CAIRO: In striking contrast to fellow Arab country Saudi Arabia, Egypt is ready to send 34 women to the London Olympics later this month. It will be the largest number of female athletes at any Olympics for Egypt, surpassing the 29 they sent to Beijing. The number of women heading to London is also the most female athletes of any Islamic country. Egypt's Olympics committee hopes that of the 34, at least one of them can be a medalist, after Egyptian women failed to bring home and silverware from Beijing. For Egyptian women who won't be competing, it is a positive step towards more empowerment in the country. “We women are so often pushed aside, harassed on the streets, but at least now there will be at least a few women who will have even men cheering for them to be successful,” Amani Ahmed, a university student at Ain Shams University in Cairo, told Bikyamasr.com. The excitement is already building for the Egyptian team as a whole, which will see a total of 112 athletes compete in London. Egypt's al-Ahram state-run newspaper said women “will be participating in 13 of the 19 sports contested by Egypt.” It listed the events and participates as follows: Nine will compete in synchronised swimming, five in fencing, three in gymnastics, three in table tennis, three in weightlifting, two in rowing, two in shooting, two in taekwondo, and one each in modern pentathlon, archery, wrestling, athletics, and badminton.
