Coverage By: AlZahraa Rashad

The American University in Cairo hosted the first edition of the “Egypt Athletes Forum” in the presence of a large number of public figures in the sports field at the Egyptian and international levels on Saturday, the eighteenth of March, which was held under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Egyptian Olympic Committee, and the Egyptian Olympic Committee headed by MP Aya Madani.

The forum began with the playing of the national anthem, followed by the presentation of the first session of the forum, which was a round table entitled “What do athletes need: the difficulties and challenges they face during their journey, and how to overcome them?” A number of Olympic and Paralympic champions participated in the activities of this session: Olympic champion Ahmed El Gendy, silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Paralympic champion Sherif Othman, silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and Olympic judo champion Sandrine Billiet, in addition to the participation of Dr. Hend Issa, a mental health specialist for athletes, and it was moderated by Enas Mazhar, managing editor and Head of the Sports Department at Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper.

Language And Travel Procedures Are The Most Prominent Challenges Facing Athletes

Regarding the most prominent challenges facing athletes, experts and guests of the first session said that there are some obstacles related to language and training in other countries. As Sandrine pointed out, she said, “She was able to overcome all these challenges, and this encouraged her to create a language program when she became a member of the Olympic Athletes Organization to support her fellow athletes in overcoming these obstacles.”

Regarding the mental health of athletes, Dr. Hend Issa pointed out that the difficulties faced by athletes vary from one society to another, and athletes in Egypt face a set of challenges related to our culture, including internal problems related to how the athlete controls his thoughts to reach a higher level, in addition to the pressures that young athletes are exposed to as they not exceed 15 years of age.

She added that obtaining a visa for athletes to travel to camps and tournaments is one of the challenges that players face, especially since there are games that require a lot of travel abroad, and this forces athletes to sacrifice not attending tournaments due to the lack of preparation for travel visas.

  Olympic champion Ahmed El Gendy said that the athlete in Egypt is exposed to internal problems, the first of which is that the player reaches a certain age (23-28). At this age, he is required to win adult world championships after achieving junior championships. Adult championships are more difficult and require great abilities to win. There are ex .

Managing Psychological Stress Is An Important Factor For An Athlete’s Success

The third session of the conference discussed an important topic, which is “the mental health of athletes and its impact on their sports performance.” Mona Selim, a public relations and marketing consultant who specializes in the sports field to support champions, Abeer Issawi, a taekwondo champion and a member of the International Olympic Athletes Committee, and Hend Issa, participated in this session. The session was moderated by Egyptian and African badminton champion Hadya Hosny.

Experts pointed out that mental health is one of the basic factors for the success of any athlete, because we care about techniques and tools at the expense of mental health. Sometimes we find a player distinguished in training and his results in tournaments are limited, and this is due to his inability to deal with the pressure of tournaments, and here comes the role of a mental health expert to support him. The athlete`s self-confidence.

Lack Of Sports Culture And Bullying Are The Most Prominent Challenges In Women’s Sports

In order to empower Egyptian women, session was held at the Egyptian Athletes Forum, Professor Dr. Walaa Abdel Fattah, member of the Youth and Sports Committee of the Egyptian Parliament, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Physical Education at Mansoura University, Haidy Morsy, champion of the modern pentathlon, and Olympic swimmer Farida Othman and Fatma Omar, the Paralympic weightlifting champion participated in the activities of this session, moderated by Aya Madani, head of the Players Committee of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, and a member of the Players Committee of the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon.

At the beginning, Farida Othman spoke and said about her sporting career that she started swimming when she was four years old, and her family’s point of view was that she should learn to swim to strengthen her health, but she loved the game and the water, and she competed in her first championship when she was 11 years old and it was the Republic Championship, and at that time she had no luck. She did not know who the competitors were, but she excelled and won the trophy for the best swimmer in the championship. Balancing study and sports was one of the most prominent challenges she faced, so she decided to study in the United States.

