Three swimmers from the Trojan Swim Club in California including Bermuda’s Julian Fletcher are all looking for big things this week as they take to the National Sports Center Pool to compete in the Validus Bermuda Nationals Swimming Championships.
Fletcher is hoping that he could meet the requirement for the B Standard for the 100m Breaststroke, Fletcher said, “My best chance is in the 100m Breaststroke, I really want to make that B time as it would prove to me that the hard work does payoff.”
Azad al-Barazi, a Saudi-born, California-raised Olympic swimmer of Syrian descent is hoping to give some hope to young people back in Syria. It has been a complicated few years for al-Barazi, a decorated athlete. Since Syria's civil war began years ago, he's worn many hats: Son, brother, student, teammate, lifeguard, 2012 Olympian and 2016 Olympic hopeful. But he's also the most prominent bridge in the sports world between Americans and Syrians.
al-Barazi said, “With so much going on in Syria, I am hoping that my accomplishments of making it to Rio will help encourage and inspire others that anything is possible.”
Rafael Alfaro is a El Salvador swimmer who competed in the Men's 400m Individual Medley. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he finished 35th overall in the heats in the Men's 400 meter Individual Medley, Alfaro said, I am looking to become the second person to reach the A Qualification Time for Rio and that would mean for the first time in the Country’s History that two swimmers would have accomplished the A Qualification time for the Olympics at the same time.”
