27-year-old police officer Obaid Al Jasmi was competing in his second Olympic Games after representing the United Arab Emirates four years earlier at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Although his best time of 53.70 seconds was 2.75 seconds slower than the "B" (FINA/Olympic) qualifying time for the event, he entered the men's 100 metres freestyle after being granted a universality place issued to swimmers who did not qualify on merit from the world governing body of swimming, FINA. Al Jasmi had less than two months to prepare for the Games. He set himself the objective of improving his personal best time at the Olympics but noted the strong competition he would face. On 12 August, Al Jasmi competed in the six-swimmer heat two of the contest. He placed last with a new national-record time of 53.29 seconds. Al Jasmi ranked 61st out of 64 swimmers overall and did not advance into the semi-finals since only the top sixteen overall finishers were allowed to progress. After the Olympics, he spoke of his satisfaction of his performance: "I benefited greatly from my participation in the Olympic Games and succeeded in bettering my personal record and I am looking forward to taking part in the GCC Championships and I am determined to achieve good results."