Bayan Jumah (Arabic: بيان جمعة) is a Syrian swimmer from Aleppo who specializes in butterfly and freestyle events.[1] An ISG silver medalist and Syrian national champion and record-holder.[2] Jumah was the second Syrian female swimmer to compete at the Olympic Games, following Marella Mamoun in 2000.[3]

Bayan Jumah
Bayan Jumah in 2017
Personal information
National team SYR
Born (1994-04-13) April 13, 1994 (age 30)
Aleppo, Syria
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle, Breaststroke
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing  Syria
FINA Swimming World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Dubai 4x50 medley relay mixed
Islamic Solidarity Games
Silver medal – second place 2017 Baku 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Palembang 200 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Baku 50 m breaststroke

Career

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In 2007, Jumah was picked for the national team, in which she managed to break three national records in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle events.[3] At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she withdrew from a heat in the 50 metre freestyle in which she would have faced Olympian Anya Gostomelsky, refusing to swim alongside an Israeli.[4][5] Gostomelsky set a new Israeli national record in the race.[4] Asked what her reaction was, Gostomelsky said: "I didn't notice that the lane was empty. That's her problem."[4][6][7] In 2009, she won her first international medal at the Arab Games in Jordan.[3]

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's 100 metre freestyle, finishing in 40th place overall out of 48 swimmers in the first round heats, failing to qualify for the second round.[8] In 2013, she broke several national records in swimming, including the 100m and 200m freestyle and the 100 m breaststroke events, at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

She also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Women's 50 m freestyle and finished 49th with a time of 26.41 seconds.[9] In 2019, she finished 7th in the 50m freestyle event at the Asian Age Group Championships in Bengaluru, India; hence, she did not qualify to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Bayan Jumah". London 2012. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Bayan JUMAH | Results | FINA Official".
  3. ^ a b c d "Syria's Bayan Jumah eager to make another Olympic splash". ESPN. 25 September 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Gostomelsky breaks Israeli record in 50m freestyle," The Jerusalem Post.
  5. ^ "Never Forgotten," Sports Illustrated.
  6. ^ "They’ve got spirit? No they don’t! When countries refuse to compete against Israel in the Olympics," Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  7. ^ "Another Israeli Record-Breaker, Another Political Sore Loser," The Forward.
  8. ^ "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 100 metres Freestyle," Olympics at Sports-Reference.com.
  9. ^ "Women's 50m Freestyle". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.