Sudanese Olympic backstroker looks to leave his mark in Paris

BERKELEY, California — As a boy in Milwaukee, Ziyad Saleem would walk through the house pretending to swim backstroke — arm circling backward along the right ear and over his shoulder, then the other arm doing the same on the left side.

Some days he would also propel both arms forward as if doing butterfly. His father saw some real potential then, even out of the water.

"I was always, 'Hey, what are you doing?'" Mohamed Saleem recalled. "It was range of motion or trying to master how he pulls under water. I knew he was attached to it."