{"id":2205,"date":"2018-01-02T13:49:35","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T18:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/?p=2205"},"modified":"2018-01-30T15:23:26","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T20:23:26","slug":"usc-swimmer-competes-for-international-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/usc-swimmer-competes-for-international-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"USC swimmer competes for international recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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USC’s swimming program has been strengthened recently by seeking international swimmers.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Swimmer-1.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n

Distance swimmer Akram Mahmoud who is a rising star talks with USC teammates during a practice.<\/p>\n

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South Carolina has earned a reputation as a top distance swimming program.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n

By Sarah Stone<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>CAROLINA NEWS & REPORTER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Out of all the obstacles distance swimmer Akram Mahmoud<\/a> had to overcome when he traveled 6,000 miles to the University of South Carolina, from his home in Cairo, Egypt, culture shock was not one of them.<\/p>\n

“I felt like it\u2019s home here, and I was really blessed,\u201d Mahmoud said.<\/p>\n

Mahmoud, one of the world’s top performing distance swimmers,\u00a0and head coach McGee Moody attributed Mahmoud\u2019s ease of transition to his international teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving other people on our team that have made that adjustment, that have walked through that process, it definitely has a big impact,\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n

Mahmoud, who began swimming at age 5 and winning international\u00a0competitions by 15, knew that he wanted to go to swim at a U.S. college. in the United States. The University of South Carolina\u2019s reputation as a top program<\/a> for distance swimming and international athletes helped him make the decision to head to Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve kind of become known worldwide as a program that can develop international students and then provide them the opportunity to go back and compete for their country,\u201d Head Coach McGee Moody said. But there were athletic and academic hurdles to overcome.<\/p>\n

He did not join the team until January of his freshman year, which meant he was forced to adapt to a team that had been training for months with one of the most volume-based programs in the nation.\u00a0Mahmoud also had to adjust to from the long course yards used internationally to the short course yards used only in American swimming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit hard for me because I have to do a lot of turns since I\u2019m a distance swimmer so it took a long time to make my turns better and adjust for the short course yards,\u201d Mahmoud said.<\/p>\n

Many people also doubted the student-athlete\u2019s ability to perform well outside the pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a lot of people when he was coming into school here that said, \u2018I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to let him into school because we don\u2019t think he can get it done. We don\u2019t think he can make the grade,\u2019\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n

Mahmoud has earned All-American honors eight times. He has also proved skeptics of his academic performance wrong by getting his name on the list of multiple honor rolls.<\/p>\n

Moody believes that Mahmoud is one of the top distance swimmers in the world, but he finds the mindset that inspires this success nearly as impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a huge heart and loves his teammates,\u201d Moody said. \u201cAnd at the same time, what\u2019s awesome about Akram is he is one of the most fierce competitors that I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n

During last year\u2019s NCAA tournament, Mahmoud was one of four swimmers who broke the American 1650 freestyle record.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an epic race that to this day has never been repeated and probably won\u2019t be for a long time, you walk over to Akram and in that moment the first thing he said to me was \u2018I\u2019m sorry coach,\u2019\u201d Moody said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m sitting there thinking \u2018Akram, there\u2019s only two people on the face of this planet that have swam faster than you in the 1650.\u2019 I was like \u2018What are you sorry for?\u2019 and he was like \u2018Yeah,\u2019 but he goes \u2018Those two people swam faster than me in this heat.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahmoud does not feel satisfied with what he has accomplished so far. Before his time as a Gamecock is over, he hopes to become the only swimmer at the university to win an NCAA title.<\/p>\n

Another \u201cfirst\u201d also motivates Mahmoud. He wants to become the first Egyptian to medal in swimming. The pressure to do well for his family, country and coaches played a large role in Mahmoud’s performance in Rio. Mahmoud qualified for the Rio Olympics\u00a0in 2016, but did not reach the finals. He did, however, meet his hero Michael Phelps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was something I will never forget for the rest of my life,\u201d Mahmoud said.<\/p>\n

Over the last year and a half, Mahmoud has worked to become more confident and more experienced before Tokyo. Following graduation this spring, Mahmoud plans to stay in Columbia to train for the Olympic Games in 2020<\/a>. He also plans to pursue sponsors. .<\/p>\n

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Egyptian swimmer Akram Mahmoud came to USC from Cairo to pursue his dreams of becoming an Olympian. Today he is a top best distance swimmer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[38,40],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2205"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2496,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions\/2496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}