Emad Elshafei represented Egypt in the 1984 Olympics. In addition he swam in the 1986 World Championship in Madrid, three Mediterranean Games and two African Games. He continually set new Egyptian swimming records every year that he swam from the age of 11 to 25. He notes that his very first race and his last were both the 200 IM, one of his favorate events. He currently lives in Columbia, MD with his wife, Donna, and two children: Sabrina and Adam. He and Donna are registered with Terrapin Masters and Emad is pursuing a PhD in Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. Here is an interview with Emad.

Q: Where were you born?
A: I was born in Cairo, Egypt on March 10, 1966. My native language is Arabic.

Q: Did you visit the monuments in Egypt?
A: I've never been to Luxor, a major tourist stop in Egypt where you can see many relics of the Pharoahs. I was always too busy swimming or going to school.

Q: When did you start swimming?
A: I took my first swimming lesson in 1972. My parents took me to learn how to swim. They also arranged for my instruction in karate and basketball; but I was best at swimming. At the age of six, I just swam in the baby pool; at seven, I ventured into the deep end; but by eight, I joined a club team and was good enough to compete in a national championship. In my first race I won 2nd place in the 200 IM. I came in 2nd in the 50 backstroke and 3rd in the 50 breast.

As a 10 year old, I won my age group nationals and broke my first Egyptian record for the 200 IM. (The 200 IM would be my last event as a 25 year old swimming in the African games in Cairo.) As an 11 year old I broke the national record in the 100 back. As a 12 year old I broke the record in the 200 back. After that, I broke a national record almost every year until I stopped competing at 25.

Q: When did you start competing in international events?
A: When I was 16, I competed in my first big international meet, the African games, where I won two gold medals in the 400 IM and 200 back and a bronze in the 200 IM.

As an 18 year old, I competed in the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, California. I remember watching Pablo Morales come in 2nd in the 100 fly. Alex Baumann won the 200 and 400 IM, Rowdy Gaines won the 100 freestyle, and Matt Biondi won his first gold medal in the 400 free relay. (Matt fared better in the 1988 Olympics.) I remember the Eastern Europeans didn't come.

I competed in the 100 and 200 back and the 200 IM. I didn't make the finals but I did set another Egyptian record. My best placing was 29th out of 48 swimmers. Egypt didn't have a full team for the Olympics so instead of depth, they preferred to send swimmers who could compete in more than one event.

In 1985, I wasn't very interested in swimming. However, I continued to compete and broke another Egyptian record in the 400 IM. The egyptian record was 5:04 in 1981. (I dropped that to 4:42 before I finally quit swimming.) In 1986 I attended a World Championship in Spain.

Q: Where did you go to school?
A: I began studying Engineering at Ain-Shams University, in Cairo, in 1983. I studied very hard and swam just two times a week during the winter plus harder training in the summer. In 1987, I attended the African games in Kenya. I received two silver and two bronze medals. However, in my first event, the 400 IM, because of the altitude, my hands and head became numb by the 200. My last 100 was 10 seconds slower than normal. They had to carry me from the pool! The next day, I recovered and got a silver and bronze. However, after that, I quit swimming. I didn't even attempt to qualify for the 1988 Olympics. I was a senior in college (undergraduate) and swam only once a week. (I gained a few pounds!) I have a love/hate relationship with swimming. Some days I didn't really want to go to practice but if I stop, I'm wasting months of effort.

The Egyptian National team approached me and asked me to swim again in 1989. I had graduated and was serving an obligatory one and a half years in the military. If I swam, I got certain privileges while in the Army. I decided to swim again since this would help me avoid guard duty, etc. In 1989, I again broke Egyptian records in the 400 IM and the 200 back.

Q: How do you continue to improve, year after year?
A: I practice more! In 1989 I swam for 10 months, straight. I was able to devote more time to swimming since I wasn't in school.

I quit again in 1990 when I began working as an engineer. I swam three or four times a week. I did go to the African Championships but didn't win any medals. I wasn't practicing hard, nor was I eating or resting properly.

I made up my mind to swim hard for 1 more year. I left work in December of 1990, taking a six month absence. I came to California in a group of six swimmers. We practiced at the Fullerton Club in Orange County where Janet Evans grew up swimming. However, at that time, she was training at Stanford University and only came home for holidays.

In March of 1991, my last year of competitive swimming, I broke the Egyptian/African record in the 200 back. In June, 1991, I broke the 400 IM at the Mediterranean games in Athens. And in September, 1991, I won a gold in the 400 IM and two silvers, in the 200 backstroke and the 200 IM in the African games. That 200 IM was my last race.

Q: How did you end up at the University of Maryland?
A: Three months after my last swimming competition in January 1992, I came to the University of Maryland for graduate studies in Engineering. I had actually been admitted in January of 1991, but I postponed coming in order to swim one more year. Maryland was rated in the top 25 U.S. schools in Engineering, so I was happy to study there. I could have gone to Fullerton but decided the east coast was closer to Egypt, my home.

Q: When did you begin competing with Masters?
A: I swam my first Masters meet in 1994, where I won the 200 back at Nationals. When I came to Maryland, I began swimming with Masters right away. I was finally swimming for fun! It was totally different not having to swim for a national team, represent your country, and break records.

Q: How did you meet your wife, Donna?
A: I was coaching the Terrapin Masters in 1995 and met Donna (formerly Neumann) at the Chesapeake Bay Swim on June 11, 1995. We were married in January, 1996. Donna swam backstroke for the University of Maryland, College Park, for 2 years.

An interesting story: In her last two meets, the Albatross in 1996 and the Albatross in 1999, Donna was pregnant and didn't know it. So we are careful about entering her in another Albatross meet! We won the "fastest couple" award in the 1999 meet. Our daughter Sabrina was born on October 20, 1996 and our son, Adam, November 14, 1999.

Q: Where do you work?
A: I work for the City of Rockville, Department of Public Works. I continue to swim Masters - maybe once a week. I hope to swim more in the future, when I complete my studies and my children are older.

Q: Tell me about your diet, your focus, etc.
A: An interesting note: I never gave any attention to nutrition! Also, when I go to a big meet, I get so tense, that I lose focus. I've learned a lot from reading about American swimmers. All of these materials about technique, sports psychology, etc. weren't available to us when I was growing up in Egypt.

Q: Why did you swim?
A: Athletes in Egypt don't make a lot of money so there isn't all the adulation, as in America. I did experience a lot of satisfaction from breaking a record every year and bringing honor to my country. I guess that's what kept me going. People don't expect you to quit. I did finally quit after turning 25. There was no income in swimming and I was tired of competing. I wanted to live my life.

Swimmers don't have the audience that athletes in other sports have. Jenny Thompson broke a world record at the World Cup meet at the University of Maryland and only a few people saw it.

I do like Masters swimming. It is totally different from professional competition. I met friends and my wife through Masters swimming.