Swimming
Alaa Maso made his second Olympics appearance when representing the Refugee Olympic Team in the swimming on Thursday.
The 24-year-old left Syria with his brother Mohamad Maso and settled in Germany in 2016, and they then both competed at Tokyo 2020.
Alaa took part in the men’s 50m freestyle, while Mohamad represented Syria in the triathlon.
This time around, Alaa Maso went in the men’s 50m freestyle again, finishing sixth in his heat with a time of 23.90, which was not enough to make the semi-finals.
“I’m no longer that unsure guy from Tokyo, who had never been to such events!” Maso had told Olympics.com ahead of his second Olympics.
“I’m more experienced and I know how to deal with the pressure of competition, so I'm really excited to be returning. It will be an even higher amount of excitement that will likely hit me in Paris with the crowd, so I can’t wait.”
Three years ago, Maso clocked 23.30 in his Tokyo 2020 heat, and was once more just outside his personal best with a 23.90 in Paris.
The 24-year-old, born on the very first day of the new millennium – 1 January, 2000 – was the 47th fastest out of 73 swimmers overall, with Australia’s Cameron McEvoy posting the benchmark time of 21.32 ahead of Thursday evening’s semis and Friday’s final.
Maso counts legends Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe as his idols, and spoke to Olympics.com last year about hs meeting with Phelps -
“Suddenly, out of nothing, Phelps entered the room and I was like, ‘Am I awake?’” Maso said. “That was a very nice surprise. I think one of the best I ever had in my life. My jaw wasn’t closed the whole conversation from the moment he entered the room.”
Maso he initially took up swimming aged four before joining a club in Syria aged seven. He and his brother then lived in the Netherlands before settling in Germany, where he trained at the Olympic Training Centre in Berlin.
Their story mirrors that of Yusra Mardini, the swimmer who fled Syria, settled in Germany and went on to represent the Refugee Olympic Team at Rio 2016. Along with her sister, Sara, they were the subjects of the film “The Swimmers”, released in 2022.