Egyptian women's participation in the Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympics were first held in 1896 in Athens, but women were not permitted to participate until the second edition of the Games in 1900 in Paris. In that year, 23 female athletes competed alongside 1,201 male athletes. Seventy-six years after the inaugural Summer Olympics, Egyptian women were on the cusp of participating in the 1972 Summer Olympics for the first time. However, the Egyptian delegation withdrew from the Games prematurely after the Munich incident. As documented in the official report of the Olympic Organizing Committee, Egypt's planned participation included one female athlete alongside 38 male athletes. However, the participation featured no women and was limited to 23 male athletes.
Egyptian women eventually made their Olympic debut 88 years after the Games' inception, during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. This made Egypt the fourth Arab country to have female participants in the Olympics, after Algeria, Libya, and Syria. Since then, Egyptian women have consistently participated in every Summer Olympics to date.
The number of Egyptian female participants in the Olympics has varied over the years. The first participation in the 1984 Games had the highest number of female athletes (6 athletes) until the 2000 Sydney Games, which saw 15 female athletes. Since then, the number of female athletes has increased in each subsequent Olympics, reaching 34 athletes at the 2012 London Games. This represented the highest proportion of female participation within the Egyptian delegation (31%, with 34 female athletes versus 75 male athletes) since Egyptian women began competing in the Olympics.
Similarly, in terms of sports, the 1984 debut saw Egyptian women competing in most sports (4 sports) until the 2000 Games (9 sports). Since then, the number of sports in which Egyptian women compete has gradually increased, reaching 17 sports in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
From the inaugural participation of Egyptian women in the 1984 Olympics until the conclusion of the 2012 London Games, Egyptian female athletes were unable to secure any medals over 28 years. The closest Egyptian women came to winning a medal was in the 2008 Olympics, where Noha Abd Rabo placed fifth in taekwondo and Abeer Abdelrahman placed fifth in weightlifting. Abeer replicated this achievement at the subsequent Olympics, securing fifth place alongside Nahla Ramadan in distinct weight categories within the weightlifting competition.
On August 10, 2016, Sara Ahmed became the first Egyptian female athlete to win an Olympic medal. Sara Ahmed secured a bronze medal in the 69 kg weightlifting category with a total lift of 255 kg, thereby becoming the first Egyptian woman to win an Olympic medal in over a century of Egyptian participation in the Games. Additionally, she became the inaugural Arab woman to secure an Olympic medal in weightlifting. Subsequently, the International Olympic Committee and the International Weightlifting Federation awarded Abeer Abdelrahman the silver medal in the 75 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics, following the disqualification of the top three competitors for doping. On January 12, 2017, it was announced that Abeer had also been awarded the bronze medal in the 69 kg category at the 2008 Summer Olympics due to the disqualification of the first and third-place competitors for doping. Consequently, Abeer Abdelrahman became the first Egyptian female athlete to win an Olympic medal, the first to win two Olympic medals, and the only Egyptian woman to have won a silver medal to date.
With female participation exceeding one-third of the Egyptian delegation, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics marked the largest Egyptian women's participation in the history of the Summer Games. A record 48 Egyptian female athletes competed in 21 different sports, representing the highest number of Egyptian women participating in the Olympics to date.
The first gold medal for an Egyptian woman was won by Feryal Abdelaziz in karate. Additionally, the Egyptian delegation secured the highest number of medals in a single Olympics, with Hedaya Malak and Giana Farouk each winning bronze medals in taekwondo and karate, respectively.
This constituted Malak's second bronze medal, the first having been awarded at the Rio 2016 Games. She became the fifth Egyptian athlete to win multiple medals in the history of the Summer Olympics, joining the ranks of Farid Simaika, Ibrahim Shams, Karam Gaber, and Abeer Abdelrahman.
The participation of women in the Olympic Games has involved multiple instances of relatives competing in different or even the same editions of the Games. Sisters Sherwet and Nevine Hafez were the first Egyptian women to compete together at the 1984 Olympics, participating in swimming events at the ages of 17 and 15, respectively. Subsequently, sisters Shaimaa and Eman El-Gammal both participated in fencing at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, even competing together in team events in both editions. Before her sister's participation, Shaimaa had already competed in the 2000 and 2004 Games.
