SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia — Omar and Youssef, aged 9 and 10, train daily at a gleaming Olympic-size pool in Sidi Bouzid. “We want to compete in the Olympics, that is our dream,” said Youssef, his arm slung over the younger boy as they emerged from the water. It's a startling scene. The gritty rural backwater is where Mohammed Bouazizi, a young street vendor, set himself on fire Dec. 17, 2010, to protest discrimination and corruption under Tunisia’s brutal dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Bouazizi died a few weeks later, a tragedy that is credited with sparking Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, and many say the Arab Spring.
Sidi Bouzid, with its mix of chronic ills and progress, has since emerged as something of a barometer for Tunisia’s progress, as other Arab countries swept up by the uprisings have lapsed back into authoritarianism and violence.