Arena Elite Team welcomes the world 1500 m freestyle champion Oussama Mellouli

Tolentino, 21 October 2009– Arena, one of the world’s leading sport waterwear companies, has added a star to its Elite Team of international champions. Oussama Mellouli, Olympic and world 1500m freestyle champion, will be one of the standard-bearers of Team-Arena in 2010.

The contract with the Tunisian champion was signed during the recent World Championships in Rome, where Oussama – like a great many other world swimming champions – used the Arena Powerskin X-Glide suit and went on to win three medals: gold in the 1500m freestyle, silver in the 800m freestyle and silver in the 400m freestyle.

Oussama Mellouli is 25 years old and is considered the strongest middle-distance (800m and 1500m freestyle) swimmer in the world. In the 1500m at the Olympic Games in Beijing he came out ahead of the strong favourite Grant Hackett, to claim the major achievement of the first Olympic medal in the history of Tunisian swimming.

His sporting success, along with his human and professional qualities, have made Oussama (a graduate in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California and currently studying for a Master’s in Sports Management) one of the most broadly accomplished champions, appreciated not only by sports enthusiasts but also by Tunisian public opinion in that he stands as a reference-point for the young people of his country.

Even when he was much younger Mellouli had already obtained outstanding results at various world championships: bronze in the 400m medley in Barcelona (2003), two bronzes in the 400m freestyle and 400m medley in Montreal (2005), a gold and a bronze in the 400m medley and 200m medley respectively at Indianapolis (2004 – short course).

In 2009, before his victorious performance at the World Championships in Rome, Mellouli made his mark at the 16^th Mediterranean Games in Pescara, where he demonstrated his extraordinary talent and versatility by winning 5 gold medals in the 200, 400, 1500m freestyle and in the 200 and 400m medley.

Following the World Championships in Rome, Oussama has already got back into training for the 2009 Fina/Arena World Cup that it started 16 and 17 October with the stage in Durban, South Africa, and will then move to Europe, with stages in Stockholm and Berlin, and in Moscow. Finally the international 25m-pool circuit will conclude in Singapore where the Tunisian will be taking part.

“We are really happy with the agreement signed with Mellouli, a great champion – stated Cristiano Portas, Arena Group CEO. After having seen the inclusion in the Elite Team’s sprinters of the caliber of Alain Bernard, Cesar Cielo and Milorad Cavic, it was important to bring in a formidable athlete at middle and long distances. The Tunisian champion is unquestionably one of the best talents in world swimming. He is a perfect combination of high-level technique, power, resistance and strategy. We are very proud of Oussama’s results in 2009, and we will stand by him for the forthcoming international challenges, making available to him, as we always do, technical equipment that is on a par withhis performances”.

"I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such a prestigious company -said Mellouli- Arena has been helping swimmers to reach their full potentials and realize their dreams for many years now. They have proven themselves to be a leader in the world of swim suit making. The likes of Alexander Popov and Matt Biondi trusted and worked with Arena. I feel fortunate to join that group of legendary swimmers in arena's quest for excellence. And to top it all, I absolutely love their swimwear products".

In the Arena Elite Team, alongside Oussama Mellouli (25) we find the Brazilian champion Cesar Cielo (22), gold medal in the 50m freestyle and in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships in Rome as well as a gold medal in the 50m freestyle in Beijing, the many-times Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol (26) , gold medal in the 200m backstroke and in the 4x100m medley relay at the World Championships in Rome and gold medal in the 100m backstroke and in the 4x100m medley relay at the Olympic Games in Beijing, the Frenchman Alain Bernard (26), world silver in Rome and Olympic gold in Beijing in the 100m freestyle the Germans Paul Biedermann (23) world champion in the 200 and 400m freestyle, only athlete in the world to have beaten Michael Phelps, setting 2 new world records, and Thomas Lurz (29), gold in the 5km for three successive world championships, including the World Championships in Rome where he also won the 10km, the Serb Milorad Cavic (25), gold medal in the 50m butterfly and silver medal in the 100m butterfly in Rome and Olympic runner-up in the 100m butterfly, the Hungarian Laszlo Cseh (24), silver medal in the 200m medley and bronze in the 400m medley in Rome and three times silver medal in Beijing (200, 400m medley and 200m butterfly) , the Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen (23), silver medal in Beijing and European record holder in the 100m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke, the South Africans Cameron van der Burgh (21) , gold medal and world record in the 50m breaststroke and silver; in the 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Rome, and Roland Schoeman, Olympic champion at Athens in the 4x100m relay (2004) and twice world champion in the 50m butterfly in Montreal (2005) and in Melbourne (2007), and the Danish swimmer Lotte Friis (21), world champion in the 800m freestyle and silver in the 1500m freestyle, as well as the Polish champions Pavel Korzeniowski (24), silver medal in the 200m butterfly at the World Championships in Rome, and Mateusz Sawrymowicz (22), gold medal in the 1500m freestyle at the World Championships in Melbourne (2007).

Arena is also title sponsor of the FINA ARENA Swimming World Cup, the historic partner of the LEN (Ligue Europeenne de Natation), and the technical sponsor and official supplier to many important Federations in the world scene such as Russia, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Norway, South Africa, Romania, Czech Republic and Estonia.