The sporting culture of modern Egypt traces its roots to ancient Egypt, where wrestling, weightlifting, stick fencing, and ball games were practiced for both amusement and physical training. The 1952 revolution resulted in unprecedented government investment in sports infrastructure for schools, universities, training institutes, and clubs in an effort to expand the country’s international status.

 

Contemporary sports culture reveres prominent wrestlers, weightlifters (who have won most of Egypt’s Olympic medals), boxers, and swimmers. Since the early 1980s, basketball’s popularity in Egypt has risen thanks to the achievements of the men’s national team, which won the African championship in 1983. Volleyball is another team sport that enjoys a wide following, and various martial arts (including judo and tae kwon do) are popular individual sports. However, football (soccer) remains the most popular sport in the country. The Cairo clubs al-Ahli and Zamalik can attract as many as 100,000 spectators to their games, and between them the two teams have won dozens of domestic championships and continent-wide trophies. The national team, the Pharaohs, was the first African representative at the World Cup (1934) and has won the African Cup of Nations a number of times since competitions began in 1957.

 

The Egyptian Olympic Committee was founded in 1910, and an Egyptian first participated in the Summer Games in 1912.

 

 

 

Ibrahim Moustafa - Wrestling, Greco-Roman Light Heavyweight

El Sayed Nosseir - Weightlifting, Light Heavyweight

 

Farid Simaika — Diving, Platform

 

Farid Simaika — Diving, Springboard

 

 

 

Anwar Mesbah — Weightlifting, Lightweight

Khadr Sayed El-Touni — Weightlifting, Middleweight

 

Saleh Soliman — Weightlifting, Featherweight

 

Ibrahim Shams — Weightlifting, Featherweight

Ibrahim Wasif — Weightlifting, Light Heavyweight

 

 

 

Ibrahim Shams — Weightlifting, Lightweight

Mahmoud Fayad - Weightlifting, Featherweight

 

Attia Hamouda — Weightlifting, Lightweight

Ali Hassan — Wrestling, Greco-Roman Bantamweight

 

Ibrahim Orabi — Wrestling, Greco-Roman Light Heavyweight

 

 

 

Abdel-Kader Rashed — Wrestling, Greco-Roman Featherweight

 

 

Eid Osman – Wrestling

 

Mohammad Abdel-Moneim – Boxing

 

 

Mohamed Ali Rashwan — Judo, Men’s Open Class

 

 

 

Karam Gaber — Wrestling, Men’s Greco-Roman (96 kg)

 

Mohamed Aly — Boxing, Men’s Super Heavyweight (over 91 kg)

 

Ahmed Ismail — Boxing, Men’s Light Heavyweight (81 kg)

Mohamed Elsayed — Boxing, Men’s Heavyweight (91 kg)

Tamer Bayoumi — Taekwondo, Men’s 58 kg

 

 

 

The father of the Mediterranean Games is Dr. Mohamed Taher Pasha (1879-1970), from Egypt. Taher Pasha, a Doctor in Political Sciences, believed that sport was a means to achieve peace and fraternity. He founded the Egyptian Flying Club in 1931 and served as the President of the International Aeronautics Federation from 1934 to 1947. He was President of the Egyptian Federation of Fencing from 1936 and 1952. Taher Pasha was also Chief of Protocol of the International Olympic Committee and Member of the Executive Commission of the IOC from 1952 to 1957. From 1960 to 1964, he was Assistant of Avery Brundage, President of the CIO. Following the Summer Olympic Games held in London in 1948, Taher Pasha convinced the National Olympic Committees of the Mediterranean countries to create the Mediterranean Games.

 

Egypt participated in 17 competitions with 111 athletes, including 24   women athletes. Egypt’s won the following medals:

In the fifteenth Mediterranean Games held in Almeria, Spain on June 24 to July 3, 2005, Egypt came in fifth with respect to all participants after Italy, France, Spain and Turkey, and first with respect to Arab countries followed by Tunisia and Algeria. In the 15^th Med. Games, Egypt participated in 17 competitions with 111 athletes, including 24 women athletes. They won the following medals:

 

S. No.	Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Boxing	1	0	2	3
2	Judo	0	2	2	4
3	Equestrian	0	0	1	1
4	Karate	2	0	1	3
5	Rowing	0	0	1	1
6	Swimming	0	1	2	3
7	Weightlifting	7	4	4	15
8	Wrestling	4	3	5	12
9	Volleyball	1	0	0	1
Total	15	10	18	43

 

List of Medal-Winning Egyptian Athletes in the 15th Mediterranean Games

 

Gold Medals  

Boxing

Mohamed A. Heikel

 

Heba E. S. Ali

Mohamed I. S. Elshemy

 

