Paris Olympics: Swimmer Ridhwan Abubakar keen to dive deep in debut Games
Reading Time: 4min | Fri. 26.07.24. | 08:42
The 23-year-old marks a landmark achievement having battled a national swimming ban, and being forced to work his way through ranking points
The year 2024 will perhaps go down as the best ever for 23-year-old Mohamed Ridhwan Abubakar Bwana as he prepares himself for a big plunge into the Parisian waters for his Olympic Games debut.
Despite holding the slowest time out of all 38 entries set to take part in the men’s 400m freestyle event beginning Saturday 27 July, Abubakar is “honored and blessed” to see his efforts that began late last year culminate in what he hopes will be a remarkable show at the Paris La Defense Arena.
Personal Life
Abubakar was born on 15 August 2000, to Kenyan parents in the coastal city of Mombasa, and started swimming aged four, before crossing paths with coach Farkry Mansoor, who instead recruited him to Bandari Swimming Club.
It is the reason why Abubakar, looking back at the journey he has made thus far- that also includes breaking his first national record at age 15- attributes his success to the “unwavering support of my family and coach"- his strong support system.
Owing to his impressive talent, Abubakar received a scholarship to the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, where he sharpened his skills, and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2022.
Career Milestone
In addition to his national record at 15, Abubakar boasts a decorated resume that has seen him participate in various meets, including the 2016 World Short Course Championships in Windsor, Canada.
There, Abubakar participated in three events: 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly and 100m individual medley, ranking 89th and 75th respectively.
The Kenyan, now undertaking a Masters degree in Automotive Engineering Technology at the University of Bath, has also taken part in other international meets, including the 2018 FINA World Championships in China, the 2018 Africa Youth Games in Algeria, and the 2019 Summer World University Games.
Route to debut Olympics
Owing to Kenya Swimming Federation’s (now Kenya Aquatics) suspension by World Aquatics in January 2021 - and the standoff persisting till October 2023 when a new body was duly elected - Abubakar feared for the worst, as his failure to attend major events put his qualification under immense threat.
With the ban lifted, Abubakar took a deep dive into an alternate route to the Summer Games; through World Ranking rather than the Olympic qualifying standards, which he had failed to attain.
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That is when the records began to take a tumble.
November 21 at the UK Swimming Championships, Abubakar broke three national records in the 200m freestyle (1:51.08), 800m freestyle (8:22.39) and 400m freestyle short course (3:58.78).
The latter, should be noted, usurped the legendary Jason Dunford's time of 3:59.13 set in 2010.
The race for more ranking points continued the following month, when Abubakar broke his own national 400m freestyle record of 4:10.68 set in March 2022 to record a leading time of 4:08.71 in a second-place finish at the Coimbra Swimming Championships in Portugal.
That achievement saw his ranking points move from 609 to 647, but there was still more work to do heading into 2024.
In February, following a legal tussle with Kenya Aquatics, Abubakar was given the green light to take part in the World Aquatic Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he again smashed his 400m freestyle record, dipping to 4:06.44.
As if that was not enough, the “lion-hearted man” as per his former coach Mansoor, went to Vienna in May, timing a record time of 4:05.65, which saw his ranking points hit 719.
And as we know now, the final piece of brilliance and fight came on June 8 at the Golden Bear Meet in Zagreb, Croatia, where Abubakar, coached by Russian Andrei Vorontsov, timed a personal best of 4:04.39, which instead lifted his World Aquatics ranking points to 730.
Soon afterward, the good news came on 24 June, bearing his name, and that of Maria Brunlehner, as the two Kenyan swimmers, who had achieved Olympic qualification via the available Universality spots designed to ensure global representation at the Games.
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Reacting to the news, he told Nation Sport: “It is a big milestone and I haven’t let it sink in yet. Still feels like a dream until I see Paris.”
He is now in Paris, keen to break more records and enjoy the time of his life.
