FINA Athletes’ Scholarships: already a fruitful strategy

Khader Bagalah (JOR), Marcelo Jimenez (ESA) and Naomi Ruele (BOT) do not know each other. But they all share common characteristics: they are young swimmers, coming from countries not used to shine at the highest level; they benefit from the new FINA Athletes Scholarship programme and, as a consequence, they all bettered their performances in the last months. With one hope: to get the Olympic qualification. There, in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), they will have perhaps the opportunity to meet and share their experiences.

Within its FINA Development Programme, a number of young promising athletes aspiring to participate in the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have been selected to benefit from an annual FINA scholarship helping them prepare for international competitions, train in a high-level environment and hopefully achieve a “B” standard time over their cursus.

The FINA Scholarship Programme offers the opportunity to obtain financial and technical assistance for one potential elite athlete that has been put forward and proposed by its National Federation (NF). Under FINA’s control, the NFs are solely responsible to manage the scholarship funds and provide the selected athletes with the best possible high performance environment.

Three different programmes are available – the short-term programme (3 months), the medium-term programme (3-6 months) and the long-term programme (6-12 months). In some cases, the athletes train in their home country while in other cases, the athletes train abroad in a centre certified by FINA, depending on the facilities available within their own nation.

FINA follows carefully the scholarship recipients to keep track of the progress, times and latest improvement.

Jordan’s Khader Bagalah, 17, has benefitted from this programme since 2014. The young Middle-East talent has been training since eleven years. With an impressive training routine which includes around seven water sessions and three strength sessions and various other physicals, Khader is known for his excellent endurance and impeccable technique in all four strokes.

Achieving a “B” standard time in the 200m freestyle (1:51.67) at the FINA World Championships in Kazan (RUS) last summer and excellent results at the 8th Asian Age Group Championships in Bangkok, Khader is the first ever Jordanian swimmer to achieve a qualifying time for the Olympic Games.

Khader Bagalah (JOR) results

El Salvador’s biggest swimming hope, Marcelo Alberto Acosta Jimenez, 20, has shown improvement at every single event in 2015. He qualified for the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing 2014 (CHN) and trains in the high-level training Centre in Davie, Florida, USA.
The youngster also reached the “B” cut in Kazan in the 1500m freestyle and his ultimate goal is to make an “A” mark for the same distance to ensure his presence at the Olympics. Never before an El Salvadorian athlete qualified for the Games with an “A” standard time.

Marcelo Jimenez (ESA) results

19-year-old Naomi Ruele from Botswana increased her work capacity since the beginning of the programme and is now capable to compete several events in a two-hour dual meet.
Great competitor Naomi managed to break a school record in a 50m freestyle event, making her coaches very optimistic for her to make the final cut to go to the NCAA Championships.
Coming back on her year 2015, Naomi said: “I have had a lot of ups and downs in the start of the year but I have been constantly improving in the water and out of the water. I am very satisfied with where I am going into 2016. With the help of my coaches, this year is definitely looking to be a great one.”

Naomi Ruele (BOT) results