Israeli swimmer Adam Maraana on Thursday secured his participation in Paris 2024 and will become the first Arab-Israeli swimmer in Olympic Games history.

The 20-year-old set 53.60 seconds in the 100-meter backstroke race, equal to the Israeli national record and 14 hundredths of a second faster than the qualifying time for Paris, in a competition held at the Wingate Institute in the coastal city of Netanya.

"I surprised myself. I'm very happy," said Maraana, a resident of the northern city of Haifa, who won the bronze medal in the 2023 European Under-23 Championship in Dublin in the 50m backstroke and finished fifth in the 100m backstroke.

Maraana will also be the third Arab athlete to represent Israel at the Olympic Games, after weightlifter Eduard Meron in Rome 1960 and footballer Rifaat Turk in Montreal 1976.

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