Record-Holding Swimmer Makes Way Through Rough Waters

By Dontaye Carter
Black College Wire

Swimmer Mujahid El-Amin has rewritten the 100-yard butterfly record at Florida A&M University in only his second season on campus. But his success has been accompanied by tragedy and unexpected financial challenge.

Mujahid El-Amin, a junior, holds the record for the 100-yard butterfly at Florida A&M University.

Shortly after he broke the record, finishing the butterfly event in an astonishing 50.03 seconds, his 17-year-old brother Luqman El- Amin, who had earned a swimming scholarship to FAMU, died in a car accident during a winter-break visit home to Atlanta.

"My brother's death was a good motivator," said El-Amin, a 20-year-old junior and criminal justice major known to his teammates as M.J. "It helped me become more focused."

In 2004, FAMU announced El-Amin's signing, describing him as "one of the nation's top high school swimmers and a 2008 Olympic hopeful." El-Amin, who held 10 Georgia high school records, was the second-fastest American teenager in the 100-meter butterfly, the university said.

The city of Atlanta said he would attend FAMU on a full scholarship.

But almost two years ago, El-Amin and his teammates discovered the university was cutting financial support to the swimming and diving team in an effort to balance the athletics budget.

Suddenly El-Amin did not have the money to train as he would like.

He ended up taking a semester off and working two jobs to pay for his living expenses.

"He is very motivated," assistant coach Doug Carrington said of his star swimmer. "He doesn't like to lose. Now that we are rekindling the team chemistry, he knows he has to step up." With El-Amin, Carrington said, "the thing that stands out the most is his desire to win."

Before the FAMU budget cuts hit, "I was on track to go to the U.S. Olympics," El-Amin said. "When they cut the program, they put a lot of people down. The school lost a lot of good athletes because people couldn't afford to stay."

El-Amin said he decided to remain because he believed in putting the FAMU swim team on the map.

When his days seemed dark, he turned to his sociology professor Clifton Brown, who played a key role in helping him recover.

"He is a great teacher," El-Amin said. "He was the only teacher to speak in a way that touched students."

"He spoke about being a leader, about being open to criticism, because whether or not you know it, you're on display wherever you go," El-Amin said. "That criticism makes you better as a person."

El-Amin said the lessons his professor taught him have helped him take pride in all he has accomplished.

"Whether I do it in the pool or not, I do it for my team and African Americans," El-Amin said.

Ian Lee, El-Amin's head swimming and diving coach, said El-Amin's approach to the sport makes him stand out.

"In swimming, techniques are very important," Lee said. "His techniques are great. They have led him to appear in the Olympic trials. As long as he can stay academically fit and injury-free, there are quite a few records he can break."

FAMU's 100-yard butterfly record was previously held by Frantz Huggins, who timed in at 50.22 seconds in 1997.

El-Amin is on pace to break at least two or three more records before the end of the season.

"This season is like his sophomore year, and he is still learning to become more aware as an athlete," Carrington said.

"As a freshman, he was a great athlete, but this year his technique has gotten better and stronger. His abilities as a swimmer can only get better. Our goal is to put him in a position to score points," Carrington said.

El-Amin is only milliseconds away from breaking the record for the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly. Goals like these help keep El-Amin motivated.

"I am praying to set more records," El-Amin said. "I want to win Most Valuable Player at our conference meet."

Dontaye Carter, a student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan. To comment, e-mail [email protected].

Posted Feb. 13, 2007