Friday March 29th, 2024
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Egypt's Greatest Athletes

When people think of Egypt, brilliant sportsmanship isn't the first thing that comes to mind, but little do most people know, this country has launched its fair share of world champions and gold medallists…

Staff Writer

Egypt's Greatest Athletes

Since the dawn of civilisation, drawings on pharaonic monuments indicate that several thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians used to practice a whole host of different sporting activities, from handball to hockey, javelin and boxing. Seven thousand odd years later, we’re still producing some of the greatest sportsmen and women to ever grace the continent. Here we round up those who have made us proudest…

El Sayed Mohamed Nosseir was Egypt’s first ever Olympic gold medalist. He nabbed the top spot for weightlifting in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, in the light-heavyweight class. There, he lifted 355.0 kg, setting a new world record.

Our greatest accomplishment and discovery at the London Summer Olympics in 2012 was that we Egyptians have a guy who can poke people really, really well with a long metal stick. 24 year old Alaaeldin Abouelkassem won the silver medal in men's fencing.

He is undoubtedly one of Egypt's most acclaimed sportsmen of recent years. In 2010, 26 year old Ramy Ashour became the number one squash player in the world (beating the record for youngest too) after beating Nick Matthew in the final of the 2009 Saudi International Squash Tournament.

Mohamed Ali Rashwan is a big scary man with a big scary record. The Judo fighter won gold at the '82 and '83 African Championships, followed by silver medals at the '85 and '87 World Judo Championships. In 1984 he also won the Fairplay International Awards after refusing to aim at  Yasuhiro Yamashita's torn right calf muscle during their fight (pictured below).

Dr.Rania ElWani is Egypt's aquawoman. She's an Olympic and former African Record-holding swimmer from Egypt. She won medals at the 1990 African Championships, the 1991, 1995 and 1999 African Games, the 1997 Mediterranean Games and Pan-Arab Games; and the 1999 Arab Games.
25 year old Egyptian Ihab El-Sayed Abdelrahman currently holds the African record for Javelin throw, with his personal best 89.21 m achieved in May 2014 in Shanghai.
Hossam Hassan will go down in history as one of the greatest ever goal scorers, both in Egypt and the world. Still holding the record for most goals for Egypt, at 68 goals, his honours include 13 league titles, five Egyptian cups, two African Champions Leagues, three African Nations Cup titles and much more.
Karam Gaber is a Greco-Roman wrestler who won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Heavyweight boxer Mohammed Aly Reda won silver at the 2004 Olympics.
Did we miss any Egyptian sporting legends out? Let us know in the comment box below...