Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Our chances in Sydney

He flies through the air...
Only two athletes -- Hatem Mersal in the long jump and Ahmed Abdel-Mawgoud in the marathon -- are participating in track and field, Egypt's perennial Achilles heel. Both are participating in the Olympics for the first time but Mersal, a bronze medalist at the 1998 World Cup in South Africa and rated in the world's top 10 in the sport, has an outside chance at a medal. However, his preparations for Sydney are less than impressive, "not in keeping with the importance of the event," Mersal said. Still, that's better than Abel-Mawgoud's plight who did not even know he would be competing until a few weeks ago.

Doing like Ali
Mohamed Ali, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield -- all got their start following Olympic boxing gold medals. Egypt's six pugilists -- Mohamed Abdel-Raheem, Saleh Abdel-Bari, Fadel Shaaban, Ahmed Abdel-Samad, Amr Mustafa and Ramadan Anwar -- hope to do the same. But it will be a tough act to follow since none are ranked in the world's top three. Hopes have been dashed further following an injury to Mohamed Heikel that kept him out of the line-up. But coach Abdel-Aziz Ghoneim is nevertheless optimistic. "Our chances depend on the game's draw and whether we can avoid meeting world champions in the preliminary rounds." Practice has been limited to two international tournaments in the Ukraine.

Horse play
Who can forget Gillian Rolton, her arm in a sling, Wendy Shaeffer, her leg just out of plaster, Andrew Hoy and Phillip Dutton on the equestrian gold dais. Saleh Andre Sakakini can't forget. German-based Sakakini has gone to Seoul and Barcelona, but left empty-handed. "This time I'm looking for a medal. It's a dream I would like to come true. I've worked hard in qualifying for the Games and harder in preparing for them."

Pointed question
Fencing is the Games' link from a romantic past to a dynamic present. On the floor the tall will clash with the short, the wiry with the stocky. Scoring is fast and furious so the drama unfolds rapidly. Five national champions will test their mettle; none have any Olympic history. The federation, it appears, is content just being there. What, though, is the point?

Clockwise from left: the girls poised for combat; Gohar Nabil determined to score; Mazhar takes aim photos: Kamal El-Garnousi, Mohamed Mos'ad, Osama Abdel-Nabi, and Ayman Ibrahim

Circus act
Since Nadia Comaneci recorded a perfect 10 in Montreal, gymnastics has dominated Olympic headlines. Mary Lou Retton in Los Angeles and Kerri Strug, landing on her twisted ankle in Atlanta, conjure up images of stirring performances. Too bad, Raouf Abdel-Kerim, 22, a surprise Mediterranean Games gold medalist in the horse, is not of the same calibre and will probably not score higher than eighth. Rhythmic gymnastics is technically demanding and Sherine Karam, ranked in the world's top 25, will have to toss and catch balls and hoops with the ease of a seal if she is to get anywhere.

Courting third
It's fast. It's physical. It's simple to understand and stunning to watch. Handball has its own culture. From dreadlocked superstars to outrageous supporters. The national team ranks seventh in the world -- sixth in Atlanta -- and won the African, Bercy and Al-Ahram championship as part of its preparations. A genuine medal contender but most likely must beat at least one of these powerhouses -- Sweden, Russia, France, Spain or Yugoslavia -- to reach the final.

Rashwan no more
Judo -- the Samurai tradition -- launches a new idea. One player will be wearing blue instead of the all-white, making it easier to follow the action. Since Mohamed Rashwan's silver medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Games, judo has occupied a special status in the Egyptian sports hierarchy. However, Egypt has not introduced another Rashwan since. Basel El-Gharabawy, Ahmed Bali, Haitham El-Husseiny and Heba Rasheed are not expected to emulate the great Egyptian. "We're depending on Rasheed and El-Gharabawy," said coach Helmi Hussein. The two failed in 1996 but are determined to make amends.

Five in one
Emad El-Gezeiri will put his superman nickname on the line in the five-sport pentathlon involving shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running. El-Gezeiri, 18, qualified for the Games last year after coming second in Egypt's International Championship that included South Africa, Spain, Germany and Italy. He finished 12th in the under-21 World Junior Championships in Bulgaria last month. Despite his versatility, skill and endurance, and 20 days of training in Poland, El-Gezeiri does not look like finishing higher than 16 out of 32 contestants.

