Farida Osman, one of Egypt’s most well known swimmers and a former Olympian, has publicly criticized the Egyptian Swimming Federation, stating that their actions contributed to her not being able to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Osman, 29, previously represented Egypt at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics and is one of Egypt’s, and Africa’s, most decorated swimmers.
In a video released on her personal Facebook and Instagram account on Wednesday 13 August, along with an official statement that followed a day later, the three-time World Championship bronze medallist explained that she and the coaching staff had worked towards achieving her participation at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I was unexpectedly asked to compete in the African Games in Ghana, which was not part of the original strategy,” Osman said. “I was concerned that this additional competition would affect my training and preparation for the Olympics.”
Osman inquired about the status of the African Games, and whether it was a qualifying event for the Olympics or not, as the games would “impact her training plan.”
“I was told that [the African Games] were not a qualifying event,” she continued. “I then decided to treat it as part of my training. I traveled without my coach while heavy loading.”
Osman would later discover that the African Games were, indeed, an Olympic qualifier, just a day before the competition.
“I said to myself, ‘I will do whatever it takes,’” she added.
Osman needed to achieve a time of 24.70 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle event at the African Games to qualify through the Universality Program. The Universality Program allows countries without swimmers who have achieved Olympic ‘A’ or ‘B’ standard times to send up to one man and one woman to the Olympic Games to compete in swimming.
Osman did compete, achieving a time that was a mere 0.02 seconds short of the qualifying time for Olympic ‘A’.
Following the event, Osman was told by the President of the Egyptian Swimming Federation Dr Yasser Idris, who is also leading the Egyptian Olympic Committee, that despite her result, she would be participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics based on a nomination from the federation under the Olympic ‘B’ standard time.
Osman was even invited to an event at the Embassy of France in Cairo, held to celebrate Egyptian athletes who qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, despite receiving this confirmation from Egyptian officials, Osmanwas later informed that she could not participate through the Universality Program because it would be her fourth Olympics, which was not in line with rules imposed by World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming.
These rules, introduced in 2022, state that athletes can only compete in up to two Olympic Games through the Universality Program. Osman had previously competed in the London, Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games through the Universality Programs. The rules, it seems, had been misinterpreted by the Egyptian Olympic Committee.
As a result, Osman had one final chance to qualify, through an event in Rome.
“I had no choice but to travel to the final Olympic qualifying event in Rome where I was unable to achieve the qualifying time due to the intense training I was already going through,” she said.
Osman emphasized that she did not raise this issue earlier as she did not want to take attention away from Egyptian athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Despite my sadness and wasted effort, I refused to get involved in any television programs before the Olympics because the qualified athletes in the Egyptian delegation are in dire need of support, and I didn’t want to bring attention to the problem because the issue is not personal, and my current speech is solely aimed at fixing the system for the sake of the coming generations,” said Osman.
“My current role is to try to shed light on the existing problems in order to improve Egyptian sports in general, because Egypt deserves the best.”
Federations Across Egypt Under Scrutiny
Osman is not the only Egyptian athlete to have expressed concerns regarding a sporting federation in Egypt.
International table tennis player Omar Assar leveled serious accusations against the Egyptian Table Tennis Federation’s management, alleging widespread financial and administrative corruption.
Assar,33, specifically accused the federation’s president of appointing his brother as a head coach and the coach’s son as the correspondence officer, suggesting personal favoritism and conflicts of interest.
He also hinted at financial misconduct related to players and training camps but did not provide detailed evidence. Assar criticized the federation for neglecting the players’ needs and failing to provide adequate support for international competitions.
These failures, Assar said, contributed to Egypt not winning a table tennis medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In response to Assar’s claims, the Ministry of Youth and Sports issued a statement confirming that it has launched a thorough investigation. The Ministry also indicated that it will assess the overall performance of the Egyptian Table Tennis Federation and will take legal action against anyone found guilty of misconduct.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Wednesday14 August that President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has directed a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of all sports federations that participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Comments (0)