Mohamed El-Sayed has won Egypt its first medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics after claiming the bronze medal in the fencing event.
Egypt is now the third African country to win a medal at the ongoing Paris Olympics.
Other African countries already on the medal table are Tunisia with one silver and South Africa who has one bronze.
The men’s épée event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July 2024 at the Grand Palais strip, with three Egyptians participating.
Mohamed Mohsen lost in the round of 64 to Czech’s Jakub Jurka, while Mohamed Yassen made it to a round further, losing to Japan’s Kazuyasu Minobe in the round of 32.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s third representative El-Sayed started the event from the round of 32, where he beat Colombian fencer Jhon Rodríguez 15-7.
El-Sayed, 21, then went on to win against Italy’s Andrea Santarelli (15-10), and Belgian fencer Neisser Loyola (9-8) to claim a spot in the semi-final against 2016 Olympics gold medalist Yannick Borel.
However, against the Frenchman, El-Sayed received his first defeat of the night (9-15) and faced Tibor Andrásfi in the third-placed playoff.
Following a tight game, El-Sayed managed to defeat is Hungarian opponent by sudden death (8-7) and win Egypt its first medal in France.
This is Egypt’s second medal in fencing after Alaaeldin Abouelkassem’s, who also competes at the Paris Olympics, silver in foil at the London 2012 Olympics.
Overall, it’s Egypt’s 20th bronze medal in all its history at the Olympics, taking the Pharaohs’ tally to 39 medals, eight gold, 11 silver, and 20 bronze.
