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| Human Interest | |
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Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | A teacher at his school discovered his talent for swimming and encouraged him to join the Taliss Swim Club. "I started swimming at inter-school meets and that's when the national team coach saw me and came to speak to me. He told me I had something great in me, good for me in the future. That's when I joined my swim club Taliss, the Tanzania Lifesaving Society." |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He began swimming at age seven. He took up the sport competitively at age 15. |
International Debut | |
| Year | 2010 |
| Competing for | Tanzania |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Languages | English, Swahili |
General Interest | |
| Other information | SCHOLARSHIP He was one of 36 athletes from across the world to receive a FINA Scholarship in 2017. The scholarship is designed to help the athletes to qualify and participate at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The scholarship also presented the athletes with an option to train at a FINA-approved training centre in Thailand, United States of America or Senegal. In April 2017 he began a year-long stint at the Thanyapura training facility in Phuket, Thailand. (fina.org, 01 Mar 2017; thecitizen.co.tz, 18 Apr 2017) FLOODS He was one of the volunteers who helped rescue people during the floods that hit Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in December 2011. He swam through the flooded streets to reach a young girl and her family who were stranded on their roof. "She was terrified. It was difficult because the water was so dirty, you couldn't see what you were swimming on top of and you didn't want to get cut." (thedailybeast.com, 19 Aug 2016) |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "As an Olympian, I want to be a role model and use swimming to raise awareness of peace and the unifying power of sport, while also removing obstacles to participation." (olympians.org, 11 Mar 2019) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Alexander Mwaipasi [national] |