Esmat M. E. Ahmed

Hebat Allah A. Ibraheem

Nahla R. M. Mohamed

Nahla R. M. Mohamed

Mohamed E.  A. Masoud

Hussein F. A. Osman

Ibraheem A. M. Morsy

 

Ashraf M. M. Elgharabaly

Mohamed I. A.  Mohamed

Karam M. G. Ibraheem

Hasan I. M. Ibraheem

 

Volleyball Team

 

Judo

Hesham H. H. Mesbah

Basel A. Elgharabawy

 

Ahmed M. M. A.  Husein

 

Esmat M. E. Ahmed

Hebat Allah A. Ibraheem

Mohamed E. E. Elnagar

Mohamed E.  A. Masoud

 

Mohamed M. M. Abou Elela

Ahmed M. A. Salem

Hesham A. A. Mohamed

 

Boxing

Mohamed R. M. Elewa

Bakr M. A. Shoman

 

Ameen Elhady A. Mohamed

Islam A. A. Elshehaby

 

Kareem A. R. Elzoghby

 

Mohamed F. A. Abd Elhameed

 

Men’s Pair

 

Ahmed M. M. A. Hussein – 50m

Ahmed M. M. A. Hussein – 100m

 

Hussein F. A. Osman

Mohamed E. E. Elnagar

Ahmed M. A. Mahmoud

Ibraheem A. M. Morsy

 

Yaser A. A. Sakr

Sahar S. I. Elsayed

Waleed N. H. Abd Elaal

Mohamoud E. A. Atteia

Saleh M. M. Emara

 

 

No	National Federation	Established in	Joined international Federation in
1	Athletics	1910	1912
2	Football	1921	1923
3	Rowing	1907	1925
4	Tennis	1923	1926
5	Swimming	1910	1927
6	Boxing	1923	1930
7	Fencing	1930	1930
8	Weightlifting	1930	1930
9	Table Tennis	1932	1934
10	Basketball	1934	1934
11	Wrestling	1934	1940
12	Cycling	1910	1942
13	Equestrian	1942	1942
14	Hockey	1943	1943
15	Gymnastics	1936	1946
16	Shooting	1950	1951
17	Yachting	1953	1953
18	Volleyball	1949	1954
19	Handball	1957	1960
20	Judo	1962	1965
21	Modern pentathlon	1975	1976
22	Taekwendo	1975	1978
23	Badminton	1991	1995
24	Archery	1989	1995

 

 

Egypt has participated in the Pan Arab Games seven times, with great success. The Pan-Arab Games are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab world. The first Games were held in 1953 in Alexandria, Egypt. Intended to be held every four years since, political turmoil as well as financial difficulties has made the event an unstable one. Women were first allowed to compete in 1985. The 11^th games will be held in Egypt in 2007.

 

Egypt leads the overall Arab Games table followed by Morocco, Syria, Algeria and Tunisia, and it managed to maintain its dominance of the medal tally in the 10^th Games held in Algeria in 2004.

 

 

Sports	Number of athletes	Number of Medals
Men	Women	Total	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Swimming	6	7	13	18	10	8	36
2	Gymnastics	5	5	10	4	3	5	12
3	Wrestling	8	0	8	6	1	1	8
4	Weightlifting	8	4	12	12	6	5	23
5	Volley ball	12	0	12	1	0	0	1
6	Table tennis	5	4	9	6	2	0	8
7	Boxing	6	0	6	1	0	4	5
8	Taekwendo	7	5	12	5	2	2	9
9	Soft ball	1	3	4	1	0	5	6
10	Karate	6	6	12	3	3	5	11
11	Kick boxing	3	0	3	1	0	1	2
12	Basket ball	12	0	12	1	0	0	1
13	Chess	6	0	6	2	1	3	6
14	Rowing	6	2	8	3	2	0	5
15	Shooting	2	1	3	2	1	0	3
16	Fencing	9	3	12	6	3	4	13
17	Judo	1	0	1	1	0	0	1
18	Cycling	6	3	9	6	4	4	14
19	Athletics (field & track)	5	3	8	2	3	1	6
Total	114	46	160	81	41	48	170

 

 

The Idea of a Pan African Game was conceived as far back as 1920 by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympics. This ideal was met with opposition from the colonial powers, wary of the unifying aspect of sport among African people. Their independence was denied.

 

Attempts to host the games in Algiers (1925) and Alexandria (1928) failed, despite considerable preparations taken by coordinators. Donations from the IOC’s (International Olympic Committee) first African member, Greek- Born Egyptian sprinter Angelo Bolanaki, made it possible to erect a stadium, but the games failed and were set back for three decades.

