Marwan Al-Kamash Named Best African Athlete After Winning Gold in All-Africa Games

Egyptian swimmer Marwan Al-Kamash won the title of Best African Athlete following an outstanding performance that secured a total of five gold medals and two silver medals in Acra.

Upon his return to Egypt Al-Qamash received multiple honors. He is now training in the United States with renowned coach Mark Schubert for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Over his career, Al-Kamash has achieved several accolades, including qualifying for the Olympics three times. He also won several championships at the Arab, African, and international levels for Egypt.

Egypt dominated the 13th All-Africa Games, which took place in Accra, Ghana between 8 and 13 March 2024, with 192 medals, 102 of them gold.  Following closely behind, Nigeria secured 120 medals, and South Africa came in third place with 106.

The media center of the Egyptian Olympic Committee announced on Saturday, 23 March, that the Egyptian delegation surpassed the achievement of the previous edition of the African Games held in Morocco in 2019, Egypt clinched 94 gold medals.

Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi stated that Egypt’s remarkable achievements in sports reaffirm the nation’s consistent advancement. He emphasized the importance of ongoing, scientifically-driven planning to ensure success in both individual and team sports at all levels.

The gold medal achieved by the women’s volleyball team, winning over Tunisia in the final match with a historic 3-0 victory, represents a remarkable achievement, marking the first gold in the African Games women’s volleyball since the championship in 1987 held in Kenya. Similarly, the men’s volleyball team secured the gold in the African Games after beating Kenya in the final match with a 3-0 score.

The women’s tennis team also won the gold medal by defeating Nigeria with a team composed of Sandra Sameer, Lamis Al-Husseiny, and Mirna Rafat, marking the second gold for the women’s tennis team in the championship.

Egypt participated in this year’s edition of the African Games with a delegation consisting of 390 individuals, including athletes, coaches, and administrators, competing in 20 sports disciplines, including arm wrestling, athletics, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, volleyball, boxing, chess, hockey, handball, judo, karate, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, wrestling, and speedball.

The 2024 13th African Games, which ran over the course of 15 days in March, witnessed the participation of more than 5,000 athletes from across Africa, competing in 29 sports disciplines, including eight that will serve as qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Accra and Cape Coast hosted events from various sports such as arm wrestling, athletics, badminton, basketball (3×3), and more, which took place in venues like the Accra Sports Stadium and the University of Ghana Stadium.