By Will Baxley on SwimSwam
In the conveyor belt of Tunisian distance swimming power, Rami Rahmouni looked poised to be the next rising star. Rahmouni, 16 years of age, first made headlines for winning the 1500 at the 2023 Arab Games. He currently boasts a best time of 15:05.43, the 4th fastest in Tunisian history behind heavyweights Ahmed Hafnaoui, Oussama Mellouli, and Ahmed Jaouadi.
Rahmouni’s future in his country’s dynasty is now in question after a sudden relocation and reported citizenship talks with Saudi Arabia.
According to Arab sports publication winwin, Rahmouni unexpectedly left his training post in France under Philippe Lucas, who also coached Hafnaoui and Jaouadi. After a few days of his absence, multiple sources reported that he was in Saudi Arabia. He reportedly is training in a private pool with tight security measures that prohibit filming.
Tunisian sports club Espérance, which Rahmouni competed under, described the relocation as “opaque” and “sports smuggling”. The club’s swimming head, Hichem Najjar, added that Rahmouni’s parents were in talks with Saudi officials for their son’s potential naturalization to Saudi citizenship for “a large sum of money”.
Najjar went on to say that he worries about the precedent this sets, calling on the Tunisian Ministry of Sport to take action.
“Once this door is opened, it cannot be closed,” Najjar said.
Watch Najjar’s full interview (in Arabic) here.
Under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative, the nation has been paying and granting citizenship to elite athletes in several sports, such as U.S. soccer player Maryami Al-Tamimi.
Another nation that has made headlines for cutting deals with foreign athletes to compete under their flag is Turkey, who recently recruited several track & field Olympic medalists from Jamaica.
Rahmouni and his family have not made a public statement yet. The Tunisian Swimming Federation posted this statement on Facebook:
بلاغ:تتابع الجامعة التونسية للسباحة باهتمام ما يتمّ تداوله على منصات التواصل الاجتماعي حول وضع السباح الواعد رامي…
Posted by Fédération tunisienne de natation on Wednesday, September 10, 2025
“Notice:
The Tunisian University of Swimming is following with interest what is being circulated on social media platforms about the situation of the promising swimmer Rami Al Rahmouni, and would like to provide the following explanations for public opinion: ☆ The university, under the supervision of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, ensured to grant swimmer Rami Al-Rahmouni special care in view of his promising talent, as the Ministry granted him an exceptional goals contract titled 2023 at the age of fourteen, emphasizing confidence in his technical abilities and the Ministry granted this support with a title of the year 2024 ☆ Within the framework of continuing this care, the Ministry has prepared a contract of goals entitled 2025, similar to the contract granted to the Olympic champion Ahmed Al-Jawadi, which is a great faith in his future. However, this contract has not yet been signed by his guardian despite several explanatory sessions and official correspondences sent to him. ☆ When he was injured in Paris, the doctor of the national team and the National Centre for Medicine and Sports Sciences took care of his medical follow-up and fully qualified him, his own training facilities were also allocated to the Brades Olympic Pool, and a national coach was placed under his disposal until 30 August 2025, to ensure his return in the best condition. ☆ All these efforts have come within the framework of a strategic plan aimed at preparing swimmer Rami Rahmoni for the honorable participation in international events, and most importantly the Youth Olympic Games – Dakar 2026, through the World Championship. The Tunisian University of Swimming flaunts the Heritage and lack of context behind any unreliable information, reaffirms that the Tunisian State institutions remain constantly supportive of its champions and promising athletes, and work to provide all possibilities to ensure their superiority and achievement of sporting achievements that raise the flag of Tunisia high.”Read the full story on SwimSwam: “Sports Smuggling”: Tunisian Rami Rahmouni Abruptly Leaves For Saudi Arabia, May Naturalize
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