Oussama Mellouli


Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Trojans team based at the University of Southern California, where he studied as a computer science undergraduate and swam collegiately.
Since returning from an Adderall-related drug ban, Mellouli was the 1500 m freestyle World champion at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships with a winning time of 14:37.28, then the second-best performance of all time. Mellouli was the gold medalist in the 1500 freestyle at the 2008 Olympics, the bronze medalist in the 1500 freestyle at the 2012 Olympics, and the gold medalist in the 10 km marathon swim at the 2012 Olympics. He is the first Olympian to win medals in both the open water and the pool in a single Olympics.
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Early life

Born in Tunis, Mellouli left Tunisia at the age of 15 to study and train in France. He enrolled in USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 2003 after graduating from the Lycee Technologique du Rempart in Marseille, France. He swam for the USC Trojans under Head Coach Dave Salo and graduated in 2007 with a computer science bachelor's degree. He is a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program.

2000 Sydney Olympics

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia he finished 43rd in the 400 IM.

2001

Mellouli won 1 silver medal in the 400m IM at the 2001 Mediterranean Games, in Tunis, Tunisia.

2003

Mellouli first established himself on the world scene at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, where he won a bronze in the 400m Individual Medley finishing behind László Cseh and a world record performance from Michael Phelps.

2004

At the 2004 Olympics, he finished 5th in the 400 IM, setting the African Record in the process. He further distinguished himself at the 2004 FINA Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis, USA, where he won the first international-level gold medal in swimming for Tunisia, in the 400m IM, finishing over a second ahead of second and third-place finishers Robin Francis and Eric Shanteau. Later, at the meet, he would win bronze in the 200m IM.

2005

He was able to better his Athens mark with his bronze medal swim in the 400 IM event at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Canada. He also won the bronze medal in the 400 freestyle at that same event. He also won three gold medals at the in Almería, Spain.

2006

On 1 December 2006, Oussama Mellouli beat Michael Phelps in the 400m IM at the U.S. Open in West Lafayette: Mellouli clocked 4:15.61, ahead of Phelps with 4:18.32. This swim was subsequently placed within Mellouli's 18-month doping ban, and the results nullified, as the drug test where the banned substance was found occurred at this meet.

2007

On 19 February 2007, he broke his own African Record in the 200m individual medley for the fourth time since 2003 at the USA Swimming Grand Prix meet, held at the Mizzou Aquatic Center at the University of Missouri. He also set a new African record in the 400 meter individual medley.
On 25 March 2007, he won the silver in the 400 m freestyle at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. Three days later, on 28 March, he swam to the first Tunisian World Championship in swimming, winning the 800m freestyle in a then African Record of 7:46.95 — one of the top 10 fastest times ever. However, due to his positive drug-testing result from an in-competition test from December 2006 and the 18-month competition ban imposed on him on 11 September 2007 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, retroactive from 30 November 2006 forward, his 2007 World Championships results have been nullified. He was also a finalist in the 400 m individual medley, where he originally finished fourth in 4:11.68.
Following the 11 September 2007 ruling by CAS, Mellouli was not allowed to compete again until mid-2008. Mellouli's results from 2007 have been nullified, per his September 2007 doping suspension, related to his positive test from December 2006.

2008 Beijing Olympics

Mellouli came into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China entered two events, the 400m and 1500m freestyle events. In his first event, the 400m free, despite setting a new African record in the final, he could only manage fifth place in a time of 3:43.45. Mellouli would go on to win the 1500m freestyle and set a new African record. In doing so, he became the first African male swimmer to ever win an Olympic gold medal in an individual swimming event.

2009

Mellouli won 5 gold medals at the XVI Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Italy.
In the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, held in Rome during the summer, Mellouli won a gold medal in the 1500 meter freestyle and two silver medals in the 400 meter freestyle and 800 meter freestyle.

2010

Mellouli won 4 medals at the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships in Dubai, UAE.

2011

Mellouli won 16 medals at the 2011 Pan Arab Games in Doha, Qatar.

2012 London Olympics

Mellouli won 2 medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, UK. He became the first person to win medals in the pool and open-water swimming in the same Olympics.

2013

Mellouli won 1 gold medal in the 5km marathon at the 2013 World Championships, in Barcelona, Spain.

2016 Olympics

Mellouli participated in two competitions in Rio 2016 Summer Olympics but did not win any medals. In the 1500m freestyle, he came first in his heat with 15:07.78 but ranked 21st in the competition and thus did not qualify for the final. He also competed in the 10km marathon, finishing in 12th place with 1:53:06.

2020 Olympics

In July 2021, Mellouli had initially decided to withdraw from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo due to a dispute with the Tunisian federation for alleged forgery since 2017. However, he later announced that he would compete at the Tokyo Games, as the Tunisian Olympic Committee President Mahrez Boussian had promised to settle the dispute.

2021 Olympics

On Wednesday, August 4, 2021, Tunisian swimmer Oussama Mellouli finished 20th in the 10 km open water marathon at the Tokyo Olympics. Mellouli was thus unable to earn another medal on his sixth appearance at the Olympic Games.

2006 anti-doping rule violation and ban

Mellouli tested positive for Adderall, a banned stimulant, during the 2006 U.S. Open, but this only became publicly known after the 2007 World Championships. FINA discovered that Tunisian authorities had known about the result, but had only issued him a warning. FINA referred the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Mellouli admitted taking the drug without a prescription, saying it was to help with academic work. In September 2007, CAS imposed an 18-month ban retroactive to 30 November 2006 and also disqualified all his results from that date through 2007, including at the World Championships.

Achievements