Dina Meshref participated in the 2012 London Olympics, following in the footsteps of her aunt, Nihal Meshref, who had previously competed in the 1988 and 1992 Games in table tennis, and her cousin, Yousra Helmy, who had also competed in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics in the same sport. In conclusion, twin sisters Nada and Nihal Saafan participated together in the synchronized swimming team event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
1984 Summer Olympics marked the inaugural participation of Egyptian women in the history of the Olympics since its inception in 1912. Six female athletes, all under the age of 18, competed in three sports. The Egyptian contingent included sisters Sherwit and Nevin Hafez in swimming, Sahar Youssef, Dahlia Mokbel, Sahar Helal in rhythmic swimming, and Rim Hassan in diving. The athletes were notably young, except Sherwit, who was seventeen, and Sahar Helal, who was the youngest competitor in rhythmic swimming and the youngest member of the entire Egyptian delegation. The inaugural Egyptian female participation in the Olympics may be considered unsuccessful, as the athletes did not advance beyond the qualifying rounds. The exception was Dahlia Mokbel, who reached the finals of both the individual and doubles rhythmic swimming competitions.
The detailed participation was as follows:
Sahar Hilal was the youngest athlete participating in all of the rhythmic swimming events, at the age of 15 years and 116 days.
The second appearance of Egyptian women at the 1988 Seoul Olympics was marked by a limited participation of only one athlete, Nihal Meshref, in table tennis. This was a notably weak showing in a Games that witnessed the participation of 2,202 athletes from a multitude of nationalities. Table tennis was the fourth sport in which Egyptian women competed, following swimming, rhythmic swimming, and diving. Nihal participated in five matches within her group and was unsuccessful in all of them, concluding her Olympic experience with a final ranking of 41st and last.
The comprehensive participation record is as follows:
The number of female athletes at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona increased to three out of 2,721 athletes of different nationalities. Additionally, the tournament witnessed the second participation of Nihal Meshref, the first Egyptian athlete to participate in two Olympic Games. Additionally, Egyptian women competed in a novel sport, judo, through Heba Hefny, marking the fifth sport in which Egyptian women participated, following swimming, rhythmic swimming, diving, and table tennis. The third athlete was Rania Elwany, who was the youngest member of the Egyptian delegation, at the age of 14 years and 286 days.
The participation of Egyptian women was notably limited, with Rania Elwany failing to advance beyond the preliminary stage in the four swimming events in which she competed. The events included the 50-, 100-, and 200-meter freestyle, as well as the 100-meter backstroke. In judo, Heba Hefny was the last competitor to finish in her weight class, with 21 other competitors participating. Finally, in table tennis, Nihal Meshref's final ranking improved from the previous round, placing 33rd after losing two matches and winning one in her group in the preliminary round.
The breakdown of participation was as follows:
Final Standing: 33
The number of Egyptian female participants in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta decreased to a mere two athletes: Heba Hefny and Rania Elwani. Both athletes had previously participated in the Olympics, with Hefny having competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and Elwani having participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Elwani was the youngest athlete in the entire Egyptian delegation, at 18 years and 280 days old. Consequently, women's participation was limited to only two sports, neither of which were represented for the first time: judo and swimming.
In the most recent competition, Heba Hefny demonstrated an improvement in her performance, advancing from her previous ranking. She concluded the event in ninth place, among 20 participants in the heavyweight division of judo. Rania Elwany also exhibited a gain in her final standings in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events. However, she experienced a decline in her performance in the 200-meter freestyle.
The breakdown of her results is as follows:
Final Standing: 9th
The number of Egyptian female athletes participating in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney has reached 15, representing the largest number of female athletes from Egypt at the Summer Olympics since the inception of Egyptian women's participation in the Games. In addition to swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, table tennis, and judo, Egypt participated in five new sports in which it had never competed before: rhythmic gymnastics, archery, taekwondo, weightlifting, and fencing. This brought the total number of sports in which Egyptian women have participated since their Olympic debut to 10.
For the third consecutive time, Heba Hefny and Rania Elwany participated in the Olympic Games. Heba Hefny concluded the heavyweight judo competition in ninth place, a ranking identical to that achieved in the previous edition. With regard to Rania, she was successful in qualifying for the semifinals in both the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events. She achieved this by placing first in her group in the preliminary round of both races, thereby qualifying for the semifinals. In the semifinals, she placed sixth and eighth, respectively. In her respective group, she did not qualify for the final. Additionally, in the 200-meter freestyle, she placed first in her group in the preliminary round, yet her overall ranking was insufficient to qualify for the semifinals. The remaining athletes demonstrated less noteworthy performances, and the breakdown is as follows:
Marwa Sultan was the youngest competitor in the Shoot event, having reached the age of 17 years and 229 days.
Egypt's representation at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens increased from the previous Olympics, with 16 Egyptian athletes participating in 11 distinct sports. Egypt participated for the first time in the women's category in rowing, modern pentathlon, gymnastics, and athletics, thereby expanding the number of different sports in which Egyptian women participated to 14. Heba Abdel Gawad and Shaimaa El Gamal participated for the second consecutive time in the Olympics, while the remaining athletes were participating for the first time. Aya Medany was the youngest athlete in the men's and women's modern pentathlon, only 15 years and 281 days old.
