Egypt competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. The country sent a delegation of 44 sportspeople. The team included 16-year-old Ayattalah Ayman, the youngest member of the delegation and the first woman to represent Egypt in swimming. It also included 41-year-old Ibrahim Al Husseini Hamadtou, the only table tennis player to compete while holding the paddle in his mouth.
Egypt finished the 2016 Games ranked second all time for total medals won by African countries. with 143 total medals, 45 gold, 43 silver and 55 bronze. For the 2016 Games, Egypt ranked fifth in total gold medals among African nations, claiming 3 golds. All but two of the medals won by Egyptians were in powerlifting.
Egypt competed in several sports including athletics, powerlifting, sitting volleyball, swimming and tennis.
Team
Egypt's team included 44 athletes, captained by Hayat Khattab.[1]Ayattalah Ayman was the youngest member of the Egyptian delegation, competing at the Games as a 16 year old.[1]
Background
Ahead of the Games, Khattab said at a press conference, “Our athletes are ready for the challenge, and the sponsorship that was provided to the champions will be repaid as they will gain a number of gold medals and raise the Egyptian flag."[1] She also talked about challenges for qualification after changes were made to medal events following the 2012 Games, saying these changes, “made it difficult for a number of our athletes to make it to the Games. As an example, Mottawai Abdel-Baki, who has long experience in athletics, had to switch to sitting volleyball after his category in athletics was cancelled so we lost hope for a medal.”[1]
Egypt's Minister of Youth and SportsKhaled Abdel-Aziz told his country's Paralympians ahead of the Games, “We are trying our best to give you an equal chance and I am sure you will collect more medals and that is why the ministry is delaying the celebration of the Olympians until you are back with the medals."[1]
Egypt finished the 2016 Games ranked second all time for total medals won by African countries, with 143 total medals, 45 gold, 43 silver and 55 bronze. They were ahead of third ranked Tunisia who had 74 all time, of which 32 were gold, 28 silver and 14 bronze. They were behind top ranked South Africa who have 280 total medals, 110 gold, 88 silver and 82 bronze.[2]
For the 2016 Games, Egypt ranked fifth in total gold medals among African nations, claiming 3 golds. They were behind Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Algeria. Egypt finished with 12 medals overall, including 5 silver and 4 bronze.[3]
The following Egyptian athletes won medals at the Games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[4][5] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[6]
Historically, Egyptian powerlifters have faced a number of barriers despite their obvious success at the Paralympic Games. They have lacked financial support. Because of the low numbers of practitioners, there is a lack of awareness among parents of children with disabilities about the potential to get involved with powerlifting. These low numbers of practitioners also make the sport cost more, which further reduces participation numbers. The materials provided by the Egyptian Paralympic Committee, and for Disabled Sport Powerlifting Federation are also sometimes wanting in quality, and the cost of distributing them means they are sometimes hard to come by. It is also hard for Egyptians to go abroad, and to bring foreign lifers to Egypt to assist Egyptians in training.[7]
Egypt sent a five player strong delegation to Rio. The team included Ibrahim Al Husseini Hamadtou, the only table tennis player to compete while holding the paddle in his mouth.[1] He went to the Rio Games when he was a 41-year-old.[9]ElSaied Ragab was selected as an umpire for the Paralympic Games in table tennis.[10]
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