The President of the UAE and Asian Federations, Vice President of the International Karate Federation, Major General Nasser Abdul Razzaq Al Razooqi, confirmed that the absence of karate from the list of competitions included in the Summer Olympic Games “Paris 2024”, which concluded last Saturday, deprived the Arabs of recording an unprecedented historical achievement in terms of the number of medals.
Al-Razouki praised the harvest achieved by Arab athletes in the Paris Games, whether the 17 colored medals they won, which is the second best harvest for Arabs in history after the “Tokyo 2020 Olympics”, which totaled 18 medals, or the seven gold medals that gave the Arabs an unprecedented number in terms of gold medals in the history of Olympic participation.
Al Razouki told Al-Emarat Al-Youm, “The absence of karate in the Paris Games competitions deprived Arab sports of the opportunity to achieve more achievements, especially after the brilliance of Arab athletes in the last session (Tokyo 2020) by winning four medals in karate.”
“The Arab numbers in Paris were likely to be unprecedented records if Karate had been on the competition lists, both in terms of total medals and gold medals, which could have doubled, especially through Karate players, after the Tokyo 2020 tournament witnessed great results for Arabs in Karate, with Egyptian Feryal Ashraf winning the gold medal, Saudi Tariq Hamdi winning the silver, in addition to two bronze medals won by Egyptian Giana Farouk and Jordanian Abdulrahman Al-Masatfa,” he explained.
Al-Razouki called on the Arab Olympic Federations and Committees to focus on individual games as a mine for reaping Olympic gold, and said: “A quick look at the harvest of the Tokyo and Paris Games shows that individual games are the real mine for Arab athletes in reaping medals. Supporting these games, especially in our Gulf region, in parallel with what is allocated to football and other team games, is very important.”
“The major countries, especially China and America, which shared the same number of gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with each winning 40 medals, are allocating support for individual games in parallel with team games. There are many experiences that we must benefit from locally and in the Gulf in supporting these games, including, for example, Jamaica’s focus on the physical structure that suits its athletes, and the specialization of this country’s athletes in track and field competitions,” he concluded.
Seven Arab athletes succeeded in embracing Olympic glory in the Paris 2024 Olympics, with (7 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze), compared to the Tokyo 2020 Games, in which Arabs won 18 medals, with (5 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze). The Paris Games witnessed Bahrain’s lead at the Arab level, with four medals (two gold, one silver and one bronze), while Algeria came in second place with three medals (two gold and one bronze), then Egypt and Tunisia with the same number of three medals each (one gold, one silver and one bronze), followed by two medals for Moroccan athletes (one gold and one bronze), then Jordan with a single silver medal, and finally Qatar with a bronze medal.
Morocco.. A historical footprint in football
The Moroccan national football team achieved an unprecedented achievement in the history of Arab participation in the Olympic Games, by winning the bronze medal after defeating its Egyptian counterpart by six clean goals. However, the most prominent Moroccan brilliance came with the runner Soufiane El Bakkali, who won the gold medal in the 3000-meter steeplechase race, confirming his worthiness to defend the title he won in “Tokyo 2020”, thus becoming the first Moroccan runner to win two gold medals in two Olympic Games.
Egypt is the most decorated country in the history of the Olympics
Ahmed El Gendy’s gold medal in the modern pentathlon gave Egypt its ninth gold medal in the history of the Olympic Games, making it the most decorated Arab country in the Olympics since the two gold medals in the Amsterdam Games in 1928. In addition to El Gendy’s gold, Egypt won the silver medal in the women’s weightlifting competitions at the Paris Olympics through weightlifter Sara Samir in the 81 kg weight class, and the bronze medal in fencing through Mohamed El Sayed.
• 17 colored medals won by Arab athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
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