Williams Grad, Olympian Swims Career Best in RioWilliams College Sports Information, 09:33AM / Saturday, August 13, 2016 | |
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Is there a better place and time to swim a lifetime best in your event?
Recent Williams College graduate Faye Sultan did that Friday, leaving the 2016 Summer Olympics with a beaming smile broadcast around the world.
Sultan competed in the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games and finished 48th with a time of 27.92 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle.
But in Rio, Sultan was not swimming under the Kuwaiti flag, but rather under the Olympic flag. Since the last Olympiad the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee due to the government of Kuwait's interference with the operation of the Kuwait Olympic Committee.
When her time came Friday, Sultan, who was being coached by Williams' coach Steve Kuster at the Olympics after four years under his guidance at the school, was ready.
Swimming in Heat Five, Sultan grabbed an early lead and held off all comers, winning her heat in a personal lifetime best time of 26.86 seconds. Her time was good for 54th overall.
"I'm speechless," Kuster said en route to the airport.
Prior to the Rio Olympics, Sultan trained under Kuster's eye at the Lawrence Beach Club in Atlantic, N.Y. Prior to arriving back in the States last month, she had been training in Spain for the 50-meter freestyle.
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