch-highlights "What we learned: Swimming wrap-up from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics"
  26. Web site: Kaïs Saïed décore les deux médaillés olympiques, Hafnaoui et Jendoubi. 2021-08-20.
  27. Serowik, Lauren (1 December 2021). "Swimming World December 2021 Presents – 2021 World Swimmers of the Year: Caeleb Dressel and Emma McKeon – Available Now!". Swimming World. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  28. Sutherland, James (20 January 2022). "SwimSwam's Top 100 For 2022: Men's #20–11". SwimSwam. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  29. Web site: Kaïs Saïed décore les deux médaillés olympiques, Hafnaoui et Jendoubi . 2024-07-27 . Espace Manager . fr.
  30. Web site: Tunisie : Ayoub Hafnaoui et Khalil Jendoubi décorés par Kais Saied . 2024-07-27 . Webdo TN . fr.