Kuwait’s First Female Olympic Swimmer Going to Rio Despite Ban

Kuwait’s first female Olympic swimmer, Faye Sultan, will compete at the Rio Olympics despite the ban that has been imposed on her country.

After NCAA Championships in March, where Sultan represented Williams College, she was contacted by the Kuwaiti Federation regarding her participation in the Olympics this summer.

Sultan successfully obtained permission to compete in Rio, thus beginning her second journey to the Olympics.

In 2012, Sultan become the first woman to swim for Kuwait at the Olympics after qualifying to swim the 50 free. In London, Sultan swam the 50 free in a time of 27.92 to earn her 48th place in a field of 73 competitors.

Kuwait has been banned from the Olympics by the IOC due to government interference in the Olympic movement. The ban, which was imposed in October, will likely not be lifted before the Rio Games, therefore meaning that Kuwait as a country will not be able to compete in the Olympics.

Sultan thought that the ban would be the end of her hopes for Rio, but learned that she would be able to attend the Games, just not representing Kuwait. Sultan has been chosen to represent the IOC during the Olympics, meaning she will march with the Olympic flag.

Sultan reflects on how her experiences four years ago will differ from this year’s Games. “For a lot of my training for the London Games, I had to practice in a pool that was meant to teach little kids how to swim,” Sultan recalled. “I did not have four years of Williams swimming under my belt before London and I quite literally went from swimming in kiddie pools to the Olympics. This time around I am a lot more prepared and I am confident that the past four years of Williams swimming is going to help me achieve my goals.”

Sultan graduated Williams College in June with a B.S. in geoscience, but is putting her future on hold to prepare for the Rio Games.