Ahmed Gebrel (born January 22, 1991) is a former Olympic swimmer who was born in Cairo (Egypt) for a Palestinian father and Egyptian mother. He started swimming in Al-Ahly Sporting Club in Egypt at young age (4 years). At that time he used to hold only the Palestinian nationality so at age 15 he could represent his country Palestine in 2006. He hold the Palestinian Swimming Records in: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle, as well as the 200m and 400m Individual Medley. Ahmed is the first and the only Palestinian swimmer to competes twice in the Olympic Games; he participated at the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He won many titles and various awards during his career representing Al-Ahly Sporting club in Egypt, Club Natacion Piera and Club Natacion Barcelona in Spain, and in international competitions representing Palestine. Moreover, he competed in four World FINA Championships in Rome 2009, Shanghai 2011, Barcelona 2013 & Kazan 2015. He retired in 2016 and started his career as a swimming coach to share the passion he has for swimming with everyone. He lives in United Arab Emirates since 2016, he became a competition Squads program manager in one of the well known sports centers in Dubai besides that he works for Abu Dhabi Sports Channel as a commentator.

Olympic career

He represented Palestine at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he competed in the Men's 400 metre freestyle, finishing in 27th place in the heats. He finished 3rd in his heat, however, he managed to break his own personal best by 9.89 seconds. With no competition-sized pool being available in Palestine, he prepared for the Olympic Games in Barcelona for a period of 4 months. After his achievement in London 2012, he received an Olympic scholarship in Barcelona to continue his professional career as an international swimmer. Ahmed made history by representing Palestine in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, as he was the first and so far only Palestinian swimmer to compete twice at the Olympic Games. He completed in the Men's 200 metre freestyle, finishing in the 47th place in the heats.

References

External links

* 1991 births Living people Palestinian male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of Palestine Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics {{Palestine-swimming-bio-stub