Hinawi was born in Jaffa, Israel, where he grew up and resides.[1][2][3][4] His father is Jaffa-born Christian Arab-Israeli Tawfiq Hinnawi, owner of the "Hinnawi Nicola" liquor chain and of restaurants in Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion, and his mother is Maha.[5][6][7] He is Arab-Israeli, and is Christian.[2][5][8][9][10] He studied at the Tabeetha School in Jaffa, then moved to the University of Tennessee and aspires to become a chemical engineer.[5]
Swimming career
Hinawi began swimming at the age of five. Since then, his club has been HapoelBat Yam, and his coach has been Meir Levy.[3][9][11][12] He performs 11 workouts a week.[3]
He swims freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly at various distances.[12] Hinawi specializes in the 1500 meter (m) freestyle, and the 800 m freestyle.[13] In February 2013 at the Israeli swimming championship he competed in the 400 m, 800 m, and 1,500 m races.[11]
On July 10, 2014, Hinawi came in fifth at the European Junior Swimming Championships in the Men's 1500 m freestyle.[13] Two days later he came in ninth at the European Junior Championships in the Men's 800 m freestyle.[13] In December 2014 he set a new Israeli record in the 400 m freestyle at the Israeli short course championship, with a time of 3:45.74, breaking a record that had stood since 2008.[18][19]
In March 2015, Hinawi set a new youth record for the 1,500 m, swum in Israel. He swam it in 15:41.73 minutes.[20]
On June 24, 2015, at the age of 18, representing Israel at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, Hinawi came in third and won a bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m Freestyle with a time of 15:25.63 minutes.[13][21][22][23][24] That time was a new personal best for Hinawi and junior Israeli national record (breaking his own prior national record), and was seven seconds slower than the senior Israeli national record.[21][22][25] The Baku swimming events were limited to junior swimmers, and the tournament also doubled as the European Junior Swimming Championships.[22][25] Hinawi said: "This feels amazing, but I expected to register a better result. I’m really happy, but I believe I can swim faster."[22] He said that his goal was to reach the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016.[22] In the 800 m, he finished sixth, but set a new Israeli youth record with a time of 8:07:30 minutes.[26]
