Sara Ahmed (weightlifter)

Sara Samir Ahmed

Personal information
Full name	Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed
Born	1 January 1998 Al-Huaniya, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt
Height	155 cm (5 ft 1 in)[1]
Sport
Sport	Weightlifting
Coached by	Khaled Korani[2]
Medal record Representing  Egypt Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 69 kg Youth Olympics 2014 Nanjing 63 kg Mediterranean Games 2013 Mersin C&J −63 kg 2013 Mersin Overall 63 kg 2013 Mersin Snatch −63 kg African Games 2015 Brazzaville 69 kg Arab Championships 2015 Sharm el-Shiekh 69 kg World Junior Championships 2015 Wrocław 69 kg World Youth Championships 2015 Lima 63 kg 2013 Tashkent 63 kg Junior African Championships 2012 Tunis 63 kg Youth African Championships 2012 Tunis 63 kg

Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed (Arabic: سارة سمير السيد محمد أحمد; born 1 January 1998) is an Egyptian weightlifter who won a bronze medal in the women's 69 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Originally from the Ismailia Governorate, Ahmed was encouraged to take part in weightlifting by her family and was competing internationally by 2012. At the senior level, she has earned gold medals at the Mediterranean and African Games, as well as the Arab Championships. In Rio, she became the first Arab woman to receive an Olympic weightlifting medal and the first Egyptian woman to receive an Olympic medal in any discipline.

Early life

Ahmed was born in the village of Al-Huaniya in Egypt's Ismailia Governorate. Her father (who died in 2015)^[3] and older brother were national competitors in weightlifting, which inspired her to take up the sport in 2010. Although her participation in the sport interfered with her studies somewhat, she received encouragement and support for her family and found success in local and regional tournaments, eventually earning herself a spot on the Egyptian national team.^[4]

Career

Ahmed's international career began at the 2012 Junior African Championships in Tunis, where she won gold in the 63 kg division. She repeated that feat at the Youth edition, held in the same city, as well as the 2013 Youth World Championships in Tashkent. Her first senior-level competition was the 2013 Mediterranean Games, where she won the clean & jerk portion and was third in the snatch, leaving her second overall behind Turkey's Sibel Şimşek (Romela Begaj of Albania had the same total, but a higher body weight). She then bumped up to the 69 kg division and won that category at the 2014 African Youth and Junior Championships, then returned to 63 kg and earned gold at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. She competed one last time in the 63 kg division at the 2014 World Championships in Almaty, where she placed 12th, and then returned to 69 kg and captured gold at the 2015 African Games and Youth and Junior World Championships; at the latter she was named the Best Female Lifter.^[2] She placed fourth at the 2015 World Championships in Houston and took home gold at that year's Arab Championships held in Sharm el-Sheikh.^[5]

Ahmed represented Egypt at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's 69 kg event, skipping her high school exams in order to compete.^[3] To prepare for the Games, she attended training camps in Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Brazil.^[6] In Rio she won a bronze medal, lifting a combined weight of 255kg.^[7] She thus became the first Arab woman to win an Olympic weightlifting medal and the first Egyptian woman to win an Olympic medal,^[8] although Abeer Abdelrahman may retroactively receive a silver medal from the women's 75 kg weightlifting event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, as all three medalists in that event have tested positive for banned substances and she finished fifth originally.^[7] Ahmed was also the first Egyptian to win a weightlifting medal since 1948, with the caveat that Abdelrahman and Tarek Yehia may retroactively receive medals from the London Games.^[9] Later in the day, Mohamed Ihab joined her in this distinction by taking bronze in the men's 77 kg.^[10]

Upon her return she was honored in a ceremony held by Ismailia governor Yassin Taher, received congratulatory messages from Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi,^[6] and was given 500,000 Egyptian pounds.^[11] Soon after receiving the medal, she declared her intention to train for gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[3] Following her victory, she encouraged the Egyptian government to do more to support its athletes, including granting more leniency for athletes in terms of taking college-preparatory exams. She has no special nutritional routine and is coached by the national team's Khaled Korany.^[6] She is engaged to another Egyptian Olympic weightlifter, Ragab Abdelhay.^[11]

Senior level results

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
			1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank
Olympic Games
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	69 kg	107	110	112	3	135	140	143	3	255
World Championships
2014	Almaty, Kazakhstan	63 kg	100	104	104	13	120	125	129	12	229	12
2015	Houston, United States	69 kg	105	110	112	6	135	138	138	5	245	5
African Games
2015	Brazzaville, Congo	69 kg	95	102	105		126	132	136		234
Mediterranean Games
2013	Mersin, Turkey	63 kg	92	98	100		112	120	124		216

See also

• Muslim women in sport

References

1. "Sara Ahmed". Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
2. "Sara Ahmed". NBC Sports. 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
3. Badr, Doaa (18 August 2016). "Interview: Egypt's teenage weightlifter Sara Ahmed has further ambitions after winning bronze in Rio". Al-Ahram. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
4. عبدالرشيد, أحمد (15 September 2014). "البوابة نيوز : أسرة سارة سمير بطلة العالم في رفع الأثقال: مقابلة الرئيس دفعة معنوية لتحقيق المزيد من الإنجازات (طباعة)" (in Arabic). albawabhnews.com. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
5. "AHMED Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed EGY". International Weightlifting Federation. 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
6. Fouly, Mahmooud (23 August 2016). "Interview: Egypt's girl eyes gold after getting bronze in Rio Olympics". Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
7. "Weightlifting – Ahmed earns landmark podium for Egypt". Channel NewsAsia. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
8. Sims, Alexandra (12 August 2016). "Rio 2016: Egypt's Sara Ahmed becomes first Arab woman to win Olympic weightlifting medal". The Independent. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
9. Maher, Hatem (10 August 2016). "Teenager weightlifter Sara Samir wins Egypt's first Rio medal". Al-Ahram. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
10. "Mohamed Mahmoud". Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
11. "Weightlifting champ Sara Ahmed: bronze is just the beginning". Egypt Independent. 14 August 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.