Simon Doueihy in action during his 100m freestyle heat of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at La Défense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on July 30, 2024. (Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP)
The bar was still a little too high. After Lynn al-Hajj two days prior, it was Simon Doueihy's turn to dive into the deep end, on Tuesday morning, in the Olympic swimming pool of La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris.
Lined up at the start of the fifth series of the 100-meter freestyle, the 22-year-old Lebanese swimmer saw his adventure end with his first race. Despite an honorable second place obtained with a time of 50.10 seconds behind the Bahamian Lamar Taylor (48.84), this was not enough to finish among the 16 best times and thus qualify for one of the two semi-finals.
Originally from Ehden, Doueihy also had the distinction of being the second member of his family to participate in the Olympic Games, three years after his older sister, Gabriella, who represented Lebanon in Tokyo in 2021 and Rio in 2016. Holder of nine national records and the first Lebanese in history to go under the symbolic 50-second mark in the 100m freestyle (49.69), he finished one second and 69 hundredths behind the last qualifier, the South Korean Hwang Sun-woo, 200m freestyle world champion in Doha in 2024, who completed his series in 48.41. It was also just the turn of the Chinese favorite Pan Zhanle (48.40), who had also won gold this year at the World Championships in Qatar in the 100m freestyle, where he also broke the world record for the discipline in 46.80.
Disappointment for Lynn al-Hajj, disqualified in breaststroke
On Sunday, early in the afternoon, the youngest member of the Lebanese delegation, Lynn al-Hajj, made her Olympic debut in the women's 100m breaststroke. Already the Lebanese champion and record holder in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke at the age of 17, she was the second winner of a "universality place," reserved for athletes from nations under-represented at the Olympic Games who narrowly missed out on qualifying, awarded to Lebanese swimming.
But things went wrong for the 1.80m swimmer, whose personal best over the distance stands at 1 min 09 sec 67, recorded in Berlin last April at the Berlin Swim Open, five seconds and a bit off the world record of 1:04.13 set by American Lilly King in 2017.
Lynn el-Hajj, during a training session in a swimming pool in Metn. (Credit: Marise Nassour)
Although she finished her race in 7th place with a time of 1:10.27, the judges decided to disqualify the young Lebanese for a "technical infraction" caused by a foot movement deemed not to comply with the rules of the breaststroke, which led to the invalidation of her time. A harsh decision that did not, however, have any impact on the rest of the competition, as Hajj did not achieve the minimum required to reach the semi-finals.
At the end of the final on Monday, it was South African Tatjana Schoenmakersa, who already won silver three years ago in Tokyo, who was crowned Olympic champion in 1:05.28, ahead of China's Tang Qianting and Ireland's Mona McSharry.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
