| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rafed Ziad El-Masri | ||||||||||||||
| National team |  Germany Syria | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1982-08-10)10 August 1982 (age 42) Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony,West Germany | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 88 kg (194 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Zehlendorfer TSV von 1888 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Rafed Ziad El-Masri (Arabic:رافد زياد المصري; born August 10, 1982) is a German former swimmer of Syrian origin, who specialized in sprint freestyle events.[1] He is also a four-time national champion forGermany, and a gold medalist for themen's 50 m freestyle event at the2006 Asian Games inDoha, Qatar, representing his ancestral homelandSyria.
El-Masri was born and raised inClausthal-Zellerfeld,Lower Saxony, bySyrian immigrants, whom his father studied geology at theClausthal University of Technology.[2] He moved toBerlin at the age of five, where he eventually started swimming. At the peak of his sporting career, he had won several titles at the national championships for both long and short course swimming events. He also held a dual citizenship for Germany and Syria, which made him eligible to compete in future international competitions.[citation needed]
In 2004, El-Masri became a member of SG Neukölln swimming club inBerlin, and also, trained for the German national team. However, he decided to compete instead for the Syrian Olympic team at the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens. He qualified for themen's 50 m freestyle event, and swam in the eighth heat against four other competitors including Croatia'sDuje Draganja, who eventually won the silver medal in this event. El-Masri finished in fourth place of his assigned heat, with an impressive time of 22.58 seconds. He nearly missed out of the semi-final rounds, as he placed eighteenth in the overall rankings, tying his position with two-time Olympic championAlexander Popov ofRussia, andJohan Kenkhuis of the Netherlands.[citation needed]
El-Masri continued to compete for Syria at two FINA World Championships (2005 inMontreal, and2007 inMelbourne), but failed to reach his personal best times set at the Olympics. He also won a gold medal for themen's 50 m freestyle at the2006 Asian Games inDoha, Qatar, with an impressive time of 22.41 seconds, just ahead of Japan's Makoto Ito, and China'sCai Li.[3]
Having won the gold medal at the Asian Games, El-Masri made certain doubts in his decision if he could swim for either Syria or Germany, because of his dual citizenship.[4] In 2008, he qualified for theSummer Olympics inBeijing, after finishing second in the 50 m freestyle event at German national trials, just behindSteffen Deibler, with a time of 21.80 seconds. Shortly before the games, El-Masri was given a chance byFINA to switch nationalities, after having represented his country of origin at the previous Olympics, and at the World Championships.[5]
Representing his adopted nationGermany, El-Masri competed in themen's 50 m freestyle, along with his compatriot Deibler, who finished ahead of him in the trials. He challenged seven other swimmers on the twelfth heat, including heavy favoritesAmaury Leveaux of France and three-time OlympianStefan Nystrand of Sweden. El-Masri finished behind U.S. swimmerBen Wildman-Tobriner in fourth place by 0.21 of a second with a time of 21.96 seconds. El-Masri recorded a tenth fastest time in the preliminary heats to advance further into the semifinals.[6][7] The following morning, El-Masri fell short in his bid for the final, as he finished the semifinal run with a third slowest time of 22.09 seconds.[8]
Asian Games champions in men's50 m freestyle | |
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