Mohamed El-Sayed has put his name in the history books by securing Egypt’s first medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, earning a bronze in the fencing competition.
With this achievement, Egypt becomes the third African country to make it to the medal table at the ongoing Olympics in Paris – Tunisia has won a silver medal, and South Africa has a bronze medal to their tally so far.
The men’s épée event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on July 28, 2024, at the Grand Palais strip, featuring three Egyptian fencers.
Mohamed Mohsen was knocked out in the round of 64 by Czech fencer Jakub Jurka. Mohamed Yassen advanced to the round of 32 but lost to Japan’s Kazuyasu Minobe.
In contrast, Mohamed El-Sayed began his journey in the round of 32, where he defeated Colombian fencer Jhon RodrÃguez with a score of 15-7. The 21-year-old then went on to beat Italy’s Andrea Santarelli (15-10) and Belgian fencer Neisser Loyola (9-8) to secure a spot in the semi-finals against 2016 Olympic gold medalist Yannick Borel.
El-Sayed faced his first defeat of the night against the Frenchman (9-15) and moved on to the bronze medal playoff against Tibor Andrásfi of Hungary. In a tightly contested match, El-Sayed emerged victorious by a score of 8-7, winning Egypt’s first medal at the Paris Games.
Nigeria has yet to win a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Their hopes in table tennis were dashed as both Olajide Omotayo and 2016 quarter-finalist Aruna Quadri suffered disappointing losses in their first-round matches.
Omotayo fell Iranian Noshad Alamiyan, while Quadri was defeated by Romanian Eduard Ionesco despite leading 3-0, leaving Nigerian fans hopeful for better outcomes in the remaining events.