Bangladeshi swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi entered the pool on Tuesday in the second heat of 100m freestyle. Rafi finished fifth out of eight in his heat with a time of 53.10 seconds when 52.22 was the best timing of this heat.
In this event, a total of 79 swimmers participated in the heat, after completing all 10 heats Bangladesh swimmer Samiul Rafi placed 69th out of 79 when top 16 finishers advanced to the semi-finals.
America's Jack Alexey was first in the heat with a time of 47.57 seconds. Sun-woo Hwang of South Korea, who entered the semi-finals after finishing 16th, clocked 48.41 seconds when Samur was 4.69 second behind Korean swimmer.
Samur, in his immediate reaction to the media expressed his happiness, as he enjoyed the moments being successful to better his timing – “It’s good feelings make it success my target when I did my best timing. My target was to better my timing and I did it, so I am very happy.”
Rafi’s previous bets time in the 100 meters freestyle was 53.10 seconds and could make it only 0.02 seconds better.
But the best swimmer of Bangladesh also agreed that he is far behind from the international standard. “Actually, in this event swimmers advance to the semifinal with timing by 47 to 48 seconds and we are far behind of them. Though I did my best timing but I expected to finish at least on 52 second.
Meanwhile, five Bangladeshi athletes are taking part in four disciplines in the ongoing Olympics -- archery, athletics, swimming, and shooting.
Another Bangladesh swimmer Sonia Khatun will compete in the women's 50-meter freestyle heats at the same venue on August 3.
Bangladeshi fastest man Imranur Rahman will compete in Bangladesh's last Paris Olympics event men's 100- meter sprint heats on Wednesday (August 4) at the Stade de France.
Earlier, the day before to kick off the Games, on last Thursday, teenaged Sagor Islam competed in the ranking round of the men's recurve singles and was placed 45th among 64 participants scoring 652 at the same venue.
Bangladeshi shooter Mohammad Robiul Islam eliminated from the qualifying round of the men's 10-meter air rifles on Sunday showing a dismal performance when he was placed 43rd among the event's 49 competitors scoring 624.2 to worse his previous best score of 628.
A 13-member contingent, consisting of five athletes and eight officials, are representing Bangladesh in the Paris Olympics 2024, the biggest sports carnival in the world.
