UAE veteran swimmer Obaid Al Jesmi says the ‘huge’ margin by which he won his races at the National Winter Swimming Championships last weekend shows that he is fit and ready to go the Olympics.
Al Jesmi, who represented the UAE at the Athens and Beijing Olympic as well as six World Championships, is coming off a heart surgery but managed to set a new national record in the 400IM race on Saturday, as well as finishing only a second a half short of the 200IM national record with less than four weeks of training.
The 30-year-old is fighting along with other swimmers for a sole wildcard spot at the London Games this summer, but believes he’s earned his stripes after stealing the show in the Championships last weekend, where he won all his races and won the ‘Swimmer of the Meet’ award.
His main rival for the Olympics ticket is 23-year-old breaststroke sensation Mubarak Salem Al Besher. “Look at how I beat my competitors, we’re talking 11 seconds or 15 seconds ahead. That is huge,” Al Jesmi told Sport360°.
“That shows how I deserve that wildcard and that I am still here and that age has nothing to do with it. Age is just a number.”
The swimmer is at odds with the UAE Swimming Association, which Al Jesmi says are discarding him because of his age and recent health problems, because he expressed his interest in training with the prestigious Hamilton Aquatics academy to train alongside world-class swimmers, but he says the UAESA are not allowing him to do so.
The Abu Dhabi-based swimmer has been training under national team coach Jay Benner in Dubai and the constant commuting between the capital and the northern emirate has not been easy for him. Al Jesmi explained that he has a meeting at the UAESA today to discuss several issues including the Olympics and his training situation. “I will talk to them and try to change their minds,” added Al Jesmi.
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