Egypt competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012, sending one of its largest delegations ever. A total of 110 Egyptian athletes participated in 83 events across 20 sports, with more women taking part than ever before. The nation's flagbearer in the opening ceremonies was Hesham Mesbah, a judoka who was Egypt's only medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Egypt won two medals during the course of the Games: Alaaeldin Abouelkassem earned silver in the men's foil, becoming the first competitor from an African nation to win a fencing medal, while Karam Gaber captured silver in the men's 84 kg Greco-Roman wrestling event. Two Egyptian weightlifters were awarded medals retroactively, after higher-ranked competitors were disqualified for doping: Abeer Abdelrahman took silver in the women's 75 kg event, while Tarek Yehia received bronze in the men's 85 kg event. Among other achievements, Mostafa Mansour was the nation's first competitor in sprint canoeing while fencer Shaimaa El-Gammal became the first Egyptian female to appear in four editions of the Olympics.
Prior to 2012, Egypt had sent athletes to nineteen editions of the Summer Olympic Games, the 1906 Intercalated Games, equestrian at the 1956 Summer Olympics, and the 1984 Winter Olympics. Before the Games began, the Egyptian Olympic Committee distributed counterfeit Nike gear to its athletes, due to its financial troubles following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Nike, however, ended up donating legitimate equipment to the Egyptians. Tamer Bayoumi, a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and the nation's most successful taekwondo practitioner at the 2012 Games, was chosen to carry Egypt's flag at the closing ceremony.
Aside from the team sport of football, which had 16 participants, fencing and wrestling were the sports in which Egypt had the most participants, sending 12 representatives to each. Of them, the wrestlers was almost exclusively male with only one female, Rabab Eid, taking part. The sport with the most Egyptian female participation was synchronized swimming, an all-woman tournament at the Olympics, with eight, while the nation sent six women to fencing, the highest number for a mixed sport. Among tournaments with the potential for both men and women to take part, Egypt qualified females, but not males, for badminton, and males, but not females, for track and field athletics, boxing, canoeing, equestrian, football, judo, and sailing.
Medalists
The following Egyptian athletes won medals at the games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.
| style="text-align:left; width:78%; vertical-align:top;"| Medal Name Sport Event Date Alaaeldin Abouelkassem Fencing Men's foil Abeer Abdelrahman Weightlifting Women's 75 kg Karam Gaber Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman 84 kg Tarek Yehia Weightlifting Men's 85 kg | style="text-align:left; width:22%; vertical-align:top;"| Medals by sportSport TotalFencing 0 1 0 1Weightlifting 0 1 1 2Wrestling 0 1 0 1Total 0 3 1 4
Background Prior to 2012, Egypt had sent athletes to nineteen editions of the Summer Olympic Games (three times as the United Arab Republic), the 1906 Intercalated Games, equestrian at the 1956 Summer Olympics, and the 1984 Winter Olympics.The 1912 Olympic report lists Egypt as having sent a fencer to those Games, but there is uncertainty as to whether he actually competed. With the exception of the Soviet-boycotted 1984 Summer Olympics, Egypt's 2012 delegation was the largest ever, and chose Hesham Mesbah, a 2008 Olympic medalist in judo, as its flagbearer in the opening ceremony. A total of 110 Egyptians, 76 men and 34 women, travelled to London and competed in 20 different sports.Sports Reference counts gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics as distinct sports, and thus lists 21 It was the largest delegation of women in the country's Olympic history. Prior the start of the Olympic Games, the Egyptian Olympic Committee (EOC) distributed counterfeit Nike gear from a Chinese distributor to its athletes, due to its financial troubles following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Nike ended up donating equipment to the Egyptians, despite the EOC's eventual willingness to pay.
Competitors Shaimaa El-Gammal became the nation's first female to appear in four Olympic games, while former Olympic medalists Tamer Bayoumi (taekwondo), Karam Gaber (Greco-Roman wrestling), and Hesham Mesbah (judo) returned to compete again. Middleweight boxer Mohamed Hikal and skeet shooter Mostafa Hamdy also made a fourth appearance at the Games, while Gaber, Mesbah, and six other athletes made their third Olympic appearance: discus thrower Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly, modern pentathlete Aya Medany, table tennis player El-sayed Lashin, Greco-Roman wrestlers Ashraf El-Gharably and Mohamed Abdelfatah, and judoka Islam El Shehaby. Skeet shooter Mona El-Hawary, aged 49, was the oldest athlete on the team, while sprint freestyle swimmer Farida Osman was the youngest at age 17. Bayoumi was selected as Egypt's flagbearer for the closing ceremony.