Aya Medany of Egypt became the youngest competitor in the modern pentathlon, both for men and women, at the age of 15 years and 281 days.
Egypt's participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing saw a notable increase, with 27 Egyptian athletes representing 13 different sports, an increase of 11 athletes from the previous edition. Additionally, the number of sports in which Egyptian women have participated since their inaugural appearance at the Olympics increased to 17, including gymnastics, Romanian wrestling, and badminton. Notably, this was the highest number of female athletes who had previously participated in the Olympics, with five athletes: Samah Ramadan, Aya Madani, Shaimaa Abdel Latif, Shaimaa Abdel Aziz (second participation), and Shaimaa El Gamal (third participation).
Female athletes from Egypt demonstrated noteworthy achievements in select sports at the Games. Aya Madani secured the eighth position (out of 36) in the final ranking of the modern pentathlon competition, while Noha Abd Rabbo attained the fifth position (out of 16) in the taekwondo heavyweight category. Additionally, Noha Abd Rabbo attained the fifth position (out of 16) in the taekwondo heavyweight competition. Furthermore, Abeer Abdel Rahman also concluded the event in fifth place in weightlifting (light heavyweight category).
On January 12, 2017, Abeer Abdel Rahman secured the bronze medal in the 69 kg weightlifting competition following the disqualification of the first and third-place finishers, who were subsequently found to have used performance-enhancing drugs. This achievement marked the first occasion that an Egyptian woman had won a medal at the Summer Olympics.
The Egyptian contingent at the Summer Olympics was the largest in the history of the Games, with 34 athletes representing Egypt, including 20 first-time participants, 12 second-time participants, Aya Madani, who was participating for the third time, and Shaimaa El Gamal, who was participating for the fourth time. El Gamal is the first Egyptian to participate in four Olympic Games since the inception of women's participation in the Olympics in 1984. Mona El-Hawary was the oldest member of the Egyptian delegation, having reached the age of 49 years and 269 days. In contrast, Farida Osman was the youngest, having reached the age of 17 years and 198 days.
Abeer Abdel Rahman and Nahla Ramadan achieved fifth place in the +75 and -75 weightlifting competitions, respectively.
Four years later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) awarded Abeer Abdel Rahman a silver medal in the 75 kg category, following the disqualification of the top three finishers due to doping violations. This made her the first Egyptian athlete to win a silver medal at the Olympics.
In the Romanian wrestling competition, Egypt fielded a team of 16 athletes, with Rabab Eid representing the country in the female category. The sport with the largest Egyptian female participation was rhythmic swimming, with the Egyptian delegation including eight female athletes, three of whom were participating in the Olympics for the first time. The largest representation in gender-neutral sports was in fencing, with six female and six male athletes from Egypt. In the sports in which both genders could participate, but in which Egypt's participation was limited to women, these included badminton, in which Hadia Hosny participated, and soccer, boat racing, wrestling, equestrian, judo, and athletics. In the latter sport, Noura El Sayed did not participate despite her registration to do so.
The Egyptian synchronized swimming team has qualified for the Olympics, having finished as the top African team at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships. This marks the second occasion that Egypt has qualified for the Olympics at the team level, having previously done so in 2008. Shatha Abdel Rahman and Dalia El Gebaly competed together in the doubles competition, finishing in 24th and last place, respectively. On the team level, Egypt finished in seventh place, ahead of only Australia.
Rabab Eid is the second Egyptian to compete in Romanian wrestling at the Olympic Games, following Hayat Farag in 2008. She secured a place in the 55 kg freestyle category at the Olympics by finishing second in the African and Oceanian qualifying tournament, behind Tunisia's Marwa Amri. However, at the Olympics, she was eliminated by Ukraine's Tetyana Lazareva in the round of 16.
The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro saw the largest Egyptian women's contingent at that time, with 37 Egyptian athletes participating. Of these, 30 were competing for the first time, five were competing for the second time, and Sherine El-Zeiny and Shaimaa Abdel-Latif were participating for the third time.
In a historic moment for Egyptian women, Sara Ahmed became the first Egyptian woman to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting after lifting a total of 255 kg, earning a bronze medal in the 69 kg category. This achievement marks the first time an Egyptian woman has won an Olympic medal in weightlifting since Egypt's participation in the Olympics began 104 years ago. Additionally, Ahmed's accomplishment makes her the first Arab woman to win an Olympic medal in the weightlifting competition. Hedaya Malak subsequently validated the capabilities of Egyptian women by attaining a second bronze medal for Egyptian women and a third for the entire delegation in that session. This occurred prior to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) conferring a silver medal upon Abeer Abdel Rahman for the London 2012 Games and subsequently a bronze medal for the Beijing 2008 Games, following the disqualification of several medalists for doping violations.
