CAIRO: As the dust settles on the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Egyptian delegation walk away with just three medals.
Ahmed Elgendy won gold in the modern pentathlon, Sara Samir claimed silver in weightlifting, and Mohamed Elsayed took bronze in fencing.
Egypt’s most successful Olympics was in 2020, at the Tokyo Games. The team won six medals, including a gold for Feryal Ashraf in karate, a silver for Elgendy in the modern pentathlon, and bronze in taekwondo (Hedaya Malak and Saif Issa), wrestling (Mohamed Ibrahim Kisho) and karate (Giana Farouk.)
One of the largest delegations in Egypt’s Olympic history traveled to Paris, with 164 athletes competing in 22 different sports, so why the decline in the number of medals won?
“There is excessive pressure on the athletes,” sports journalist Mohamed Sultan told Arab News.
“The Egyptian athletes went to the Olympics with the expectation of winning medals. This excessive pressure often leads to stress rather than encouragement. This was evident in the comments of the Egyptian fencing champion, Ziad Elsissy, who was ranked first in his sport and was favored for a medal but was unsuccessful. After his event, he mentioned that his focus was scattered.”
Sultan added: “Sport in Egypt faces significant challenges related to funding and resources allocated for training and sports facilities. The lack of investment in these areas undoubtedly affects the overall performance of the athletes.”
Success in sport requires rigorous training programs and highly skilled coaching staff, according to Sultan. However, any gaps in training and development systems could affect the athletes’ performances.
Meanwhile, Sameh Abdelhai from the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports said competition at global tournaments was “incredibly fierce, with athletes from countries that have advanced sports programs and receive high levels of support and training.”
He added that effective management and strategic planning were essential for sporting success, reiterating Sultan’s view that any shortcomings could negatively impact performance. Some of the delegation faced other challenges, such as one fencer being pregnant and a boxer having gained weight. And while such issues are not uncommon, the media’s exaggerated coverage ended up distracting the other athletes.
Captain Osama Orabi, a former player for Egypt’s Al-Ahly football club, said in a statement: “The Egyptian football team was on the brink of achieving a significant accomplishment, especially after reaching the semifinals. Their journey in the tournament was commendable, and they garnered the encouragement and support of the Egyptian public during their matches. However, after the 6-0 defeat by Morocco, the crisis became apparent.
“The Egyptian public severely criticized the team, which affected not only (them) but also the rest of the delegation. As a result, some outcomes were disappointing, except for El-Gendy and Sara Samir, who saved our pride.”
He said the handball team repeated many of the same mistakes from previous tournaments, despite significant support from Egypt’s sports authorities.
“In the past, we used to say that Egypt excels in individual sports but struggles in team sports,” concluded Orabi.
“However, at the Paris Olympics, I felt that football, a team sport, was very close to winning a medal, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
