Ahmed Jaouadi Claims Swimming World African Male Swimmer of the Year Honors
As an Olympic champion and stalwart on the world stage, Ous Mellouli can be credited as the man who put Tunisian swimming on the map. Years later, through an Olympic-title run in Tokyo, Ahmed Hafnaoui provided the African country with its next star in the pool.
These days, Ahmed Jaouadi is carrying the Tunisian banner.
The 2024 campaign elevated Jaouadi into the upper echelon of distance swimming, as the 19-year-old excelled at two major international competitions. Initially, there was success at the Olympic Games in Paris, where Jaouadi was a factor in three individual events. Meanwhile, Jaouadi punctuated his year with multiple medal-winning performances at the World Short Course Championships. That combination of success made the Tunisian an easy choice as Swimming World’s 2024 African Male Swimmer of the Year.
Making his Olympic debut in Paris, Jaouadi narrowly missed qualifying for the final of the 400-meter freestyle, as his ninth-place mark from the preliminary heats left him .44 shy of the final eight. But that swim also served as a jumpstart for Jaouadi, who followed with finals appearances in the 800 freestyle and the 1500 freestyle.
In the 800 free, Jaouadi clocked a time of 7:42.83 to claim fourth place, one spot off the podium on the biggest stage in his sport. A few days later, his time of 14:43.35 in the 1500 freestyle handed Jaouadi a sixth-place finish, and wrapped up a meet that can only be described as a stellar Olympic debut.
Still, there was more to come in 2024, thanks to Jaouadi’s decision to attend December’s World Short Course Championships in Budapest. Placing a bow on his year, Jaouadi medaled in a pair of events at Worlds, highlighted by a gold medal in the 1500 freestyle. On the strength of a time of 14:16.40, Jaouadi edged veteran Florian Wellbrock (14:17.27) for the title. For good measure, Jaouadi secured the bronze medal in the 800 freestyle, where he set an African record of 7:31.93.
Certainly, the future appears promising for Jaouadi, who is carrying the tradition established by his countrymen Mellouli and Hafnaoui. In the final world rankings (long course) for 2024, Jaouadi sat 17th in the 400 freestyle, fourth in the 800 free and seventh in the 1500 free.
“To be honest, I wasn’t the favorite,” Jaouadi said of his short-course world title. “I wans’t expecting to win, but I was expecting to medal. I was thinking second or third, but I wasn’t expecting first. This is good.”
And just the start.
African Male Swimmer of the Year
- Ahmed Jaouadi (Tunisia)
- Pieter Coetze (South Africa)
- Jaouad Syoud (Algeria)
- Matthew Sates (South Africa)
- Chad Le Clos (South Africa)
