Egypt is participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics Games with an impressive array of sports and athletes. The Egyptian delegation is set to be the largest in the country’s history, with a total of 164 athletes, including 16 substitutes, competing across 22 sports.
Egypt participates in the Olympics in sports such as athletics, football, handball, beach volleyball, swimming, diving, sailing, rowing, boxing, taekwondo, judo, wrestling, weightlifting, tennis, table tennis, modern pentathlon, fencing, shooting, archery, cycling, equestrian, and canoeing/kayaking.
This expansive representation includes participation in three team sports—volleyball, rhythmic gymnastics, and artistic swimming—highlighting Egypt’s broad and ambitious involvement in this prestigious event.
Olympic medalists Sara Samir and Ahmed Elgendy served as the flagbearers for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on 27 July.
This year’s edition features five previous Egyptian Olympic medalists, including, Alaa Abouelkassem, who won silver in individual foil at London 2012, weightlifter Sara Samir, who secured bronze in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Ahmed El-Gendy, who earned silver in pentathlon at Tokyo 2020, wrestler Mohamed Ibrahim, who took bronze in Tokyo 2020, and Seif Issa, who also won bronze in taekwondo at Tokyo 2020.
To date, Egypt has secured one bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, with Mohamed El Sayed securing the country’s first medal in Paris.
Egyptian athletes to watch out for at this year’s Olympics include Yehia El-Deraa, an exceptional handball player, and Hanna Hiekal, an artistic swimmer and four-time World Championship participant. Abdelrahman Oraby, a silver medalist wrestler at the continental level, will also compete, alongside Samaa Ahmed, a canoeist making her second Olympic appearance. Additionally, cyclist and African Champion Ebtissam Zayed Ahmed is set to represent Egypt on the world stage.
History
Egypt, having made 22 Olympic appearances, ranks 52nd internationally in the all-time medal table. Over the years, the country has accumulated 38 medals: eight gold, 11 silver, and 19 bronze, with weightlifting emerging as Egypt’s most successful sport in terms of medal count, contributing 14 medals to their tally.
Since 1912, 26 Olympic Games have been held, with Egypt sitting out four of them due to political reasons and boycotts.
The first time Egypt sat out at the Olympic Games was in 1932, due to political instability that led to the disbandment of the National Olympic Committee of Egypt.
Other disappearances from the Olympics were due to Egypt’s history of participating in political boycotts of the Olympic Games. In 1956 Egypt boycotted the Summer Olympics to protest the Israeli, British, and French invasions during the Suez War, with the exception of Egypt’s equestrian team.
In 1976, Egypt withdrew from the Montreal Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to ban New Zealand for its sporting ties with apartheid South Africa. Additionally, Egypt joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
In September 2022, Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, granted his approval for Egypt’s sports authorities to make a bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
The Egyptian government has already completed the construction of Egypt’s International Olympic City in the New Administrative Capital, east of Cairo, which began construction in 2018 at the cost of EGP 2.8 billion (USD 58 million), spanning 468 acres. The complex features a 93,000-seat football stadium, Olympic-grade swimming pools, a 3-kilometer track, and a comprehensive array of facilities for various sports.
With this remarkable achievement, Egypt now harbors high ambitions to host the 2036 Summer Olympic Games.
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