After a thrilling first week in the Olympic Games in Athens, I decided to take the rest of the week off, to relax after watching so much of the Olympics on TV. More important, I wanted to take my two toddlers away from it all. They had been imprisoned at home as I selfishly sat glued to the TV, depriving them of their favourite cartoon network. One week after the Games began, Egypt still had no medals. Our players were losing badly, many times by humiliating scores, even failing to break their own personal bests which got them into the Games in the first place. But Friday 20 August would be different. Egypt's prodigy, the world weightlifting champion Nahla Ramadan would draw a smile on our faces. She was the one who would make history. She was the talk of the town. Everyone was dreaming of watching Ramadan stepping onto the Olympic podium and being awarded an Olympic medal, preferably gold. Everyone thought that Ramadan was the dream that was due to come true. We were ready to forgive all the other athletes who had failed us if Ramadan won. That day, I was in Alexandria, Ramadan's hometown. The city, Egypt's second largest, was buzzing in anticipation. At around 8pm when transmission from Athens began, just about all cafes and restaurants in town tuned in to various sports channels to watch Ramadan live. It was a scene seen only when Egypt is playing an important football match. Unfortunately I wasn't watching because we were driving back to Cairo. But all along the way back I saw cafes and rest houses setting up giant size screens for their customers. Even cafes in small villages on the main road, their men with their galabeyas, were watching. I had asked my husband to turn on the radio to the sports channel that had the competition live. An enthusiastic presenter was describing the atmosphere. Not the least bit interested was my four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son who were furious with me. "What's that mummy? He's not singing." We want Negoum FM." Angry myself, I replied, "Shush, Shush, I want to listen!" That's how it went between myself and my kids for the next hour. Anyway, at the end Ramadan lost and embarrassingly so. Our dream had dissipated. It apparently was not enough that the 2010 bid World Cup bubble had burst back in May. We had to suffer another setback. On both occasions, I was speechless. I asked my husband to return to the music channel. The kids started singing and dancing, kissing me. "Thanks mummy." I half-smiled, eased the side of my head on the window and started asking. "Why"? I asked myself over and over. It wasn't just about Nahla Ramadan, but all Egypt's athletes in Athens. How does the handball team spend millions of pounds in preparation during the past decade, then lose every single match in the Olympics? How is that LE5 million were spent on Ramadan and this is the result? Ramadan reminded me of Egypt's golden fish, swimmer Rania Elwani, who spent years training and studying in the US, costing the government millions of pounds in search of an Olympic medal. She failed in three Olympics, the last being Sydney 2000. I'm still a supporter of Ramadan whose Bulgarian head coach and other officials must take at least some of the blame for her collapse. They incorrectly believed that since she had won the gold medal at the world championship, she would repeat the feat at the Games, forgetting that the Olympic Games is a tougher competition. They also neglected the physiological state of the player whose tears after every failed opportunity to lift the weights attested to weak mental character. Two days later, Egypt's Minister of Youth Anas El-Fiqi held a press conference in which he announced that all of Egypt's Olympic losers would be forced to go through a Q and A upon their return. He confirmed that the government would continue to support Ramadan but that her Bulgarian coach would be sacked since he was responsible for her failure. El-Fiqi revealed that the country's other big flop, the 2010 World Cup bid, whose report he had received from the prime minister, would be sent to the office of the prosecutor general to investigate, then to the People's Assembly for a hearing. As the week passed, our boxers surprisingly reached the semi-finals in two weight categories, securing at least two bronze medals, the first time the country has won something in the Olympics in 20 years. Time to celebrate a little bit.
