After Egypt's outstanding performance in the African Athletics Championship in Kenya, the goal now is the 2012 Olympic Games, reports Ghada Abdel-Kader President of the Egyptian Athletics Federation (EAF) Seifallah Shahin is confident that the country is moving ahead and that there was still time to do something before London 2012. Throughout athletics history, Egypt has been well known for throwing events at the African and Arab level but on the international level we haven't collected any medals. "We have one athlete, Omar El-Ghazali, who finished sixth in the world championship in 2007. I was hoping El-Ghazali would move forward but unfortunately his season 2010 was full of injures," said Shahin who has been at his post for two years, before which he was a member of the administrative board, then vice-president. On the EAF's plan for the Olympics Games in London 2010, Shahin told Al-Ahram Weekly, "In order to win medals in the Games we should increase the number of athletes who qualified for the A-standard. We should have more than one athlete in one event should an athlete receive an injury. The more we have the more chances we have to get medals." In the Olympics, there are three standards. The first is the B-qualifier, followed by the A- qualifier. The third level athlete competes for a higher position starting from the third place to the eighth. Then, the top five athletes compete to determine the eventual winner. "We have a large number of athletes in the B-standard who qualified for the Olympics, including discus throwers Yasser Fathi and Marwa Hussein, hammer thrower Mohsen Anani and Ihab El-Sayed in the javelin," Shahin said. "We hope to have one more in the hammer event, Mustafa El-Gamal, who stands a good chance of qualifying for the A-standard." Sprinter Amr Seoud qualified for the A- standard and is currently among the top 20 in the world. "Still, it is very difficult for him to win medals," cautioned Shahin. "Our hope is that he reaches the finals. I believe we are moving in the right direction and I'm optimistic. We still have a chance. "Seoud is a miracle. He's very talented and has great potential but what is more difficult is how to put him on the right track. I found a good answer which is his coach Karim Abdel-Wahab. He understands Seoud's situation even though he became his coach only last February." Abdel-Wahab lived in America, working as an assistant track and field coach at the University of Northern Colorado, spending two years on sprints and hurdles. He designed training programmes for sprinters and hurdlers, helping the university's sprinters set new collegiate records in 60, 100 and 200 metres. He also implemented sports-specific training programmes for professionals in speed and power-dominated sports. "Running is talent in the first place," says Shahin. "Then, it's how to persuade the sprinter to continue. "It doesn't need any equipment. And it's not necessary to have a huge number of athletes. Morocco, Algeria and Kenya won the world championship with their sprinters who entered the African championship. "Seoud is the first step in running. Now, there are several institutions in Egypt working on running like the army. They discovered many talented athletes from Upper Egypt and Aswan, putting them in military schools at a very young age. In juniors, Egypt had three sprinters who qualified for the 13th IAAF World Junior Championship in Moncton, Canada, from 19-25 July but took nothing when they returned . Egypt's junior team under-18 will participate in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore from 12- 26 August hoping for better things. Salem Mohamed will participate in the 1,000 metres and Ahmed Farag in 800m. In the hammer Islam Taha and Ashrakt Gaber have entered while Noha Ayman is in the discus and Basant Mousad in high jump. Egypt hosted the 14th men and women Arab Junior Championship from 5-8 May at the Military Academy Stadium, coming in first with 40 medals (16 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze). Egypt had finished in first before but only in women's events. This was the first time to win both the men and women. Discovering new talent is a problem, according to Shahin. "The EAF is trying to seek out new lights by scouting in all Egypt's governorates. After that, athletes enter the School for Sports Talent. It is a long term process of working and training. "The pressing problem is shortage in funding as well as a lack of sponsors and little media coverage. All countries in the region have at one time or another invited us to participate in their championships including Tunisia, Algeria, Angola and Mauritius. Many of them paid for us the tickets but we don't do anything in Egypt to help ourselves. Hosting championships in your country is very important. It helps promote the sport." Shahin provided an anecdote to illustrate his frustration. "I was going to hold an international senior championship in Ismailia in October. The governor of Ismailia Abdel-Galil Fakharani promised to give me accommodation and the stadium for free. The tournament was to be for certain one-day events. But senior championships must have prize money and we didn't have any. I tried to find even small amounts in prize money but couldn't. So I was forced to hold an international junior championship under-20 because that doesn't have prize money."
