From Dubai swimming pool to Paris Olympics - Ahmed Durrani aims to make Pakistan proud

18-year-old Dubai English Speaking College pupil ready to represent his country of birth in French capital

Dubai pupil Ahmed Durrani will represent Pakistan in swimming at the Paris Olympics. Chris Whiteoak / The National

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When Aasif and Ambreen Durrani first took their son to a swimming pool in Dubai, the thought he might be an Olympian-in-the-making could not have been further from their minds.

All they were concerned with was finding something to occupy a typically restless young child. They had tried plenty of sports. Tennis, most recently, had not stuck.

So they sent him for a swimming lesson. The coach got him into the water, and set up some rudimentary challenges, like picking up hoops from the bottom of the pool.

Every journey has a first step. On Friday, that same swimmer, Ahmed Durrani, will be on a boat on the Seine as the youngest member of Pakistan’s seven-athlete contingent at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

The 18-year-old Dubai English Speaking College pupil will compete two days later in the 200 metres freestyle heats.

All of this is prompting a frenzy of different feelings within someone who used to while away his spare moments watching Olympic opening ceremonies on YouTube.

“Going to Paris is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I am really nervous,” Durrani said before boarding his flight from Dubai. “I know I have been dedicated and not taken any shortcuts. I am confident in what I can do.

“I am the youngest athlete from Pakistan competing so they are putting a lot of emphasis on me. There are only going to be four athletes on the boat on the Seine, so it is going to be a unique opportunity for me.

“When I was younger, I used to search the opening ceremonies on YouTube. It would always be amazing just seeing it on there, not even watching live.

Ahmed Durrani with his coach, Anis Billi, at the Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“Now for me to be in the opening ceremony, that is going to be a completely different experience. I can’t wait for it to happen.”

Durrani was born in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, but came to the UAE when he was two because of his father Aasif’s job in the construction industry.

All his swimming has been learnt in the pools of Dubai. Since that first taster session, two things quickly became apparent: that he had an aptitude for it, as well as a fierce competitiveness.

“I always had the feeling that I love to touch the wall first,” Durrani said. “When you compete and get participation medals, ever since I was a young kid I hated those participation medals. Either you come first, or forget about it.

“I loved racing people, trying to beat them and it was a good way to get things off my mind. Swimming is a unique sport. Outside the water, it is chaotic, so many things are happening so quickly, but when you are in the water it is just you and the water. Everything is silent.

“It is peaceful and tranquil. When I was younger, my only objective was to touch the wall first. As I matured, it was about becoming more efficient. How can I save energy in the most efficient manner?

“I was thinking, ‘OK, your elbow can’t drop here.’ And, ‘If they are beating you, how can you make sure you come closer to them?’ It became about the process.”

He says his thought processes have matured since his early days racing. But rejection still drives him, too.

When he first went for his school team in Dubai, he was told he was not fast enough. That was not going to stop him. His parents enrolled him in Aqua Swimming Academy, and a year later, he could not be ignored.

“I broke a record in Year 3 that, I think, still stands to this day, and the coach was really impressed with me,” he said.

Ahmed Durrani was born in Karachi, Pakistan, but came to the UAE when he was two. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Growing up outside of his homeland caused its problems, too. The first time he wanted to compete in Pakistan's national competition, aged 12, he struggled to find an opening.

Karachi, the team for which he was eligible by birth, rejected him, believing him to be too slow. He discovered a loophole that allowed him to enter on behalf of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), the region from where some of his family emanates. It was a portentous moment in his swimming life.

“It was heartbreaking for me,” he said of being rejected by Karachi. “The nationals were happening a few months from then, and they had said ‘no’ to me.

“I discovered I was eligible for another province, KPK, and luckily they gave me a shot. They said, ‘You are perfect for us.’

“I went to my first nationals in 2018 aged 12 in a tight suit, with goggles that would leak halfway through the race, but I got three national records. It surprised everyone – especially the people in Karachi. A few months before they had rejected me, now I was beating all their people.

“It gave me the platform I needed to boost my career. Rejection always drives me, and it was definitely not the first time I had been rejected from somewhere in swimming.

“It was a turning point for me. I could have got home and stayed there depressed, or find a solution. I chose to find the solution. I didn’t take it personally, but I did think that I need to prove a point here.”

In age group swimming in Pakistan he did exactly that, going undefeated for three years until joining the ranks of the open age group.

Joining senior competition meant competing internationally. It was then when he first started to foster ambitions of becoming an Olympian.

Ahmed Durrani, 18, will be the youngest member of Pakistan’s seven-athlete contingent at the Olympics. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Straight after his final GCSE he flew to Lahore for his first open-age competition. In five races, he won three gold medals and two silvers, and wasn’t far behind the times of Pakistan’s swimming entrant from the Tokyo Olympics.

“It made me think for the first time I could push for the Olympics,” he said. “Maybe I had a shot at doing this.”

Pakistan has two wildcard places at the Olympics – one male and one female. The selection is decided by the highest number of points, on a scale that relates to closeness to the world record in each discipline, as per World Aquatics regulations.

Durrani’s closest rival, Haseeb Tariq, was competing at a race in Canada, in the middle of the night Dubai time.

“I had finished my competition the day before and had arrived back in Dubai from Singapore,” he said.

“There was one guy left, the Tokyo Olympian, who was yet to race. I was with my mum and dad waiting at 3am for the result to be posted. He was in Heat 4 and we were anxiously waiting.

“My mum told me about the result first and I was jumping up and down for a solid 20 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. I felt more hyper then than I ever did as a kid.

“It was one of the best feelings I have ever had.”

Durrani exemplifies the old amateur ideals of the Olympics. He will be setting aside his computer science, maths and geography A level studies to compete, and his plans for university – in the US or Canada – are driven as much by academics as its swim programme.

Competing with the full-time pros does not even figure in his thinking – “there is no point comparing yourself to anyone else but yourself” – rather his aim is to improve his personal best.

Anis Billi, his coach at Speedo Swim Squads in Dubai, is confident his teenaged student will thrive in the pool in Paris – even if that does not manifest itself in the form of a place in the final or a medal.

Ahmed Durrani aims to improve on his national record at the Paris Games. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“He told me he was nervous because this is the first time he will be going up against swimmers from lots of different countries from a very high level,” Billi said.

“He also said he is nervous because he is representing the country of Pakistan, a country of 240 million people, a huge population. Also for his family it is an unbelievable event, and he feels the pressure of the family.

“The target for him has to be to make a PB. To make the semi-final or final at the Olympics will be very hard. The final will take 1 min 46 to 1 min 47, and Ahmed’s PB is 1 min 55.

“But he is young, just 18 years old. This is a very good step for Ahmed, and for him and his family to have the Olympics on his resume will stand him in very good step from next year.

“Next season is the last one he will have in Dubai and then he is going to university. He is a good student, and if he has Olympics on his resume, it will give him a good chance of a scholarship.”

Durrani’s own targets are simple. Firstly, to improve on his own national record of 1 min 55.68 for the 200m freestyle. And, more importantly, to be a good representative for Pakistan.

“I want to be the best role model possible,” Durrani said. “I want to share some awareness about swimming and show that cricket is not the only sport that we do.

“If the federations can get support, there is probably raw talent out there. I have seen that in KPK. If we can harness that, then who knows? Maybe one day we can get an Olympic gold.”