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At the swimming pool || Carried by his British Fans
Abdellatief
Abouheif was one of the all time greats in the field of long-distance swimming
and was part of the Egyptian Championship team of swimmers known as the
"Nile Crocodiles". Forty years ago he was the darling of the Egyptian
public - despite their preoccupation with Gamal Abdul Nasser's revolution
- and his swimming feats were splashed across the world's newspapers.
Today, in his early 70's, Abouheif still swims almost daily in Cairo's Gezira Sporting Club. Wearing a brightly coloured cap he swims or performs some water aerobics for hours, either cracking jokes to a group of friends or reading a newspaper.
Born in Alexandria, Abouheif has 13 brothers and sisters, all of whom are sportly, albeit for ping- pong. As a youngster, he saw a film starring Johnny Weissmuller, the great Tarzan of era. He decided there and then to become a swimmer as stylish and powerful as the star. At the tender age of nine, he won his first cup as champion for Alexandria. He retained this title for some 10 years and then became Egypt's champion of the 400 meters free style along with another future "crocodile", Abdel-Aziz EL-Shafei.
At that time his trainers thought it was worth entering Abouheif for the cross - Channel swim - a competition much talked about in the 50's. Abouheif did the crossing with a group of seven other Egyptian swimmers and won. But that was not enough for him. Some time later, he swam across the English Channel alone in a stunning race against the clock which crowned him as the fastest Dover - Calais swimmer.
Read The article by The Egyptian Reporter
Magazine
Abouheif The Nile Legend
In May 2001, Abouheif won the elections made by The International Swimming Hall Of Fame on the Internet and gained the Title "The Marathon Swimmer Of The 20th Century".
Abouheif was honored in Argentina in March and was honored May 7th in Florida by the International Swimming Hall Of Fame for his extraordinary achievements.