Fatma El Sharnouby has been selected to participate in the Olympic Games, having met the requisite criteria.
Hedaya Malak was automatically designated a qualifier in the 57 kg category, having achieved a ranking within the top six of the Olympic world rankings. Meanwhile, Seham El-Sawalhy was designated a qualifier as one of the top two finishers in the 67 kg category at the 2016 African Qualifying Championships in Agadir, Morocco.
Nadia attained qualification for the Olympic Games through her performance in the 2015 African qualifying tournament held in Tunis, Tunisia.
Nadeen El-Dawlatly and Dina Meshref were selected to represent their country at the Olympic Games after attaining a semifinal position at the 2015 African Games. Youssa Helmy was additionally included in the Olympic qualifying team as the highest-ranked athlete from Africa in the Olympic world rankings.
Following an apology from South Africa for the African seat, Sherine El-Zaini became the first South African to qualify for the Olympics on three occasions.
Haydy Morsy was selected to represent her country at the Olympic Games following her victory at the 2015 African Championships.
The three Egyptian athletes were selected to participate in the weightlifting competitions at the Olympic Games based on the combined ranking of their respective teams in the 2014 and 2015 World Weightlifting Championships.
The three Egyptian shooters were selected based on their performance in the 2014 and 2015 World Championships, the 2015 World Cup Series, and the African Championships up until March 31, 2016.
Both Reem Mohamed and Farida Osman satisfied the criteria for qualification for the Olympic Games.
Ebtissam Mohamed became the first Egyptian woman to qualify for the Olympics in the sport of cycling.
With the participation of over one-third of the Egyptian delegation, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics witnessed the largest Egyptian women's participation in the history of the Games, with 48 Egyptian athletes representing 21 different sports, a record for the country.
Taekwondo athlete Hedaya Malak was the first Egyptian competitor to win a medal at the Games, claiming the bronze medal in the 67 kg competition. This marks the second occasion on which Hedaya has secured a bronze medal, having previously achieved this same result at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She thus becomes the fifth Egyptian athlete to win more than one medal in the history of the Summer Olympics, following in the footsteps of Farid Smika, Ibrahim Shams, Karam Gaber, and Abeer Abdel Rahman.
Feryal Ashraf became the first Egyptian woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She secured this achievement by winning the gold medal in the +61 kg women's kumite event within the karate competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
On August 6, 2021, Gianna Farouk's medal was awarded to the Egyptian women's team, marking the third occasion on which the nation had achieved a podium finish in the Games.
Archery
The Egyptian synchronized swimming team has secured a position at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, having attained the highest ranking among African teams at the 2019 World Championships. The team finished in 17th place out of 27 participating teams.
Egypt qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in rhythmic gymnastics for the first time by winning individual and team gold at the African Championships in Sharm El Sheikh.
Five karate players from Egypt are participating in their inaugural Olympic Games. Of the three, Gianna Lotfy secured a direct qualification for the Olympics by finishing in the top four of the International Karate Federation (IKF) Olympic rankings. Feryal Abdelaziz finished among the top three in the 2021 World Qualifiers in Paris, France, thereby obtaining an additional seat for Egypt. Radwa Sayed qualified by attaining the highest ranking in the IKF Olympic rankings for Africa in her category.
Haydy Morsy was granted qualification status following her victory at the 2019 African Championships in Cairo. In the case of Amira Kandil, she was granted the opportunity to participate following the initial qualifiers' declination to do so. She was thus able to qualify as the next in line in the International Federation's ranking for her category.
Women's team was granted qualification status following their triumph at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco. This permitted a maximum of two male and two female athletes to participate in the singles competition. Additionally, Egypt was awarded an additional seat in the mixed doubles competition following their victory in the final match against Nigeria at the 2020 African Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tunis, Tunisia.
Egyptian participation in this session included two taekwondo athletes: Nour Abdel Salam, competing in the women's 49 kg category, and Hedaya Malak, competing in the women's 67 kg category. Abdel Salam had previously won the semifinals of the African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Rabat, while Malak had won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In 2020, Egypt made its inaugural appearance in the tennis competition at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Mayar Sherif, who had secured the gold medal in the women's singles event at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco, was the nation's representative in this category.
In a historic first for the Egyptian Olympic contingent, Basmla ElSalamoney participated in the triathlon.