CAIRO - Egypt's Special Pharaohs achieved a marvellous and stunning triumph at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens earlier this month. They grabbed 41 medals, including 12 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze. The Special Pharaohs expressed their happiness about this unprecedented achievement and dedicated their success to the January 25 revolution, stressing that its spirit had inspired them. The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens witnessed the participation of 7,500 athletes representing 185 countries and competing in 22 Olympic-type sports. Egypt participated in this year's Athens Games, the fifth Summer Games for Egypt since their inception in 1994, with a 77-member delegation, including 54 athletes, 21 coaches and the delegation's chairman and deputy. Egyptian athlete teams competed in 11 sports: swimming, athletics, badminton, basketball for girls, boccia, bowling, horse riding, sevens football, weightlifting, table tennis and tennis. In swimming, Ramy el-Qadi, Mahmoud Adel Ahmed Awad and Mohamed Mansour grabbed the gold medal in the men's 50-metre freestyle competition. Mohamed Adel won also the silver medal in the 400-metre freestyle competition. Amir Shaaban and Nourhan Atef grabbed two gold medals in 50-metre freestyle swimming. In athletics, Yasmin Othman won the silver medal in the 200-metre dash competition and Omar Mansour a silver medal in the men's 100-metre race. Kareem Abdul-Baqqi and Osama Zakaria made fourth place and Mohamed Abou Rida sixth in the 100-metre jump race. Salma Shabana and Osama el-Maghrabi grabbed gold medals in the women's 100-metre and 200-metre races. In table tennis, the double Nayrouz Maher and Mirzy Medhat won fourth place, while in the mixed doubles Mirzy Medhat and Magdy Taher snatched a bronze medal and third place. In the boccia competition, Azza Saad and Mikhaiel Mikhael got fifth place. In the badminton mixed doubles, Noha Khalil and Khaled Raafat got fourth place. As for the rest of the results, Sameh Nabil won the silver medal in bowling and Michal Mikhail won silver in boccia. Swimmer Ahmed Awad won the bronze medal in 50-metre freestyle and Menna Hashem got fourth in bowling. In horse riding, Nour el-Toni achieved fifth in the corridor competition. The sevens football team, meanwhile, grabbed the gold medal after defeating the Tareq Mountain team 6-1 in the final. Egyptian weightlifters grabbed three medals. Egyptian Basketball for women made second place and silver after losing against Portugal in the final game. Egypt's Special Olympics were established in 1995; their most recent Council was elected this year and is chaired by Gamal Madi Abul Azaem. Abdel-Wahab Mahmoud, who has long been involved with Special Olympics, led the Egyptian delegation. He had already led Egypt's delegation at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Connecticut in 1995 and North Carolina in 1997. Mahmoud is also Secretary of the Special Olympics Regional Advisory Board since its inception. He expressed his satisfaction about the Egyptian delegation's wonderful performance at the Olympics: "I am really very happy about what the young Special Pharaohs achieved. They won so many medals, which reflects their training efforts and readiness for the tournament.” The World Games, held every four years, are one of the biggest sporting events. The first global Summer Games were held in July 1968 with the participation of more than 1,000 athletes with learning disabilities from 26 US states and Canada. Ayman Abdel-Wahab, Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Managing Director, congratulated the Egyptians for their success. "There are around 200 million Special Olympic athletes of all over the world and 150,000 in the region alone," Ayman Abdel-Wahab told Arab and Egyptian reporters at the end of the games. The Middle East and North Africa region participated in this year's games with 924 players in 15 sports. Yemen was absent, due to the current unrest. The Special Olympics were the most significant athletic event hosted in Greece since the 2004 Olympic Games. Egypt and the Special Olympics Games: * Participated with 26 athletes at the 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Connecticut, US. * Participated with 36 athletes at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in North Carolina, US. * Participated with 72 athletes at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland. * Participated at the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China.
