Farida Hisham Osman ( ar, فريدة هشام عثمان; born 18 January 1995) is an Egyptian competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who specializes in butterfly and freestyle events. An All-Africa Games gold medalist and Egyptian national champion and record-holder. Osman is the fastest female swimmer in Egypt and Africa, she is currently coached by

Teri McKeever Teri McKeever (born c. 1962) is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. She has been the head coach of the California Golden Bears women's swimming team at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1993. Her Cal Bears teams have won ...

. Osman holds the senior national records for all the butterfly, freestyle and backstroke events, as well as African records in the 50m and 100m butterfly.

Early life

Daughter to dentists Hisham Osman and Randa Elsalawy, Osman was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

in 1995, and raised in Cairo, Egypt. She started swimming at the age of five at the

Gezira Sporting Club The Gezira Sporting Club ( ar, نادى الجزيرة الرياضى, transliteration:''nādī al-ǧazyrah al-reyādī'') is the largest multi-sport facility in Egypt. It was founded in 1882 and was originally called Khedivial Sporting Club. I ...

with her brother Ahmed. Osman started at the Oasis French School in Cairo but then transitioned to the French Embassy's

Lycée Français du Caire In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

. She studied at the

Cairo American College Cairo American College (or CAC) is a Pre-K–12 International American School located in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt. It caters mainly to dependents of the local American embassy and other international students. Cairo American College is a not for-profit ...

Career

Osman took a break from swimming to pursue her synchronized swimming passion. At the age of 11, she returned to swimming and won all the 50m and 100m freestyle and butterfly national titles, earning the "Best Swimmer" trophy. At the age of 12, she was selected to represent Egypt at the 11th Pan Arab Games in Cairo, Egypt. She was the youngest athlete on the team and participated in the 50m, 100m freestyle, and the 50m and 100m butterfly. Osman broke the Arab record for the 50m butterfly, where she became the youngest Egyptian and Arab athlete ever to win the event and break the record. She finished 6th in the 100m butterfly. Kazan 2015 - 50m butterfly Farida Osman

The same year she competed at the All Africa Games and finished fifth in the 50m butterfly with a time of 28.95. Osman continued her career by participating in various international competitions, such as the International Sindlefingen Swimming Competition (ISSC), where she competed in all sprint events in backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle. She received the 2nd-place trophy for best sprinters in the competition. At 13, Osman traveled to the United States for a summer camp, where she swam for the Bear Swimming Team in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. She participated in various competitions such as RESLs, Junior Olympics, Sectionals, and Far Westerns where she was in the top 10 places of her year group.

Major achievements

3rd FINA Junior World Championship, Lima, Peru

At the 3rd FINA

FINA World Junior Swimming Championships The FINA World Junior Swimming Championships (or "Junior Worlds") is a swimming championship event organized by FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as Worl ...

, held in Lima, Peru, Osman was one of the biggest surprised at the competition. In a world junior championship record time of 26.69, she became the world junior champion in the 50m butterfly, placing Egypt 11th on the medalists charts, the highest rank any African or Arab nation has reached in a long time.Lima 2011, Day 6: Great success: 42 Championships Records and 19 nations with medals
. FINA.org. Retrieved 3 April 2014. In the 100m butterfly, Osman placed 15th with a time of 1:02.18.

13th FINA World Championship, Rome, Italy

At the 13th FINA 2009 World Aquatic Championships, held in Roma, Italy, Osman was among the youngest swimmers at the competition. She placed 66th in the 50m Freestyle, clocking 26.77. She also placed 50th in the 50m Butterfly with a time of 27.78, making her the fastest swimmer in the world for her age group. Moreover, she placed 87th in the 100m free (59.45) and 64th in the 100m butterfly (1.03.21).

8th Junior African Championship, Mauritius

Shortly after the world championships, Osman went to Mauritius to represent Egypt at the 8th Junior African Championship. She placed 1st in the 50m freestyle, setting a new Junior African record with a time of 26.36. Similarly, in the 50m Butterfly, her strongest event, she broke another Junior African record with a time of 27.60. Dominating in the sprinting events, Osman also won the gold medal in the 50m backstroke with a record time of 31.04. In her remaining events, Osman won the silver medal in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:03.16, finishing second to South Africa's Vanessa Mohr. In both the 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke, Osman finished 3rd place.

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, Osman represented Egypt in the 50m freestyle event beside her teammate Shehab Younis. Osman finished 42nd with a time of 26.34.

2013 World Aquatics Championships

Osman competed in four events at the

2013 World Aquatics Championships The 15th FINA World Championships ( ca, Campionat Mundial de Natació de 2013, es, Campeonato Mundial de Natación de 2013) were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.African Record of 26.12s. Osman is the first Egyptian to qualify for a final at the

World Aquatics Championships The FINA World Championships or World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships for aquatics sports: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. They are run by FINA, and all swimming events ar ...

in Egyptian history. On 3 August 2013, Osman finished 7th in the women's 50m butterfly final with a time of 26.17s respectively for Egypt. This is the best ranking ever by an Egyptian pool swimmer in a major international competition.

2017 FINA World Championships

At the 2017 FINA World Championships, Osman competed for Egypt and won the bronze model in the 50m butterfly event with the new African record of 25.39s. In the 50m freestyle event, she also set a new African record at 24.62s, which gave her the 9th place.

2017 NCAA Swimming Championships

At the 2017 NCAA championships, Osman won first place in 100 Yard butterfly. She also won first place in the 200 Yard freestyle relay and the 200 Yard medley relay, which she anchored both. She won third place in the 400 Yard freestyle relay.

2018 Mediterranean Games

At the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain, Osman competed for Egypt in four events and won three medals, two gold and one silver. In the 50m freestyle, Osman won the gold medal with the new Mediterranean Game record of 24.83s. Osman won the gold medal in the 50m butterfly, with the new Mediterranean Game record of 25.48s. In the 100m butterfly, Osman won the silver medal with a time of 58.51s. In the 100m freestyle, Osman qualified but did not compete in the finals. She was the fourth most successful individual athlete at the Games.

Personal bests

Awards and honours

She was named the Best Female Athlete from Africa by the Association Of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in 2017. She was awarded the Mohamed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Creative Sport Award for Distinguished Athlete Achievement in Sport in 2017. She won the African Female Swimmer of the Year title in Swimswam.com's Swammy Awards in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. She was selected as the 2017 Female African Swimmer of the Year by the Swimming World magazine. She was the recipient of the Tom Hansen Medal as the top female athlete for the 2016/17 season at the University of California Berkeley. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Osman, Farida 1995 births Living people Egyptian female swimmers Female butterfly swimmers Egyptian female freestyle swimmers Swimmers from Indianapolis Sportspeople from Cairo Olympic swimmers of Egypt Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Egypt Swimmers at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Swimmers at the 2018 Mediterranean Games African Games gold medalists for Egypt African Games medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming African Games silver medalists for Egypt Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games Swimmers at the 2015 African Games Swimmers at the 2019 African Games BBC 100 Women Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics American people of Egyptian descent 20th-century Egyptian women 21st-century Egyptian women