Beaming with pride and watching the Egyptian flag raised at the Olympics may be a common professional athlete’s dream in Egypt, one that is not always easy to strive to achieve. This dream is particularly more challenging for less-known sports in Egypt, such as winter sports. Due to Egypt’s ruling warm climate, it might be hard to imagine a scene for winter sports, yet, there is a community of professional and Olympic-level athletes who are striving to place Egypt on the international map. Khaled El-Shebokshy, 36, and Ahmed Alaa Fayed, 31, are professional winter sports athletes who have just registered at the International Ski Federation (FIS) in June 2021. Both athletes aspire to represent Egypt in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, in the categories of skiing and snowboarding. Fayed’s sport of choice is cross-country skiing; he simultaneously works as a Management and Public Policy professor at Nile University although he started skiing in 2016 while doing his Ph.D. in London. El Shebokshy has been taking part in international competitions since 2019, specifically in orienteering, while working simultaneously in sports tourism; organizing sports trips. The ambitious sportsman won the bronze medal…
