Sara Ahmed (weightlifter)

Ahmed was born in the village of Al-Huaniya in Egypt's Ismailia Governorate. Her father (who died in 2015)^[3] and older brother were national competitors in weightlifting, which inspired her to take up the sport in 2010. Although her participation in the sport interfered with her studies somewhat, she received encouragement and support for her family and found success in local and regional tournaments, eventually earning a spot on the Egyptian national team.^[4]

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Ahmed's international career began at the 2012 Junior African Championships in Tunis, where she won gold in the 63 kg division. She repeated that feat at the Youth edition, held in the same city, as well as the 2013 Youth World Championships in Tashkent. Her first senior-level competition was the 2013 Mediterranean Games, where she won the clean & jerk portion and was third in the snatch, leaving her second overall behind Turkey's Sibel Şimşek (Romela Begaj of Albania had the same total, but a higher body weight). She then bumped up to the 69 kg division and won that category at the 2014 African Youth and Junior Championships, then returned to 63 kg and earned gold at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. She competed one last time in the 63 kg division at the 2014 World Championships in Almaty, where she placed 12th, and then returned to 69 kg and captured gold at the 2015 African Games and Youth and Junior World Championships; at the latter she was named the Best Female Lifter.^[2] She placed fourth at the 2015 World Championships in Houston and took home gold at that year's Arab Championships held in Sharm el-Sheikh.^[5]

Ahmed represented Egypt at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's 69 kg event, skipping her high school exams in order to compete.^[3] To prepare for the Games, she attended training camps in Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Brazil.^[6] In Rio she won a bronze medal, lifting a combined weight of 255 kg.^[7] She thus became the first Arab woman to win an Olympic weightlifting medal and the first Egyptian woman to win an Olympic medal,^[8] although Abeer Abdelrahman retroactively received a silver medal from the women's 75 kg weightlifting event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, as all three medallists in that event tested positive for banned substances and she was upgraded from fifth to third after the Games.^[7] Ahmed was also the first Egyptian to win a weightlifting medal since 1948, with the caveat that Abdelrahman and Tarek Yehia retroactively received medals from the London Games.^[9][10][11] Later in the day, Mohamed Ihab joined her in this distinction by taking bronze in the men's 77 kg.^[12]

Upon her return, she was honoured in a ceremony held by Ismailia governor Yassin Taher, received congratulatory messages from Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi,^[6] and was given 500,000 Egyptian pounds.^[13] Soon after receiving the medal, she declared her intention to train for gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[3] Following her victory, she encouraged the Egyptian government to do more to support its athletes, including granting more leniency for athletes in terms of taking college-preparatory exams. She has no special nutritional routine and is coached by the national team's Khaled Korany.^[6]

Ahmed won gold in both portions of the 69 kg division at the 2018 Mediterranean Games.^[14] The following month, at the 2018 Junior World Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, she won all three categories of the 69 kg tournament.^[15] At the senior edition that year, she was third in the snatch and second in the clean and jerk, which placed her second overall in the 71 kg division.^[16] As of 2016 she was engaged to another Egyptian Olympic weightlifter, Ragab Abdelhay.^[13]

In 2018, Ahmed won gold at the World Junior Championships in the 69 kg. division,^[17] silver in the 71 kg. category at the senior World Championships,^[18] and gold in the 69 kg. event at the Mediterranean Games.^[19] She won the 76 kg. division at the 2019 African Weightlifting Championships^[20] and the African Games, but had her results stripped from the latter and was banned from competition for two years following violations of anti-doping regulations.^[21]

After her ban ended, Ahmed won gold in the 76 kg. category at the World Championships^[22] and the 81 kg. event at the African Weightlifting Championships in 2022.^[23] She defended both of these titles in 2023.^[24][25] She was also African Champion in 2024^[26] and runner-up in the 81 kg. division at the year's World Championships.^[27] Ahmed was the official flag bearer of her country at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, along with athlete Ahmed El-Gendy.^[28] In August 2024, she competed in the women's 81 kg event.She finished second with a total of 268 kg and won a silver medal.^[29]

• Muslim women in sport