Farmington Hills Native Swims for Lebanon in 2012 Olympics

In its 15 summer Olympic Games appearances, the small, Middle Eastern country of Lebanon has won just four medals: three in wrestling, one in weightlifting. 

Farmington Hills native Katya Bachrouche hopes to change all that. The veteran swimmer will compete for Lebanon in the 2012 Summer Olympics, held July 24-Aug. 12 in London. 

"My father's Lebanese, so I've always had the blood," said Bachrouche, 23, who graduated from in 2007 and is a citizen of both the U.S. and Lebanon. 

Swimming is also in her blood. She spent four years on the Raiders' swim team, but her focus was on club swimming with the Stingrays. Jenny Birmelin, who this past summer became the , was her coach at Kendallwood Swim Club. 

In Bachrouche's first two years at the University of Virginia, her swim career was hampered by injuries and surgeries. She made her first national championship appearances in her junior year, and as a senior, was swimming even better than the previous year. 

"I knew I wasn't ready to give up swimming yet," she said of her last year at UV, where she earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 2011.

Making history for Lebanon

Since her freshman year of high school, Bachrouche had talked to her father, Nasiff, about swimming for Lebanon. She knew competition for the U.S. Olympic swim team is intense. "It's the most competitive nation in the world," she said. "I knew I was fortunate to have that dual citizenship."

On one of his annual trips to his home country, her father connected with the right people, and Bachrouche's journey began during a planned trip to Lebanon last summer. During her 18-day trip, she joined a local swim club there and trained every day. She was invited to represent the country for the World University Games on Aug. 12-23, 2011, in Shenzhen, China — her first international competition.

It was heady stuff, made even more so when Bachrouche became the first person in Lebanon's history to make it into the event's final competition. She finished seventh in the 400-meter freestyle event. 

"They were really proud of me, and I was really proud of myself," she said. 

Bachrouche also loved the "village" setting at the World University Games, which was very much like the Olympic experience. "I had the greatest time. I'm fascinated by other countries and languages," she said, adding that she learned Arabic while growing up and studied Spanish in high school and college. 

After going back to Virginia for several weeks, Bachrouche returned to Lebanon for the country's national championships. That's when she met the country's Olympic committee. 

"They watched me swim and invited me to the Olympics," she said. "That was exciting." Bachrouche was also invited to represent Lebanon in the 2011 Pan Arab games, held last month in Dohar, Qatar.

"It was my favorite experience so far. We all identified with each other, we all spoke the same language," she said. "And swimmers are known for making friends easily."

The meet was a triumph for Lebanon, with eight gold medals — all won by women. Bachrouche contributed four, in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley, along with bronze medals in the 100-meter butterfly and 50-meter freestyle.

Bachrouche was impressed with both the facilities and the level of competition, noting the dominant countries are usually Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

"I was really proud," she said. "All eyes were on Lebanon."

Preparing for the Olympics

When she returned to the U.S., Bachrouche started training at UV, but she will have to find a new training facility when the team begins its competitive season. Each Olympic athlete has to contribute something, but Lebanon pays most costs associated with training, she said.

Bachrouche credits her parents, Nassif and Polly, with being behind her "110 percent. Anything I need, they're always there." The family includes her brother, Mohamad, 26, and sister Jenna, 19, who plays basketball at Oakland University in Rochester.

As she has traveled in Lebanon, Katya Bachrouche has also been able to connect with extended family members. 

And even though she stands out a bit in a crowd — "not many Arab girls are 6 feet tall and have blue eyes" — she feels at home in her father's native land. It helped that she had "a very Lebanese experience" while growing up.

Bachrouche is also not the only person swimming for Lebanon who comes from another country, because the sport is still developing there. 

Her plan is to prepare for the Summer Games by participating in some U.S. meets to get more racing and competition experience under her belt. 

"As London gets closer, I'll start to rest and come down," she said. "It's eight months till then, but I feel like it'll go by in a wink."

Follow Katya Bachrouche's road to the Olympics on Facebook.