Oussama Mellouli, 37, has inspired many over his impressive sporting career, both for his charisma and athletic performance.
Two-time Olympic champion in open water and swimming (1500m), the Tunisian athlete is a long distance swimming icon. If he successfully clinches one of the very few spots (15 for the men) in Setubal (POR) on Sunday at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2021, he would become just the fourth swimmer in history to compete in six Olympics (behind Therese Alshammar SWE, Lars Frolander SWE and Derya Buyukuncu TUR).
Obviously everybody is here to qualify for Tokyo. But only the top 10 will automatically get a qualification and also the first one of each continent will get there too. So my goal is that either one of those options will work for me,”
“I have swam here in 2012 and 2016 and I have done pretty well in these waves and conditions. Let’s see if I can do the same five years later.”
Commenting about this weekend’s forecast which is quite mild and windy, he added: “Personally I prefer when it’s colder outside, that’s just my personal preference. The wetsuit is going to be tricky, I haven’t raced in a wetsuit in my entire career so this is the first time I put one on today. They are designed to go all the way so it will be an adjustment for me.”
The past year did not come without challenges for the Tunisian as Mellouli had to delay his retirement to one year after the postponement of the Olympic Games to 2021.
“It has been a very interesting year for everybody I think. To find an open pool back in April last year was tricky and then waiting on the decision about the Olympics going ahead or not for a guy like me that is going to edge towards the end of my career... I have had to postpone my retirement by one year and it has been extra tough on me to do that. But yeah, we managed to work it out. Everybody around the world is excited to get a chance to compete and go to Tokyo and I am definitely one of those. It definitely wasn’t easy.”
Racing opportunities have been rare for him as the Marathon Swimming Qualifier is only the second meet of the year for Mellouli, after he competed in the FINA Marathon Swim Series (10km) in Doha in March 2021.
In addition to his two Olympic gold medals, Mellouli won five World titles as well as one bronze medal in London 2012 and two silver and four bronze medals at the World Championships.
After the Tokyo Games, Mellouli is planning some time off, spending time with his family in the Mediterranean, in Tunisia, and enjoy summer.