July 10, 2023
Alexandra Kinias

At the age of 15, Tunisian swimmer Leila Dachraoui became the youngest gold medallist at the 1987 African Games. The national champion for over six years in the 100m and 200m backstroke (1984-1990) won several medals at the Maghreb Championships, Arab Championships and African Championships.

But when Laila started law school in 1990, at 18, and with no support or assistance from the swimming federation, her promising swimming career was derailed. Juggling college work and intense daily training schedules became challenging. It left her mentally exhausted and physically drained. The aspiring fastest backstroker in the Tunisian national team had no choice but to bid farewell to swimming and focus on her studies.

Laila stopped swimming and abandoned her dream to break a new record at the Mediterranean Games. She also qualified as a lawyer, became a university professor and raised two daughters.

Twenty-seven years later, in 2017, at the age of 44, Laila made a comeback to competitive swimming, resuming her sports career which she had left too early. She started over as a master swimmer after meeting her coach, a South African Olympic swimmer, Charl Van Crous who coaches her remotely from South Africa daily. “ He believed in me, my abilities and my dreams,” says Laila.

Along with the support and encouragement of her husband and two daughters, Laila returned to swimming. Van Crous helped her to win gold in the French Championships in the 50m backstroke, silver in the 100 backstroke and bronze in the 200 backstroke, just 6 weeks after she started training with him.

Since then, she had won almost 30 gold and silver medals in the French Masters Swimming Championships. She also participated in the World Masters Swimming Championships in Budapest, Slovenia, Rome, Sweden, Tunisia and Egypt.

Today, at 51, Laila is ranked top 3 in the French Masters, and top 10 in Europe. She aspires to reach top 3 in Europe, and perhaps in the world. In April 2023, Leila swam the US Masters for the first time, and competed in Power Woman swimwear.

One of the aspects she enjoys about competing n the masters is meeting people from around the world who share her passion. She also enjoys racing with more confidence and belief in her than when she was young.

A typical week of training for Leila includes an average of five swimming sessions and two gym sessions. “My swim sessions are between an hour and 1.5 hours. I have one or two sessions dedicated to base endurance training, one medley session and two backstroke sessions, where I focus more on sprint work.” Her gym sessions include weightlifting and CrossFit-like workouts. She also does a lot of core work and stretching.

“I really wish to inspire middle-aged women all over the world and especially in the Arab world to play sports, to come back to competition or even to do a physical activity to stay strong and healthy both mentally and physically for as long as possible. You also meet many nice people through sports and share incredible experiences. Thanks to the sport I go through premenopause with less strong symptoms as well.” Laila said in an interview with Power Women

You can find Leila on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leila_dachraoui/

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