EDITOR’S NOTE: Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also can provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.

For all Abdelrahman Elaraby’s success as an athlete, swimming is a passion simultaneously pursued intensely and held at arm’s length.

“You’ll never find me talking about swimming outside the pool,” the 25-year-old Egyptian told CNN Sports.

Few people even knew that he had broken the African record in the men’s 50m butterfly in Monaco in May until the news was shared publicly. When one of his friends checked to make sure he was OK after not hearing from him for a few days, Elaraby simply responded, “‘Yeah man, I just … became the fastest African in history so I feel great.’

“And he was like … ‘How did you not tell anybody?’” Elaraby recalled.