The third fastest swimmer in history. Egyptian woman who started swimming by chance “Who is Farida Othman?”

In one of the homes of the state of “Indianapolis” in the United States, Farida Othman, the Egyptian girl who grew up in a small family consisting of four members, was born to America, like thousands of Egyptians, and they did not know the birth of a world champion there, who will represent Egypt before the world, becoming the third The fastest swimming in history.

Farida did not complete her first year in America, until she quickly moved to Egypt, after her parents finished studying dentistry there, and in Egypt her journey with swimming started by chance. Farida, 22, says, “The matter came by chance when my brother was learning swimming and Mama told me to learn with him, so that you would not drown when you came to float, I had 4 years at the time.”

This coincidence, which led Farida to defining stations in her life, is how she described the medals she obtained, after passing a large number of tournaments one after the other, at a steady pace, to reach this young girl to the world.

Farida was able to prove herself in the world of swimming quickly and became the focus of the coaches' attention, until they asked her mother that Farida should join the swimming team at Al Jazira Club, “They told her to let her join the team so that she would be better violin and excel, so I entered the team when I was 8 years old.”

The Republic Championship is the first official tournament in which Farida participated at the age of eleven, and she was able to achieve 5 records, and the title of the best Egyptian junior swimmer, and then joined the national team after that, and from here it was a unique window to reach the African, Arab and international championships, to achieve hundreds of medals. Gold in various tournaments, “It was a very nice feeling when I started representing Egypt abroad and achieving numbers and gold medals, and the first tournament outside Egypt was the African Championship in Algeria, and from here my dream of reaching the Olympics began.”

The life of the swimming champion in Egypt was limited between the regions of Maadi and Zamalek, where school and training her favorite sport. She would wake up at seven in the morning, go to the American School in Maadi, and finish her at three in the afternoon to go to her training, which ends at nine in the evenings, and she says: “My day in Egypt was It is very difficult and tiring. I leave my house at 8 in the morning. I only come back at 9 at night, and I go back to study until I fall asleep.”

Which seemed harsh to Farida and was a reason enough for her to decide to continue her studies abroad, “I made the decision to travel to America and enter the university there, and indeed my day here is much nicer and not as busy as this. ”

Farida entered the Faculty of Economics at the University of California, and the ease of life there was a key factor in her development and obtaining world titles, the latest of which was her victory a few days ago for the first time in her career in the 100-yard butterfly race, in the university championship, in a time of 50.05 seconds, to be the third fastest female swimmer. In history, and the first Egyptian woman to achieve such a historical record in swimming.

“I am proud of all the championships that I have achieved from African championships to an Arab and international championship, and the number that I have achieved globally is the most happiest thing in my life and because of it I have been intense training recently. ”

Farida believes that the greatest credit for what she has achieved in her sports life is due to her family, “They were a key supporter in my career, especially my brother who supported me from when I was young in swimming. And she adds, "My dream, and here I am sure, is the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and I intend to prepare for it here in America."