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 Just 10-years-old, Tareq became the youngest ever competitor to race
at the world championships when she competed in the heats of the
women's 50-metre butterfly.
Hopelessly out of her depth, she finished a distant last among the
64 competitors, reaching the end of the pool in a time of 41.13
seconds, almost 16 seconds behind the leading qualifiers.
"I am so happy to be here,” she told reporters. “I want to be able
to learn the techniques and how they swim."
Although Tareq didn't come anywhere near the minimum qualifying
times to compete at the world championships, she was allowed to
compete because of a rule allowing each nation to have some limited
representation.
“I am the fastest swimmer in Bahrain, and so they chose me," she
said.
FINA does not currently have any minimum age limits for competitors
but sources said that was likely to be reviewed in the future.
Tareq's participation in the sport's most prestigious global
championship drew a mixed response.
British freestyle sprinter Fran Halsall, said she didn’t "know what
to make of it", adding: "She’s tiny, but good on her to have a go.
Bless her.”
Germany's former world champion Franziska van Almisick, a child
prodigy in the early 1990s, qualified for the 1991 world
championships when she was just 13.
But she was not allowed to compete because the minimum age limit at
the time was 14.
"I was allowed to start in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and I think
14 is a good age for it,” she told German media.
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So small, her feet couldn't reach the floor from the seats in the
waiting room where swimmers gather before their races, Tareq said
the response from other competitors had generally been positive.
“A few of them have been surprised to see me swim here,but they have
always asked my name and how old my name," she said.
Tareq, who said she started to swim in 2009, is also entered in the
50m freestyle, and because she competed at the world championships,
she could be eligible to swim at next year's Rio Olympics.
“I want to participate in the Olympics but I don't want to be the
last one there," she said, adding that she has big plans for the
future.
"It's hard for me to beat the world record now but I can do it when
I am older. When I am aged 15 or 16 I can do that I think.”
(Editing by Julian Linden)
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