CAIRO: Just two weeks after the Beijing Olympics and sports officials are exchanging accusations of bad planning and favoritism, blaming each other for Egypt’s failure to win all but one bronze medal at the games. After Beijing came to a close, President Hosni Mubarak was quick to order an investigation into the issue.
Some sports federations and athletes said they achieved what they were aiming for: Even though the national team included world champions, winning medals apparently wasn’t a goal for some. Meanwhile, other federations explain that their top athletes faced world champions and gold medalists in the preliminaries, which is why they were excluded.
Any discussion about Olympic achievements was characterized by placing the blame on someone else.
Pointing fingersMohamed Shaheen, the head of the delegation of Egyptian athletes in Beijing, held the National Olympic Committee (NOC) accountable for the underachievement.
“The NOC has failed to carry out its main task, which is to oversee and monitor the preparations of the federations for the Beijing games, Shaheen, president of the Hockey Federation, told Daily News Egypt.
Shaheen added that a number of NOC officials and members instead wasted their time over the past six months in opposing the new executive statute released by the National Sports Council (NSC) because it conflicts with their personal interests.
These federations, Shaheen explained, are the ones that receive the biggest share of the government’s sports funding.
“Despite receiving the highest cash allotments from the NSC, the shooting, rowing, and volleyball federations achieved the worst results among the Egyptian athletes, Shaheen added.
Khaled Zen, president of the Rowing Federation, said that the results achieved by the rowing team were actually in accordance with the federation’s predictions.
Amr Elwany, president of the Volleyball Federation, said the presence of four world champions alongside Egypt in the group stage was the main reason behind all losses. In addition, three key players suffered serious injuries.
A bumpy roadFor other federations, the obstacles were in-house.
Ahmed El Fouly, president of the Taekwondo Federation accused the NOC of placing obstacles ahead of those who have favored the executive statute.
“High profile officials in the NOC that opposed the executive statute deliberately set unnecessary hurdles before those who favored the executive statute, El Fouly told Daily News Egypt.
El Fouly claimed that the officials in the NOC refused to cover for travel expenses of an assistant trainer to accompany the head coach of Taekwondo and Noha Safwat, Egypt’s single representative, “due to the fact that I voted in favor of the executive statute, and despite the fact that the OC in Beijing has declared that it is bearing all the accommodation and transportation costs.
El Fouly added that he had to pay for the traveling costs of the assistant coach, even though such a task is always carried out by the NOC.
El Fouly highlighted that despite these obstacles, Safwat exceeded her expectations and managed to clinch fifth place in her first ever Olympics.
NOC vs. NSCMounir Thabet, the NOC president, hit back, denouncing the recent trend of criticizing the organization over which he presides. He said the NSC should be held accountable for the performance of Egypt s athletes at the Olympics because they prevented the NOC from carrying out its main task: To assess and monitor the preparations and results achieved by the federations.
Thabet added that NSC is the sole body that provides funding to the federations, which is why only the NSC should be held accountable.
However, sources close to the NSC ruled out any attempts to interfere or undermine the authority of the NOC or its ability to fulfill its main role.
Dr Ibrahim Atteya, head of the sports department in the NSC, said that the Olympic Champion Program initiated in 2000, targeting and sponsoring young talents to compete for Olympic medals, has been the epitome of cooperation between the NSC and the NOC over the last eight years.
Atteya added that the program reaped the benefits of this cooperation in 2004, when Karam Gaber (wrestling) and Tamer Salah (Taekwondo) came home from Athens with medals.
Hesham Mesbah, the only Egyptian to win a medal in Beijing, was also part of the program, alongside Aya Medany(modern pentathlon), Mohamed Abdel Baky (weightlifting) and Noha Safwat (Taekwondo), all of whom did well in Beijing considering their young age and the fact that this was their first Olympics participation.
Fallen starsOn another note, Shaheen stressed that the Federations of Boxing, Modern Pentathlon and Wrestling did not promise to deliver any medals, even though people had high hopes of winners in these sports because of the athletes performance in world championships.
Ahmed Nasser, president of the Modern Pentathlon Federation, said the federation did not promise that Aya Medany, the current world champion, would win an Olympic medal.
“We did not promise a medal for Aya, we were just hopeful for her as she’s got the potential. However, the horse riding contest was disastrous, as the standard of horses designated by the OC was very poor, Nasser told Daily News Egypt.
Medany said she did her best to “achieve her dream. She was third in the list following the swimming contest but fell behind after the horse riding competition. However, the 20-year-old has her eyes on the London Olympics, which will be here second.
As for boxing, the athletes faced previous gold medalists at the preliminaries, which they cited as the main reason for their elimination.
Abdel Aziz Ghoniem, the head coach of Egypt s boxing team, blamed the referees and the unfortunate draw that put boxers Mohamed Heikal and Hossam Bakr with the respective winners of their weight categories.
Echoing what many have claimed, Ghoniem said, “We didn’t promise to clinch any medals, adding that since this year only three boxer qualified for the Olympics – as opposed to six in Athens – the chances were limited.
Tainted goldAtef El Meihy, head of the technical committee of the Wrestling Federation, emphasized that Karam Gaber’s failure to retain his gold medal was predictable, saying that the athlete spent too much time celebrating his Athens win and acted carelessly over the last four years.
He lacked self-discipline and didn’t show up for many of the scheduled training sessions and camps set by the federation, El Meihy said.
Nonetheless, the federation supported Karam, he added.
“We’ve backed him all the way regardless of his careless attitude, to the extent that we permitted his brother – in coordination with the NOC – to accompany him to Beijing upon his request, despite the fact that his brother is not a wrestling coach, El Meihy told Daily News Egypt.
Gaber maintained a regular presence in the news in the past four years, with ongoing feuds with federation officials.
El Meihy emphasized that Karam is definitely a great talent, but has paid a heavy price for his lack of discipline and not maintaining regular, champion-material training.
Himself a former referee, El Meihy refuted claims made by Gaber’s brother about unfair refereeing during Gaber’s games.
“The standing of the referee officials was fair throughout the contest, and if Gaber’s brother s claim was true, we would have acted swiftly by submitting a petition. But that wasn’t the case, El Meihy said.
