The 120-strong Egyptian 2016 Olympic delegation – the largest-ever – has secured two bronze medals in Rio de Janeiro so far.
Things weren’t looking up for the biggest Arab squad at Rio 2016, as some of Egypt’s medal favorites have fallen short of reaching the Olympic podium. But weightlifters Sara Ahmed and Mohamed Mahmoud managed to reignite hope in Olympic glory for Egypt.
Totalling 255 kilograms, Ahmed placed third among the women in the 69-kilogram weightclass. The 18-year-old was the youngest on the podium and got there by lifting 112 kilograms in the snatch and 143 in the clean-and-jerk sections of the competition.
After winning big in the junior level, Ahmed has proven she is fit for the big leagues, grabbing a medal on her first senior Olympic Games. She had won gold at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, Junior World Championships, plus the 2013 and 2015 Youth World Championships.
She is Egypt’s second female Olympic medalist, but the first to actually stand on the Olympic podium: weightlifter Abeer Abdulrahman is expected to receive a 2012 Olympic silver, after doping sanctions ruled out the three medalists in her weight class. The two Egyptian women will leave their mark in history as the first female Arab weightlifters to win Olympic medals.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Mahmoud granted Egypt its second Rio 2016 medal during his first Olympic experience. The 26-year-old lifted a total of 361 kilograms and ranked third place in the men’s 77-kilogram category, with a personal best of 165 kilograms in the snatch, plus 196 kilograms – 5 kilos less than his personal best – in the clean-and-jerk.
Mahmoud has thus become Egypt's first male weightlifter to win an Olympic medal since 1948. His recent achievements include a 2015 Arab Championship gold and two World Championship silvers.
Egypt's medals raised the Arab medal count at Rio 2016 to five, as it currently includes Kuwaiti Fehaid Al-Deehani's shooting gold, Emirati Sergiu Toma's judo bronze and Tunisian Ines Boubakri's fencing bronze.