Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli: 1500m freestyle Beijing Olympic champion
Tunisian born, Oussama Mellouli is an African swimmer who specialises in the distant freestyle and individual medley events. He started his career in 2003 which nourished steadily with time, until the catastrophic drug discovery of 2006 got him in hot waters.
Currently, the African Record holder trains at a club of University of South California.
The high moment of his career came at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships when he won the 1500m freestyle in 14:37.28 minutes. The effort has been hailed as his second best performance ever. He even grabbed a gold medal in the 1500m freestyle at the 2008
Beijing Olympics. Mellouli emerged on the world arena at the 2003 Barcelona World Championships, where he earned a bronze medal in the 400m Individual Medley.
He won his first international gold medal at the 2004 FINA Short Course Championships in Indianapolis, where he swam the 400m IM and earned his mark. The same year in the 2004 Athens Olympics, he got the 5th spot in 400 Individual Medley and chalked
an African Record in the aisles of history.
Mellouli’s performance improved at the 2005 Montreal World Aquatics Championships, where he secured two bronze medals in the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley. At the Spanish 15th Mediterranean Games in 2005, his elevated performance in
his swims of 200m medley, 400m medley and 800m freestyle got him gold medals. His performance at the championships met the expectations of viewers and many coaches speculated a promising career for the African swimmer.
At the 2006 U.S Open Championships, he defeated Michael Phelps by finishing the 400m Individual Medley in 4:15.61 minutes, while Phelps had completed the same in 4:18.32 minutes. This swim was however nullified under an 18-month doping ban after Mellouli’s
positive doping report in 2007.
The year 2007 was full of unexpected turn of events for Mellouli. On February 19, he swam at the University of Missouri and broke his own record that he made at the 2003 Grand Prix. At the World Championships in Australia held in March, Mellouli swam the
400m freestyle in 3:45.12 minutes to secure a silver medal.
A few weeks after the championships, doping test reports emerged that Mellouli had been tested positive for a substance that has been banned at the 2006 U.S Open. It also surfaced that the Tunisian authorities were well aware of the positive results but
did nothing more than giving him a warning. Then FINA, an international body for sports who has strict rules regarding drug use took up the case to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
CAS gave his ruling on September 11, 2007, which enforced an 18-month ban on the player. His suspension began from November 30, 2006, and consequently all his results of 2007 events and all his qualifying times for 2008 games were nullified. His ban was
to be lifted in the mid of 2008.
Then, at the 2008 Olympics, Mellouli ended the 10-year reign of Australian Grant Hackett in the 1500m freestyle. Hackett was undisputed in the Men’s 1500m freestyle meet from 1997 to 2007, but then at the Olympics, Mellouli touched the wall just before Hackett
and won the gold medal.
Then at 2009 World Championships in Rome, Mellouli won a gold medal in 1500m freestyle and two silver medals in 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle, respectively. The same year at Mediterranean Games, he won five gold medals in 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle
and 200m and 400m IM.
The Olympic champion remain undisputed in the 1500m freestyle at 2010 Dubai World Championships, where he won a gold in his main event, a silver medal in 400m IM and two bronze medals in 200m and 400m freestyle.
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