Mubarak Al-Besher was aged 24 and competing in his first Olympic Games. FINA granted the nation a universality place, after Al-Besher's personal best of 1 minute, 4.60 seconds recorded at the 2011 Arab Games was 1.68 seconds slower than the FINA/Olympic Invitation qualifying standard for the men's 100 metre breaststroke. He trained in Málaga and swam the first leg of the Mare Nostrum meets as preparation for the Games. Al-Besher said he would perform to the best of his ability. He added, "My first goal is to break an Arab record and accomplish something no other Arab has done. So God willing, if I clock 1min 3sec or 1min 2sec, I will be very happy in London." On 28 July, he competed in the first heat of the contest at the London Aquatics Centre, finishing second out of four swimmers, with a time of 1 minute, 5.26 seconds. Al-Besher came 42nd out of 44 swimmers overall and failed to advance to the semi-finals since the quickest 16 competitors could enter the semi-finals. After he was eliminated, he commented on his result, "I was very nervous today because it was my first time at the Olympics but still I’m happy I got the chance to compete against the best in the world."