With the Games of the XXX Olympiad just days away, several former UH-Manoa student-athletes will be competing for their respective nations. The series continues with three UH swimmers who will be representing Australia, the Philippines, and Syria.

Eye On Olympics: Part 1

The summer of 2012 is an exciting time for a trio of current and former University of Hawai'i swimmers, who will be representing their respective nations at the Games of the XXX Olympiad. Melanie Schlanger (Australia), Jasmine Alkhaldi (Philippines), and Azad Al-Barazi (Syria) will each be competing for their respective countries.
 
Melanie Schlanger made her name known in the islands as a freestyle swimmer for the Rainbow Wahine, and has made an even bigger splash in Australia. Competing in the 100-meter freestyle this past March, the Queensland native won her first Australian National Championship and, with the win, booked her ticket to London to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
 
Schlanger, who will also compete on the 4x200 freestyle relay team, swam for the Rainbow Wahine during the 2004-05 season and the first half of her sophomore year in 2005-06. She left the team after the Fall of 2005 to compete for Australia at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Canada. Before leaving UH, she broke the school record in the 50 and 100 free and her times would surely have qualified her for the NCAA National Championships. In her freshman season at the Western Athletic Conference championships, she won titles in the 100 free and the 400 medley relay and was rewarded with the WAC Co-Freshman of the Year.
 
Schlanger continued to make a name for herself in Australia on the international stage. She won three bronze medals at the Pan Pacific Championships in the 100m freestyle, and the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay competitions. In 2007, her relay team won gold at the World Championships and, later that year, broke the world record in the 4x100m short course freestyle relay. After an illness forced a premature early retirement, she returned to the pool and international competition, finishing 2011 as one of the top 10 100m freestyle swimmers in the world.
 
Al-Barazi will be Syria's lone representative in the 100m breastroke competition. Al-Barazi prepped in California, but claimed dual citizenship with the U.S. and Syria because both of his parents were Syrian born.
 
Al-Barazi competed two years (2008-09, 2009-10) for UH after transferring from Santa Monica College. The breaststroke and individual medley specialist prepped in the United States as well, and finished his collegiate career with a quality senior season. He broke three personal bests at the 2010 Conference USA Championships, finishing fifth in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke. He also landed seventh in the 200 IM.
 
Alkhaldi, the Filipino native from Los Banos, Laguna, currently swims for the 'Bows and wrapped up a breakthrough freshman season. Aside from earning Mid-Major All-America honors, she already holds the team's top times in all of the short-distance freestyle events.
 
Her best performances of the season came at the Western Athletic Conference championships (Feb. 22-25), where she helped lead UH to a third place finish. She set three personal bests after finishing third in the 100 freestyle, fifth in the 50 freestyle, and seventh in the 200 freestyle.
 
The Olympic swimming competitions begin Saturday, July 28 and run through Saturday, August 4.