Four minutes, every flag
Guinness World Records published the attempt on 8 September 2022: a Lebanese teenager had identified all national flags in record-breaking time. The figure was four minutes. The previous holder, Adam Saeed of Bahrain, had set four minutes and six seconds in 2021, so the margin was six seconds.
Records measured in seconds are won in preparation rather than in the attempt. Dawy had run the exercise more than a thousand times on Sporcle, the online quiz site whose flag drills are the standard training ground for this discipline, before sitting the official attempt under Guinness conditions.
The badge record
In August 2023 Guinness reported that the same teenager had demolished a second record: most football teams identified by badge in one minute. His figure was 70, against the previous mark of 36 held by Bhavya Chandan of India.
Nearly doubling a record is unusual, and it says something about how young the discipline is. Recognition records of this kind are set by whoever thinks to attempt them, and the early marks tend to fall hard once a specialist arrives.
A collector's discipline
Dawy also holds a Guinness record for the most currencies identified in one minute, and he has collected every edition of the Guinness World Records book since 2013. The pattern is consistent: a fan of the records who became a holder of them.
That is how a category like this works. Flags, badges and banknotes are finite sets that can be drilled to perfection, and the person most likely to set the record is the person who was reading the book before they were in it.
What the record is worth
There are roughly two hundred national flags in the world, which means four minutes allows about a second and a half for each: see, recognise, name, move on. Speed at that level is pattern recognition rather than recall, closer to reading than to remembering.
It is also a record with an unusually clear path for a challenger. Anyone with a laptop and the patience for a thousand practice runs can attempt it, which is why the mark has changed hands more than once in recent years and may have changed again since 2023.
Venti domande, otto minuti di orologio e un percentile misurato su tutti quelli che l’hanno fatto. Senza registrazione.
Fai il test del QI →What is documented and what is not
Documented: the four-minute Guinness record for identifying all national flags, set in Beirut in September 2022 at 16; the previous mark of four minutes six seconds held by Adam Saeed of Bahrain; more than a thousand practice attempts on Sporcle; the August 2023 record of 70 football badges in one minute against a previous 36; a currencies record; and his collection of Guinness books since 2013.
Not documented here: his date of birth, his school, his family, and anything after August 2023. Both sources used are Guinness World Records' own reports; no independent news coverage is among them.
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Set the Guinness record for identifying all national flags in 4 minutes, Beirut, September 2022, aged 16
- Beat Adam Saeed of Bahrain's 2021 mark of 4 minutes 6 seconds
- Identified 70 football team badges in one minute in August 2023, against a previous record of 36
- Prepared with more than 1,000 practice attempts on Sporcle
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published in these sources
- Both sources are Guinness World Records' own reports; no independent news coverage is included
- Whether the flag record still stands is not documented
Questions people ask about Hassan Dawy
What record does Hassan Dawy hold?
The Guinness World Records mark for the fastest time to identify all national flags: four minutes, set in Beirut in 2022.
How old was he?
16 at the time of the flag record. No date of birth appears in these sources.
Whose record did he break?
Adam Saeed of Bahrain, who had set four minutes and six seconds in 2021.
How did he practise?
With more than a thousand practice attempts on the quiz site Sporcle.
What other records does he hold?
Most football teams identified by badge in one minute, at 70, and a record for most currencies identified in one minute.
Is Hassan Dawy on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article is recorded for him. The Guinness World Records reports are the sources used here.
Where is Hassan Dawy now?
Nothing after August 2023 is documented in these sources.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Hassan’s story?
How long did Hassan Dawy take to identify every national flag?
By how much did he beat the previous record?
How many football badges did he identify in a minute in 2023?
Sources
- Lebanese teen identifies all national flags in record-breaking time — Guinness World Records, 2022-09-08
- Football-mad teen demolishes record for identifying team badges — Guinness World Records, 2023-08-03
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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