The Summer Olympics were first held in 1896 in Athens, but women were not permitted to participate until the second edition of the Games in 1900 in Paris. In that year, 23 female athletes competed alongside 1,201 male athletes."Summer Olympics" (English). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2016-04-27. Seventy-six years after the inaugural Summer Olympics, Egyptian women were on the cusp of participating in the 1972 Summer Olympics for the first time. However, the Egyptian delegation withdrew from the Games prematurely after the Munich incident. As documented in the official report of the Olympic Organizing Committee, Egypt's planned participation included one female athlete alongside 38 male athletes."Official Report of the Organizing Committee of the XX Olympic Games - Munich 1972" (PDF) (English). Pro Sport München. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2016-04-24. However, the participation featured no women and was limited to 23 male athletes."Egypt at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics" (in English). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2016-04-24.

Egyptian women eventually made their Olympic debut 88 years after the Games' inception, during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles."Egypt at the Summer Olympics". Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2016-04-26. This made Egypt the fourth Arab country to have female participants in the Olympics, after Algeria, Libya, and Syria.Nauert, John (April 6, 2012). Sports around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. Vol. 1. p. 272. ISBN:978-1-59884-300-2. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2016-04-26. Since then, Egyptian women have consistently participated in every Summer Olympics to date.

The number of Egyptian female participants in the Olympics has varied over the years. The first participation in the 1984 Games had the highest number of female athletes (6 athletes) until the 2000 Sydney Games, which saw 15 female athletes."Egypt at the 2000 Summer Olympics". Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-20. Retrieved 2016-04-27. Since then, the number of female athletes has increased in each subsequent Olympics, reaching 34 athletes at the 2012 London Games. This represented the highest proportion of female participation within the Egyptian delegation (31%, with 34 female athletes versus 75 male athletes)"Egypt at the 2012 Summer Olympics" (in English). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2016-04-27. since Egyptian women began competing in the Olympics.

Similarly, in terms of sports, the 1984 debut saw Egyptian women competing in most sports (4 sports)"Egypt at the 1984 Summer Olympics" (in English). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from t he original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2016-04-27. until the 2000 Games (9 sports). Since then, the number of sports in which Egyptian women compete has gradually increased, reaching 17 sports in the 2016 Rio Olympics."Egypt at the 2016 Summer Olympics" (in English). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-20. Retrieved 2016-09-30.

From the inaugural participation of Egyptian women in the 1984 Olympics until the conclusion of the 2012 London Games, Egyptian female athletes were unable to secure any medals over 28 years. The closest Egyptian women came to winning a medal was in the 2008 Olympics,"Egypt at the 2008 Summer Olympics" (in English). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2016-04-30. where Noha Abd Rabo placed fifth in taekwondo and Abeer Abdelrahman placed fifth in weightlifting. Abeer replicated this achievement at the subsequent Olympics, securing fifth place alongside Nahla Ramadan in distinct weight categories within the weightlifting competition.

On August 10, 2016, Sara Ahmed became the first Egyptian female athlete to win an Olympic medal. Sara Ahmed secured a bronze medal in the 69 kg weightlifting category with a total lift of 255 kg, thereby becoming the first Egyptian woman to win an Olympic medal in over a century of Egyptian participation in the Games."Rio 2016: Egypt's Sara Ahmed becomes first Arab woman to win Olympic weightlifting medal" (بالإنجليزية). independent.com. 12 Aug 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2016-09-30. Additionally, she became the inaugural Arab woman to secure an Olympic medal in weightlifting. Subsequently, the International Olympic Committee and the International Weightlifting Federation awarded Abeer Abdelrahman the silver medal in the 75 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics, following the disqualification of the top three competitors for doping."Doping adds two more medals to Egypt's tally at London 2012 Olympics". Yalakoura.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-06. Accessed on 2021-08-06."Abeer Abdel Rahman awarded EGP 700k for London silver medal". Ahram Daily. Archived from the original on 2021-08-06. Accessed on 2021-08-06. On January 12, 2017, it was announced that Abeer had also been awarded the bronze medal in the 69 kg category at the 2008 Summer Olympics due to the disqualification of the first and third-place competitors for doping."Egypt's Olympic girls win 4 medals. Sarah Samir is the first Egyptian to be crowned on the Olympic podiums. Abeer Abdel Rahman achieves the first silver, and Hidaya Malak achieves bronze in Rio de Janeiro." The seventh day. June 26, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-27. Accessed on 2021-08-06."Official - Abeer Abdulrahman wins bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics". Masrawy.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-13. Accessed on 2021-08-06."IOC sanktioniert acht Athleten wegen nicht bestandener Anti-Doping-Tests in Peking 2008 und London 2012". Internationales Olympisches Komitee (بالإنجليزية). 14 Jul 2021. Archiviert vom Original 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-08-06. Consequently, Abeer Abdelrahman became the first Egyptian female athlete to win an Olympic medal, the first to win two Olympic medals, and the only Egyptian woman to have won a silver medal to date."Olympedia - Egypt (EGY)". www.olympedia.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-02. Accessed on 2021-08-06.