Professor Dr. Walaa Abdel Fattah, the parliamentary representative, said that what she encountered most in her sports career was societal culture; I grew up in the city of Mansoura, and the challenges facing girls in the regions are not easy. Since we did not have clubs in Mansoura, there was a youth center with only three games for girls. She chose volleyball and began playing it since she was seven years old. Regarding the most prominent difficulties, she said, “We were playing on a dirt court, and despite that, we achieved the Republic Championship for the age of 18.” "One year, this is a very big achievement."

Golden weightlifter Fatma Omar praised the development of sports in Egypt now compared to before. When I started practicing sports, we did not have a culture of girls’ sports, especially in a difficult sport such as weightlifting, and society’s view of sports for people with special needs is that it is a sport for entertainment and not for competition, she continued, “we sought equality from 1997 to 2016 with able-bodied Olympic champions in rewards and material and moral support, and we actually achieved equality in 2016. The society and state’s view of people of determination differed, and we were integrated into all aspects of life.”

Haidy Morsy, champion of modern pentathlon, said that followers have no awareness of a sport like modern pentathlon, and why a girl plays five different games, and this is difficult for any girl, All of this is a burden on the girl.

Preparation plan for Paris within the forum sessions

In order to plan for the future of sports in Egypt, one of the activities of this sports forum discussed a prescription for the future and proposed recommendations for preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Dr. Zohair Ammar, the technical advisor to a number of sports federations, Yasser Hefny, Chairman of the Players Committee of the International Modern Pentathlon Federation, and Aya Madany, participated in this session. Shaimaa Sami, the Paralympic badminton champion, and the session was moderated by Doaa Badr, editor-in-chief of the Tatweej News website, which specializes in covering individual sports news.

 Sports Investment And Sponsors In Forum Sessions

The topic of “Investing in the Sports Field” was the topic of the penultimate session of this forum, and the dialogue in this session included: Mohamed Shelbaya - CEO of a soft water company in North Africa, and a former basketball player, Saif Al-Waziri, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of a sports show company, Omar El-Burulosy, the world squash champion and owner of one of the academies specialized in teaching squash, and Rania Alwani - the Olympic swimming champion.

Sports Officials In Egypt: We Are Keen To Listen To The Voice Of Athletes

 Those responsible for Egyptian sports presented their vision at the conclusion of the sessions of this forum. The closing session was titled “The Role of the State in Supporting Sports Champions and Preparing Athletes.” Eng. Sherif El-Erian, President of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation, Vice President of the International Federation of Pentathlon, and Secretary-General of the Olympic Committee, participated in this session. The Egyptian Olympic Committee, Engineer Hisham Hatab, Chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, Dr. Mahmoud Hussein, Chairman of the Youth and Sports Committee of the Egyptian Parliament, and Mr. Morinari Watanabe, President of the International Gymnastics Federation.

  The President of the International Gymnastics Federation spoke at the beginning, stressing the need to listen to the voice of athletes, their opinions, and their aspirations, and to break the barrier between players and sports federations. Engineer Hisham Hatab explained the role of the Egyptian Olympic Committee in preparing athletes and planning for the Olympics, and there is complete harmony between the work of the committee and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and sports is a science and therefore we care about the scientific method, which has led to the progress of our sports performance and not limiting our achievements to specific games as was the case in the previous time.

Dr. Mahmoud Hussein, Chairman of the Youth and Sports Committee in the House of Representatives, also added: The selection of the members of this committee stems from our deep belief that athletes know best their problems, .

In the current session of the Egyptian House of Representatives, the committee included in its membership Dr. Aya Madany and Dr. Walaa Abdel Fattah, the committee also includes in its membership two football icons: Captain Hossam Ghaly, Undersecretary of the Youth and Sports Committee in the Council, and Captain Hazem Imam, Secretary of the Youth and Sports Committee. Al-Amri Farouk discussed the challenges facing Egyptian sports. The forum concluded by honoring the athletes participating in this sports forum, and awarding them medals and shields for their effective participation in this forum.