In the first series of the 50 butterfly eliminations, a 10-year-old girl will compete. Alzain Tareq was born in 2005, is from Bahrain, and won the absolute national championship of her country, in which, according to her parents, "swimmers of all ages participated". Her time is the worst among the entries (41.12). Her age is not a problem for the International Swimming Federation (FINA), which does not set limits, unlike the LEN (European) or the Olympic Committee, organizations that do not allow athletes under 14 years old to compete.

"It will be an unforgettable experience," her father, a retired swimmer, repeats. Her guardians explain that she swims five days a week in morning and afternoon sessions, combining this discipline with her studies, as the girl will start 5th grade in September. "What excites me the most is meeting Sarah Sjöstrom," adds a girl who first got into the water at the age of four. Tareq wants to be like Sjöstrom: she has specialized in the same events.

Aside from the 50 butterfly, Tareq will also compete in the 50 freestyle, where she has one of the worst times (38.21), but curiously, not the lowest despite being only 10 years old.

The young swimmer is the youngest of the participants, but there is another swimmer younger than the 14-year-old limit. This is San Su Moe Theint from Myanmar, who will also swim the 50 freestyle and has one of the best times in her series, below 30 seconds. This swimmer has a time two seconds above the Spanish record for 13-year-olds.

Swimming has always been a precocious sport. There are no examples like Tareq's but similar ones. Japanese swimmer Kyoko Iwasaki won gold in the 200 breaststroke at the age of only 14 years and six days in Barcelona 92. Until today, she remains the youngest swimmer to become an Olympic champion. And in Seoul 88, Hungarian Kristina Egerszegi won gold in the 200 backstroke at 14 years and one month old against a strong GDR team.