After 10-year-old competes, swimming might enact minimum-age limit
Bahrain’s Alzain Tareq competes at the 2015 FINA world championships in Kazan on Aug. 7.
Alzain Tareq made history when, as a 10-year-old, she raced in swimming’s world championships earlier this month.
The Bahraini youth might also have forced a change in the rule book.
An international swimming federation official told Reuters that the sport will consider establishing a minimum age for competitors at future championships.
“We have age rules for the juniors, and for all the other disciplines at the world championships, but in swimming we don’t have limits,” Cornel Marculescu, the executive director for FINA, was quoted as saying.
The federation currently allows each nation to enter a minimum number of swimmers at the championships, regardless of age or qualifications.
Tareq attracted global attention, finishing 105th in freestyle and last in butterfly.
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