While he swam towards an unlikely gold medal for Tunisia, Ahmed Hafnaoui’s family went absolutely crazy with glee watching from home.
As much as they certainly believed in him, even Ahmed Hafnaoui’s family would have to admit they weren’t expecting him to take home gold in the 400m freestyle.
The 18-year-old from Tunisia stunned the world by winning the gold from lane 8 as the slowest of eight qualifiers for the final. He was .14 seconds away from missing out.
Hafnaoui’s incredible finish in the final looked like this on the NBC broadcast.
And here’s what it sounded like with Hafnaoui’s family watching back at home.
The room absolutely lost it with joyous screams as Hafnaoui hit the wall just before Australian Jack McLoughlin. He won the gold by .16 seconds.
Ahmed Hafnauoi’s family was in ecstasy watching him win gold
There’s no better way to cheer an epic victory like that than with a primal scream. Hafnauoi let one out in the pool and his family matched it with their screams on video. It’s a good thing someone thought to record, otherwise that amazing moment wouldn’t have been able to be shared with the world.
Hafnauoi handed Tunisia the country’s first gold of the 2021 Olympics and became just the second Tunisian swimmer to bag a gold in Olympic history.
And he did it while coming completely out of left field. The best Olympic moments come that way.
Hafnauoi isn’t the only unlikely winner at the Olympics this year. Anna Kiesenhoffer, an Austrian with a Ph.D. in mathematics who hasn’t cycled professionally since 2017, took gold in the women’s road race. She was so far out front that silver medalist Annemiek van Vleuten thought she was in first place when she crossed the finish line.
The Olympics came a year late, but they’re definitely delivering the drama and the storylines.