Written by: Al-Zahraa Rashad

A distinguished swimmer who has won several championships, Sama Sultan has also made her mark in sports administration, eventually becoming Vice President of the Alexandria Swimming Zone, in addition to her work at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Let’s get to know her more closely in the following lines…

Introducing herself, Sama says:

“I am Sama Ali Sultan. I started swimming at the age of seven, and began playing basketball when I was nine. I was a member of both the swimming and basketball teams, and we participated in various Alexandria and national championships in both sports.”
Sama has won several titles at the World Masters Swimming Championships. After taking a break from swimming during her studies, she competed in the World Championships in Sweden in 2010, and started achieving international rankings in 2012 in Italy. Her participation in the World Championships in Russia in 2015 was one of her best, as she achieved seventh place in open water swimming.

In 2016, she won first place in the International Championship in Germany. She also won first place with the Egyptian national team in the International Championship in Tunisia in 2019, and again in Serbia in 2020.

In June 2023, she earned three silver medals in the World Finswimming Championships, and later that year, she achieved two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals in the International Championship in Bulgaria, in addition to two silver medals in relay races.

She also competed in the World Masters Championships in Doha in 2024, in both open water and pool swimming. In September 2024, she ranked seventh worldwide in the World Masters Finswimming Championships (Open Water) held in Marseille, France — setting a new personal record, as well as a new Arab and African record.

Speaking about the different types of swimming, she explains:

“The Swimming Federation includes backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and butterfly. These vary in distance — 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m — whether in pools or in open water.

Water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming also fall under the Swimming Federation.

Finswimming, on the other hand, ranges from 3km to 10km and falls under the Diving and Rescue Federation. It includes the use of bi-fins or a monofin, where both legs are placed in one fin.

What’s special about swimming is that it’s the only sport that doesn’t harm the body or joints because it’s a horizontal exercise that distributes effort evenly across all parts of the body — unlike sports like running or tennis, where the pressure on joints increases the risk of injuries.”
About her work as Vice President of the Alexandria Swimming Zone, she says:

“We organize various championships at the level of Alexandria and the Central Delta region. Recently, .

The Alexandria Zone serves 74 clubs, covering about 7,000 swimmers, and we provide live streaming of the competitions on YouTube so that parents can watch their children. We also post photos of races and medal ceremonies on the zone’s official page — they become beautiful memories for the swimmers. We’re also keen to review and verify any record-breaking attempts.”
Sama holds a Master’s degree in Sports Training and Movement Sciences, and she sought to integrate movement science with sports specialization, stemming from her engineering background. Her thesis focused on improving the performance of 16-year-old swimmers in the 200m freestyle event, using a program that measured physical, physiological, nutritional, and psychological factors before and after training.

In addition to her sports career, Sama works as Head of the Quality Control and Assurance Department for the engineering sector at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Her work covers maintenance, construction, electromechanical systems, civil and agricultural works, and furniture maintenance, including predictive maintenance to prevent issues before they occur.

In conclusion, Sama sends a message to university students and young people:

“You must face challenges and never give up when things get difficult. Life is like a graph — it goes up and down — and when you fall, you have to get up again. Develop yourself constantly, and always try to help others.”