With female participation exceeding one-third of the Egyptian delegation, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics marked the largest Egyptian women's participation in the history of the Summer Games. A record 48 Egyptian female athletes competed in 21 different sports, representing the highest number of Egyptian women participating in the Olympics to date."Olympedia - Egypt (EGY)". www.olympedia.org. Archived from the original on 2021-08-13. Accessed on 2021-10-01.

The first gold medal"T okyo Olympics: Karate - the one-Games wonder that delivered on drama and emotion". BBC Sport. August 8, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-10. Accessed on 2021-08-08. for an Egyptian woman was won by Feryal Abdelaziz in karate."Feryal Ashraf. The first Egyptian athlete to win a gold medal in the history of the Olympic Games". Dunya al-Watan. Archived from the original on 2021-08-07. Accessed on 2021-08-07.Ayoubi, Nur (August 7, 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: Feryal Abdelaziz becomes first Egyptian woman to win gold". Archived from the original on 2021-08-10. Additionally, the Egyptian delegation secured the highest number of medals in a single Olympics, with Hedaya Malak and Giana Farouk each winning bronze medals in taekwondo and karate, respectively."Karate Results Book" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-10. Accessed on 2021-08-10.

This constituted Malak's second bronze medal, the first having been awarded at the Rio 2016 Games."Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Hedaya Malak raises Egypt's head with taekwondo bronze | Al-Masry Al-Youm". www.almasryalyoum.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-26. Accessed on 2021-08-09. She became the fifth Egyptian athlete to win multiple medals in the history of the Summer Olympics, joining the ranks of Farid Simaika, Ibrahim Shams, Karam Gaber, and Abeer Abdelrahman."'I won two Olympic medals'... Who is Hedaya Malak who made history at the Tokyo Olympics?" Masrawy.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-10. Accessed on 2021-08-09.

The participation of women in the Olympic Games has involved multiple instances of relatives competing in different or even the same editions of the Games. Sisters"شيرويت حافظ" (بالإنجليزية). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2016-04-24."نيفين حافظ" (بالإنجليزية). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2016-04-24. Sherwet and Nevine Hafez were the first Egyptian women to compete together at the 1984 Olympics, participating in swimming events at the ages of 17 and 15, respectively. Subsequently, sisters"Shaimaa Al-Jamal" . Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2016-04-25."إ يمان الجمال" (بالإنجليزية). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2016-04-26. Shaimaa and Eman El-Gammal both participated in fencing at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, even competing together in team events in both editions. Before her sister's participation, Shaimaa had already competed in the 2000 and 2004 Games.

Dina Meshref participated in the 2012 London Olympics, following in the footsteps of her aunt,"Dina Meshref" (بالإنجليزية). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2016-05-01. Nihal Meshref, who had previously competed in the 1988 and 1992 Games in table tennis,"نهال مشرف" (بالإنجليزية). Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-05. Retrieved 2016-04-24. and her cousin, Yousra Helmy, who had also competed in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics in the same sport."Table Tennis MESHREF Dina - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". ... (American English). Retrieved 2021-08-13 In conclusion, twin sisters Nada and Nihal Saafan participated together in the synchronized swimming team event at the 2016 Rio Olympics."Nehal Saafan" (English). rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2016-09-30."Nada Saafan" [ندى سعفان] (بالإنجليزية). rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2016-09-30.

1984

1984 Summer Olympics marked the inaugural participation of Egyptian women in the history of the Olympics since its inception in 1912. Six female athletes, all under the age of 18, competed in three sports. The Egyptian contingent included sisters Sherwit and Nevin Hafez in swimming, Sahar Youssef, Dahlia Mokbel, Sahar Helal in rhythmic swimming, and Rim Hassan in diving."Synchronized swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics: Individual". Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2016-04-24. The athletes were notably young, except Sherwit, who was seventeen, and Sahar Helal, who was the youngest competitor in rhythmic swimming and the youngest member of the entire Egyptian delegation. The inaugural Egyptian female participation in the Olympics may be considered unsuccessful, as the athletes did not advance beyond the qualifying rounds. The exception was Dahlia Mokbel, who reached the finals of both the individual and doubles rhythmic swimming competitions."Rhythmic swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics: Doubles". Sport-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2016-04-24. +The participation of Egyptian women in the 1984 OlympicsNAthleteAgeSport1Sahar Youssef15Synchronized swimming2Dahlia Mokbel15Synchronized swimming3Sahar Helal15Synchronized swimming4Rim Hassan15Diving5Sherwite Hafez17Swimming6Nevin Hafez15Swimming The detailed participation was as follows:

Swimming