São Paulo – Arab athletes also got their eyes on medals in the Rio 2016 Olympics, whose opening ceremony begins this Friday evening (5) at Maracanã Stadium.
Algeria is hoping for its best performance since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when it won five medals, one of them gold. Its 64-strong delegation is the country’s most numerous ever, according to Algérie Presse Service (APS) – 18 of the athletes are from the national soccer team. Star athletes include the 2012 London Olympics 1,500 meter winner Taoufik Makhloufi.
Tunisia will also be represented by more than 60 athletes who’ll be competing in 17 different events – two team sports and 15 individual ones. Potential medalists include the swimmer Oussema Mellouli, who won gold in the 10 km marathon swim and bronze in 1,500 freestyle at London 2012 and gold in 1,500 freestyle at Beijing 2008, Habiba Ghribi, the 3,000 steeplechase winner in London.
Egypt has 122 participating athletes, its biggest Olympic delegation ever according to national newspaper Al Ahram. The highlight is the pentathlete Amro El Geziry, who won silver at the world championship two years ago; the boxer Hossam Bakr, who won middleweight bronze in the world championship last year; taekwondo fighter Heydaya Malak, under 57 kg winner in the 2015 World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Mexico; and the weightlifter Tarek Yehia, who won bronze in London.
Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) reported that Morocco too wants to secure a good place in the Rio 2016 medal table. It has 49 athletes competing in 13 events.
The Qatari delegation features 38 athletes from 10 different sports, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA). Their first events will be on Saturday (6), and they will compete in swimming, table tennis, boxing, volleyball, and beach volleyball. From Saudi Arabia, seven athletes will compete in track and field, judo, target archery and weightlifting, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