| width=78% align=left valign=top | The following table lists the number of Egyptian competitors who participated in each Olympic sport. Reserves in fencing, field hockey, football, and handball are not included, nor are athletes who failed to start in their event. SportMenWomenTotalArchery 1 1 2Athletics 6 0 6Badminton 0 1 1Boxing 5 0 5Canoeing 1 0 1Equestrian 1 0 1Fencing 6 6 12Football 16 0 16Gymnastics 1 3 4Judo 5 0 5Modern pentathlon 2 1 3Rowing 3 2 5Sailing 1 0 1Shooting 5 2 7Swimming 2 1 3Synchronized swimming 0 8 8Table tennis 3 3 6Taekwondo 2 2 4Weightlifting 5 3 8Wrestling 11 1 12 Total 76 34 110
Archery
Two Egyptian archers, one male and one female, qualified for the Olympics, both of whom had earned their berths at the 2012 African Archery Championships. Ahmed El-Nemr finished second at that tournament, behind Philippe Kouassi of Côte d'Ivoire, and entered the men's individual event. El-Nemr had won three medals at the 2011 Pan Arab Games, gold in the individual recurve 90 metres and silver in the individual recurve FITA and the team event. In London he scored 644 points in the ranking round and placed 57th overall out of 64 competitors. In the round of 64 he defeated eighth-ranked Crispin Duenas of Canada three sets to one and then faced Kuo Cheng-wei, who was representing Chinese Taipei. El-Nemr lost this round three sets to one and was eliminated from the tournament, leaving with a final ranking of 17th. Nada Kamel, who had earned seven medals at the 2011 Pan Arab Games, won the women's event at the 2012 African Championships and entered the individual tournament. There she scored 611 points in the ranking round and placed 56th overall out of 64 participants. She was defeated by Ksenia Perova of Russia three sets to none in the opening round and finished the event joint-33rd and last.
AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / BMScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankAhmed El-NemrMen's individual64457 (8)W 6–2 (40)L 2–6Did not advanceNada KamelWomen's individual61156 (9)L 0–6Did not advance
Key: W = Competitor won the match; L = Competitor lost the match; BM = Bronze medal match
Athletics
Seven Egyptian athletes, six men and one woman, qualified for the Olympics, although one did not compete. Noura Elsayed, the lone woman, was slated to run in the 800 metres, but withdrew due to injury. The only Egyptian to participate in more than one event was Amr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud, a veteran of the 200 metre event at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Seoud, who had won gold medals in the 100 metres at the 2007 Pan Arab and 2011 All-African Games, and the 200 metres at the 2007 Pan Arab and 2009 Mediterranean Games, as well as the 2010 African Championships, met the "A" qualifying standard for both the 100 metres and 200 metres. In the 100 m, he drew the same heat as world record-holder and defending Olympic champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica and finished fourth, which was insufficient to advance. He had the same standing in the opening heats of the 200 m. Hamada Mohamed met the "A" qualifying standard for the 800 metres and won his opening heat in London, advancing to the semifinals. He was placed in the same heat as David Rudisha of Kenya, the world-record holder and upcoming gold medalist, and finished eighth out of nine competitors, failing to reach the final.
The remaining Egyptians, all of whom qualified through the B standard, competed in field events. Omar Ahmed El Ghazaly, in the discus, was the most experienced of the quartet, with senior international medals going back to bronze at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics, in addition to past Olympic appearances in 2004 and 2008. In London he finished 26th among 41 participants with a best throw of 60.26 meters. Ihab Abdelrahman, in the javelin throw, had missed the 2008 Summer Olympics, despite having been a silver medalist at the 2007 Pan Arab Games, but had won the event at the 2010 African Championships and the 2011 Pan Arab Games. In London he placed 28th out of 44 competitors with a best throw of 77.35 meters. Mostafa Al-Gamel, in the hammer throw, was the gold medalist from the 2011 All-African Games and a silver medalist from the 2008 African Championships and the 2011 Pan Arab Games. In London he was 27th among 41 participants with a best throw of 71.36 meters. Mohamed Fathalla Difallah, who had come in fourth at the 2011 All-Africa Games, was 37th out of 41 competitors in the qualifying round of the long jump in London, with a distance of 7.08 meters, and did not advance to the final.
Men Track & road events AthleteEventHeatQuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankHamada Mohamed800 m1:48.051 Qcolspan=2 1:48.188Did not advanceAmr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud100 mcolspan=2 10.224Did not advance200 m20.814colspan=2 Did not advance
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionOmar Ahmed El GhazalyDiscus throw60.2626Did not advanceIhab AbdelrahmanJavelin throw77.3528Did not advanceMohamed Fathalla DifallahLong jump7.0837Did not advanceMostafa Al-GamelHammer throw71.3627Did not advance
Women Track & road events AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankNoura Elsayed800 mDNSDid not advance
Note – Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat onlyKey: Q = Qualified for the next round; N/A = Round not applicable for the event; DNS = Athlete failed to start the event
Badminton
One Egyptian badminton player qualified for the Olympics, Hadia Hosny. A veteran of the 2008 Summer Games, she trained for London at the University of Bath, where she was a graduate student in bioscience. Ranked 102nd in the world, she qualified by being the top player on the African continent. In the women's singles, she lost to Pi Hongyan of France and Chloe Magee of Ireland, finished in the bottom of her group, and was eliminated from the tournament.
AthleteEventGroup stageEliminationQuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / BMOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankHadia HosnyWomen's singlesL 11–21, 9–21L 17–21, 6–213Did not advance
Key: L = Competitor lost the match; BM = Bronze medal match
Boxing