Sinking
Egypt's Ali Ibrahim, 29, took sixth place in the skiff in 1996 but illness will probably push his ranking downwards, to seventh or eighth place, out of 24 oarsmen in Sydney. The coxed four, appearing for the first time in the Summer Games, seem destined for a similar finish out of 13 nations. The youthful coxed pair, meanwhile, look set to take 14th place out of 18.

Swan song
This will be the third and final Olympics for golden fish Rania Elwani who does so well at the African and Arab level but has thus far floundered in the Games. She can be expected to qualify for the top 16, but a monumental effort will be needed for anything better. Younger brother Mahmoud, making his Olympic debut, can only be expected, like his four other compatriots, to break personal records.

Double synch
Eighteen-year-old twins Heba and Sara Abdel-Gawad hope to show grace and balance on the surface and pure power below. They've entered the duet event in synchronised swimming after placing 18th in qualifications in Sydney in April.

From left Abdel-Kerim makes his move; the strokes of Elwani

Pedal power
Cycling should provide plenty of drama. The bikes have no brakes, the riders no fear. But observers are worried the team will not match its pre-Olympic hype which saw it among the first 30 to qualify. Ranked 29th in the world, Egypt had noteworthy results this year in tours in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Ireland, Syria, Slovakia and Burkina Faso. But with all the practice and experience Egypt's four cyclists have garnered, the federation modestly wants them just to finish the race and to be among the first 70 cyclists.

Shooting and missing
Along with over 400 others, Egyptian marksmen and women will have their sights set on medals. But Mohamed Khorsheid, at 49, and making his fifth Olympic appearance, has so far failed to hit the bull's-eye. Mustafa Hamdi went to Atlanta with the same results and Tarek Zaki took 15th place in Barcelona. Khorsheid and Hamdi will play the skeet while Ayman Mazhar enters the double trap. Mohamed Ismail, Yasmine Abdel-Rehim and Marwa Sultan are in the air rifle event and Zaki and Hebatallah Mahmoud in the air pistol. In the skeet, the aim is to finish in the top 10. In the double trap, a place in the first 30 will be a record. No place of note is expected in the air rifle and pistol events. Training took the snipers to Germany and Italy twice each, Cyprus, Syria and Jordan.

CNN sees silver
The Cable News Network reported that Yehia Allam, a former world tae kwon-do champion, is Egypt's only hope for a medal, a silver to be exact. When it was a demonstration sport, tae kwon-do brought home a silver from Seoul and a bronze from Barcelona. The hero both times was Amr Khairy, now the coach. Khairy agrees that Allam, in the over-83 kilogramme category, is capable of a medal, as is Talaat Mabrouk in the over-85 division. "They are capable of doing something big," Khairy told the Weekly shortly before leaving Cairo for the battlefield. Warm-ups included the World Championship in France, in which Egypt came in sixth, and two months in South Korea, the world's top tae kwon-do nation.

Speed and spin
Five players -- two men and three women -- will take part in all singles, doubles and team events in table tennis. Always on top in Africa and the Arab world, Egypt's ping-pong players will find that in Sydney, so much rides on every shot.

Something to prove
Two days before they were scheduled to leave for Sydney, members of the International Wrestling Federation suspended Hisham Mustafa and Ahmed El-Ashry after blood samples taken during the African championship in Tunisia in May tested positive. The Egyptian Wrestling Federation then summarily expelled both wrestlers. On hearing the news, El-Ashry fainted and was taken to hospital while Mustafa vowed to clear his name. "I will prove my innocence then retire from wrestling for good," he told the Weekly. How he intends to do so remains to be seen, but he will need all the skills and guile demanded in the sport to do so. A bronze medal by world number three Mohamed Abdel-Fattah is possible. With a tradition that stretches back to Olympia, wrestling combines balance, speed and power. In 2000, competition will feature two styles: the well-known Graeco-Roman and the newer, freestyle method. Along with Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed Abul-Ela, Ali Abou Talib and Hisham Abdel-Wahab trained for two months at the Olympic centre in Maadi followed by one month in Bulgaria.

Lift-off
Moussa El-Deib and Nagwan El-Zawawy are the weightlifting duo who will huff and puff but are not expected to finish higher than eighth.

It's not Africa
As African champions, Egyptians can throw down booming serves and throw up solid blocks with the best of the continent's volleyballers. But they will have a harder time at the net when facing spikers Cuba and Russia.

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