In addition to a good portion of the Latin American crew that we’ve already posted on, the Davie Nadadores have announced a slew of other affiliated athletes who will be headed to the Olympic Games. In total, this brings the program’s list of current or former athletes who will be in London to 11.
The latest additions to Team Davie are Peru’s Mauricio Fiol, Lybia’s Sofyan El Gidi, and Kuwait’s Yousef Alaskari.
Alaskari is the most well-known of the group, as he will be headed to swim at Georgia next year. He is oine of the brightest swimmers in the Pan-Arab region, and took a pair of silver medals at the 2011 Pan-Arab Games in the 100 and 200 butterfliers (in both cases behind only the great Ous Mellouli of Tunisia). His best events are the 100 and 200 fly, where he’s got bests of 54.75/2:00.7.
He will swim under the Olympic flag, as the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee is currently under suspension.
El Gidi could be a highlight feature of the Games, as in his second-straight Olympic Games, he will be one of the few athletes from revolution-torn Libya. Since the 2008 games, he has made huge improvements, and has gotten his 100 freestyle time down from a 57.89 to a 55.77. He may actually swim the 100 fly this year, where he’s been as fast as 57.70. The 19-year old came to Florida in February, and has really made big improvements since then.
Mauricio Fiol, another teenager, from Peru, had an outstanding year in 2011. He made the A-Final at the 2011 Pan Am Games in the 200 fly with a 2:01, and was even faster in 2:00.8 to take bronze at the South American Championships. He is likely to swim the 100 fly, where he’s got a 53.65 from that same meet.
Here’s the full list of qualifiers that we know are invited so far through the Universality program:
Mauricio Fiol – Peru
Sofyan El-Gidi – Libya
Yousef Alaskari – Kuwait
Karen Vilorio – Honduras – Backstroke (FGCU)
Allan Gutierrez – Honduras – 400 Free (Southern Florida)
Vanessa Garcia – Puerto Rico – 50 Free – 25.36
Raul Martinez – Puerto Rico – 400 Free – 3:58.35
Pamela Benitez – El Salvador – 400 Free – 4:22.59 (Southern Illinois)
Rafael Alfaro – El Salvador – 200 IM – 2:05.95 (BYU)
Andrew Rutherford – Bolivia – 100 Free – 53.57 (BYU)
Karen Torrez – Bolivia – 100 Free – 58.05
Dallia Torrez – Nicaragua – 100 Fly – 1:05.71
Omar Nunez – Nicaragua – Freestyle
Esteban Enderica – Ecuador – 400 IM – 4:31.15
Samantha Arevalo – Ecuador – 800 Free – 8:51.31
Megan Fonteno – American Samoa – 100 free – 57.35 (Auburn)
Ching Maou Wei – American Samoa – 50 free – 27.64
Amini Fonua – Tonga – 100 breast – 1:04.02 (Texas A&M)
Marko Blazevski – Macedonia – 400 IM – 4:29.07 (Wingate)
Esau Simpson – Grenada – 100 Free – 53.85 (Nova Southeastern)
Andrew Chetcuti – Malta – 100 Free – 51.98 (Georgia Tech)