 

In the early 60’s the Friendship Games were held amongst the French-speaking countries in Africa. The first host countries was Madagascar (1960) and then Ivory Coast (1961). Before the third games were held in Senegal (1963), a conference of African Ministers of Youth and Sport was held in Paris (1962). They decided that the games would henceforth become the Pan African Games, as there was already a few English-speaking countries participating.

 

In July 1965 the first All Africa Games were held in Brazzaville, Congo. The Games were granted official recognition by the IOC as being on par with other continental Games. Some 2 500 athletes from 30 independent African States attended the event. Egypt became the first ever country to win the All African Games.

 

Bamako (1966) saw the birth of the SCSA (Supreme Council of Sport in Africa) that was to supervise the All Africa Games. Internal difficulties forced the cancellation of the 2nd Games in Mali (1969). Lagos stepped in as host for the Games in 1971 but was given extension until 1973 due to the Biafra war, which had just ended in Nigeria.

 

In 1977 the 3rd Games were scheduled to take place in Algeria, but due to technical reasons, it had to be postponed for a year and was held in 1978. This was not to be the end of the delays. The next Games were scheduled to take place in Kenya (1983), but were pushed back to 1985 and finally took place in Nairobi (1987).

 

That was to be the last of the delays and since then the four-year Olympic rhythm has not missed a beat, with stops in Cairo, Harare, and soon in Johannesburg and Nigeria.

 

 

Session	Year	City	Medals	Order
Gold	Silver	Bronze
1st	1965	Brazzaville	18	10	2	First
2nd	1973	Lagos	26	16	15	First
3rd	1978	Algiers	1	0	0	Withdrew
4th	1987	Nairobi	47	28	26	First
5th	1991	Cairo	92	46	50	First
6th	1995	Harare	59	41	51	Second
7th	1999	Johannesburg	54	60	46	Third
8th	2003	Abuja	80	62	72	First
9th	2007	Algiers	74	63	60	First

 

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) was founded in 1921 and joined the International Federation of Football (FIFA) in 1923.

 

Egypt played a central role in the establishment of the Confederation of African Football.

 

Egypt participated in the World Football Cup Championship in 1934 and 1990.

In 2006, Egypt won the African Cup Championship for the fifth time after defeating Cote-d’Ivoire in the play-offs. The same year saw al-Ahly win the Super Cup and the African League Cup.

 

The Egyptian Handball Federation (EHF) was founded in 1957 and joined the International Handball Federation in 1960.

 

In 1993, the Egyptian national junior team made a remarkable achievement, winning the world championship for the first time in Egyptian history.

 

Egypt ranked sixth in the world championship in Iceland in 1995.

 

In the Olympic Games of 1996, Egypt was also placed sixth and maintained its standing in the world championship in Japan in 1997.

 

In September 2007, the Egyptian Volleyball team won 16th African Nations Cup for men played at the University of Kwa Zulu Natal’s Westville Campus Sports Centre in Durban, South Africa.

 

Egypt qualified to play at the World Volleyball Championship to be held in Japan in November 2007 and the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the sole Arab and African representative.

 

 Weightlifting

Egypt’s weightlifters participated on the World Championship held in Thailand in September, which qualified 15 Egyptian weightlifters to represent their country in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

The Egyptian Rowing Federation (ERF) was founded in 1907 joined the International Volleyball Federation in 1925.

 

Egypt came in 9^th place in International Rowing Championship in Germany thus qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

Egyptian Squash players won the International Open Squash Championship in the UK in June 2006.

 

In 2005, Amr Shabana won the World Open Men Championship in 2003 in Pakistan and in 2005 in Hong Kong.

 

In 2006, Egypt hosted and won the 7^th Open African Bodybuilding Championship and the 4^th Junior Bodybuilding Championship, after the national team grabbed 6 Golds and 6 Silvers.

 

In 2006, Egypt’s Karate team won 7 medals (2 Silvers and 5 Bronzes) in the International Championship hosted by Finland.

 

Egypt won a Bronze medal in the International Championship of Gymnastics held in Belgium in May 2006.

 

 Wrestling

Egypt won the African Wrestling Championship held in South Africa. Egyptian athletes grabbed medals in free-style wrestling and another 7 in Greco-Roman Wrestling.

 

The Egyptian junior team won 44 medals (15 Golds, 16 Silvers and 13 Bronzes) in the 2007 Mediterranean Games.

 

Egypt rank-ordered 2^nd in the Arab Boxing Championship held in Tunisia in February 2007.

 

Egypt won Africa’s Fifth Region Boxing Championship held in Cairo on April 11-14.

 

Egyptian boxers reaped nine Golds in flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, light welterweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight, and two bronzes in light flyweight and lightweight.

 

Egypt won the 16^th African Table Tennis Championship for Juniors held in January in Tunisia.