Kuwaiti swimmer wins women’s freestyle heat

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 12, (Agencies): Kuwaiti swimmer Faye Hussain Sultan won her heat in the women’s 50m freestyle race in the on-going Rio Olympics. Sultan’s time 26.86s, was not good enough to qualify for the next round even though she came first in Heat 5.

Several swimmers were listed with the wrong qualifying times coming into the Rio Olympics. World governing body FINA was able to correct some mistakes, including that of a Kuwaiti swimmer competing under the International Olympic Committee flag because her country’s national committee has been suspended from taking part in the games.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain reported that 17 swimmers from 16 countries still had qualifying times that didn’t match the actual results from last year’s world championships in Kazan, Russia. All were admitted to the games under the “universality rule,” which is designed to spread the sport to developing countries that would not otherwise have qualified. FINA said the Olympic competition was not affected by the botched times, but there were renewed questions about the murky way swimming is governed and organized. “For us, there is no question over the eligibility of the swimmers to compete and we have even gone slightly over the 900-swimmer quota,” FINA said in a statement early Friday.

“The mistakes, if any, did not have any impact whatsoever to the outcome of the competition and to the athletes’ participation.” FINA did change the qualifying times for several dozen swimmers, as well as some relay times for major teams such as Italy and Hungary.

The times determine heats and lane assignments during the preliminaries. Further confusing matters, FINA hastily added seven Russian swimmers to its entry list just before the start of competition last Saturday, after they were initially barred from the games over their country’s massive doping scandal. No explanation was given for why the swimmers were allowed to compete, but the decision sparked heated criticism from several athletes, most notably American Lilly King.

One swimmer initially listed without a time was Kuwait’s Sultan, who competed as an independent athlete in Rio because her country’s national Olympic committee was suspended by the IOC for alleged government interference in several sports federations.

The 21-year-old Sultan, who recently graduated from Williams College in the United States, competed last year at worlds and posted a time of 27.63 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle. But when that wasn’t listed in her Rio entry, she was assigned to the opening heat with less-accomplished swimmers.

The mistake was initially missed because she didn’t have a representative at the team leader meeting held before the start of the games, where mistakes are supposed to be rectified. As an independent athlete, she’s being coached by her college coach, Steve Kuster, who arrived in Rio after the meeting.

“She had gotten here a day or two before me and noticed that she was entered with no time,” Kuster said. “She was in the very first heat.” From there, the coach said, it was “a very long trek to get it right.” Finally, the issue was resolved and Sultan competed in the fifth of 12 Heats on Friday.

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