Mellouli Brings Tunisia Gold in 10km Marathon Swim

Oussama Mellouli, the most successful Tunisian Olympian in recent memory, can add another accolade to his long list of accomplishments: a gold medal in the Men’s 10km Marathon.

Mellouli, whose previous highlights include a gold medal in the 1500 freestyle in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, finished the race with a time of 1:49:55.1 – over three seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Thomas Lurz of Germany.

Crossing the finishing line, Mellouli leapt out of the pool excaliming “Did you see me, Tunisia? I made it!” sporting his trademark ear-to-ear smile. He then prostrated on the floor, falling to his knees and thanking God for his success as the Tunisian national anthem roared across the open air.

Mellouli began the race strongly, holding on to second place at the end of the first lap. The second lap, however, saw him fall to sixth place – well out of medal contention as he lost the pace of his first lap.

Mellouli, however, was not out of the race just yet. He regained his pace, averaging about 18 minutes a lap, and clawed into second place. Although he soon fell to third, Mellouli was soon back again. Despite a dramatic slowdown between the third and fourth laps, the Tunisian swimmer dramatically sped up his time, racing towards the end and rocketing to first place. The gold medal was his alone.

The victory was particularly poignant for the 28 year old athlete, coming the same day that he announced his impending retirement from the sport on the Tunisian radio station Shems FM. Citing old injuries and the difficulty of maintaining Olympic form, Mellouli told the station that he would retire after the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, the same city and competition that launched his swimming career, to focus on his masters degree in administration and sports management.

Behind Mellouli, Lurz finished second with silver, and Canadian Richard Weinberger rounded out the pack, finishing third and receiving a bronze medal.

Mellouli’s performance at this year’s Olympic Games represents his best to date. He repeated his medal-worthy performance in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle, this time taking home the bronze.

London has proved to be particularly fruitful for the current batch of Tunisian Olympians. In addition to Mellouli’s dual medals, Habiba Ghribi took home a silver medal in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, and the handball team posted their best Olympic performance in their history, marking Tunisia’s single most successful Olympic showing in the modern era.