Kuwaiti Swims to Make a Point

As the deadline for war looms in the Persian Gulf, Kuwaiti swimmer Sultan Al-Otaibi is making a small gesture of defiance on the other side of the world.

The 20-year-old says he braved the desert and Iraqi patrols to flee Kuwait, then exiled himself to the German winter just so he could represent his country at the World Swimming Championships.

“I want my flag, the flag of Kuwait, to go up here,” he said. “I want the world to know that Kuwait had everything, that we had sport and everything in life, and now we have nothing.”

Al-Otaibi is the lone athlete among a three-member Kuwaiti delegation. Iraq did not send a team to the world championships.

When Saddam Hussein’s forces invaded Kuwait last Aug. 2, Al-Otaibi had only been back in his country for less than 24 hours after training in Germany.

Five days after the invasion, he said, he and his father packed up the family and drove for 22 hours across the desert to the safety of Saudi Arabia.

“We saw an Iraqi patrol about two kilometers away and they saw us, but they did nothing,” he said.

“I have heard nothing since I left Saudi Arabia,” Al-Otaibi said. “I have put it all out of my mind, read nothing and listened to no news, so that I can concentrate on swimming.

“I am a sportsman, not a politician.”