Many might not know that the Egyptian delegation recently returned from the first edition of the Youth Olympics in Singapore with a respectable tally of six medals — two of which were gold.
A successful Olympic campaign by many standards, our youth in Singapore certainly made us proud. But then I quickly realized how such success is rarely duplicated by the older generation of athletes in Egypt. I thought about the sole bronze medal we won in the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008. What a disappointment after Egypt had won five medals at the Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004, which included our first gold medal win since 1956.
Before Athens, Egypt had not even won a single medal — gold or otherwise — since Mohamed Rashwan’s infamous silver medal win at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. So naturally Beijing was a huge flop, since it demonstrated that Egypt’s Olympic revival in Athens was short-lived and was not a sign of continuous progress. Yet, despite this showing from adult Egyptian athletes, somehow our youth managed to fly to the Youth Olympics in Singapore and had absolutely no problem returning with six Olympic medals.
The Summer Youth Olympics was held in August and included participants between the ages of 14 and 18 from all over the world. Egypt made worldwide news when modern pentathlete Gihan El Midany became the first female flag-bearer in Egypt’s Olympic history.
As the Olympic Games progressed, El Midany’s history-making move was clearly not the only buzz our youth created in Singapore. Ibrahim Sabry earned us our first gold medal in Archery, while the boys’ handball team crushed South Korea in the finals, giving Egypt its second gold medal win at the event. Egypt finished the Olympic Games ranked at 24 out of 204 nations in the overall Youth Olympic medal standings.
Which brings me to the question: Why do our juniors rank well amongst the world’s best, but yet their performance quickly drops off the world rankings when they grow older and compete against the seniors?
Egypt’s Olympic record is not the only current example of Egyptian juniors outperforming Egyptian seniors on a global level. Sadly, a quick look at the rankings in several sports can easily demonstrate this pattern as well.
In handball, the men’s team is currently ranked 15 in the world, while the boys’ team is ranked number 5 (thanks to their gold medal in Singapore). In tennis, we don’t have a single Egyptian in the top 500 in the ATP rankings; Karim Maamoun is the highest ranked Egyptian in the world, and he’s number 509. Want to know how many juniors we have in the top 500? Six. Of which, our highest ranked player is Karim Hossam, who is number 81 in the world rankings.
When it comes to football — the most popular sport in the country — Egypt’s only two appearances at the FIFA World Cup were in 1934 and in 1990, and we lost in the first stage on both occasions. In the meantime, Egypt regularly participates in the Under-20 World Cup, and we even claimed third place in the 2001 U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
The list goes on and on, but I’m sure I have made my case. Such a pattern requires us to take a closer look and try to understand where it all goes wrong. Why are we globally competitive in sports as youngsters, but rarely successful as adults?
Egypt’s number 1 tennis player Maamoun believes education is a major aspect that hinders youth from becoming top athletes later on down the line.
“We are not a sports-oriented country; what I mean is that people consider sports a hobby not a profession. When you are in school or university the teachers and the system don’t support an athlete because they think it’s a waste of time. Well not everybody has to be a doctor or an engineer — we have plenty. What we don’t have is a champion in tennis or in most of the other sports,” said Maamoun, 30, in a statement on his official website.
“The transition from juniors to seniors is delayed because of the university period; it starts from the age of 17 [and ends at] 22, the peak of any athlete … What happens here is that most of our players quit [playing their respective sport] during university or they travel to the US to continue their studies, play college tennis over there, then come back to Egypt and quit tennis to pursue the career they studied for.”
Indeed playing a sport as a profession is not commonly supported by families in Egypt. It all boils down to obtaining a university degree, which for whatever reason is often the only option amongst most families.
While juggling your time between pursuing a sport professionally and attending a university is indeed difficult, but it is not impossible. Many world-class athletes have managed to do both simultaneously, especially now with the availability of online learning via the internet. Still, the idea of concentrating on both is not generally accepted by the families of junior athletes or by university educators.
Maamoun also touched on an interesting point. It is indeed true that some of our most promising tennis players travel to the US to play college tennis in the NCAA, and subsequently quit the sport after they graduate despite having been talented enough to play the sport professionally. A living example of such a scenario is former Egyptian tennis player Hisham Hemeda.
Hemeda was one of Egypt’s most talented tennis players in the 1990s. When the time came to attend university, he chose to travel to the US to play for the University of Georgia (UGA). The Egyptian is a legend in the history of UGA tennis because he led his team to win the NCAA Tennis Championship in 1999. Where is Hemeda now? He’s working for a multinational consumer goods company in Dubai. Coming back to Egypt post-graduation and pursuing a professional tennis career was clearly not going to get him anywhere, so getting a stable job was the wiser and better option.
Moreover, the idea that teenagers can delay their studies to take the opportunity to advance to the senior level in a certain sport is almost unheard of in Egypt, although many sports professionals worldwide did not get their college degrees until several years after they’d already established themselves in their particular sport. Some even obtained their degrees after they retired. Nineteen-year-old El Midany, for example, chose to prioritize competing in the modern pentathlon over her university education, although she admitted that she was an exception to the normal rules in Egypt.
“My family pushed me to continue the sport,” El Midany told Pentathlon.org in an interview. “If you were not good at a sport, families would usually tell girls to give up and continue in their studies because it is not easy in Egypt. I actually [took one year off attending] college to train. I hope that I can be a good role model and inspiration to [girls in Egypt]. I hope that they will continue in their sports and not stop competing.”
The lack of sponsorship is also a major problem that faces our professional athletes, especially those not competing in team sports. Without the help of a sponsor in covering the costs of training and travelling, it is almost impossible for the average Egyptian athlete to succeed. Once the sport starts to become a financial burden, it’s only a matter of time before players quit to search for a job where they can actually earn an income.
The sponsorship culture is still not fully recognized in Egypt, and most of the sponsorship money available just goes to football. Businessmen and executives of large companies should become aware of the need for sponsorship, and programs should be established that mediate between promising young athletes and potential sponsors.
This all finally brings us to our national sports federations. The reason most players incur such high travel costs is because there aren’t enough events organized in Egypt where they can play to improve their rankings. Should national sports federations organize some proper international tournaments located in Egypt, our players could spend more time competing inside the country rather than having to travel all around the globe in order to get some competition experience and some much-needed points in the international rankings.
It may be a long time before the mentality towards sports professionalism will change, but publicizing the triumphs of our young athletes should definitely increase awareness amongst the public and urge more people to consider pursuing sports professionally. The schools, parents, national sports federations and local businessmen should all work together to support our youth — particularly at the critical age of transitioning between high school and university — in order to carve Egypt’s place on the world sports map, and to experience a success in sports that transcends generational barriers.
Reem Abulleil is a sports journalist and enthusiast. She received her master’s degree in Sports Journalism from the European University in Madrid. She also authors one of the top 10 tennis blogs "Game, Set, Match." She can be reached at [email protected]
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Gihan El Midany.
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