Farida Osman Misses OQT by .02 Seconds; Egypt Names 2 Swimmers to Paris 2024 Olympic Team

Egypt is expected to name two swimmers to its Paris 2024 Olympic Team on Monday: Marwan Elkamash is expected to represent the country in the men’s 800 free, 1500 free, and 10km swim, while Lojine Abdallah is expected to represent the country in the women’s 50 free as a Universality invite.

Notably absent is Farida Osman, arguably the country’s most famous swimmer, who won the country’s first-ever World Aquatics Championship medal in 2017 in the 50 fly when she finished 3rd in Budapest.

Osman’s best time in the 50 free during the qualifying period was 24.72, which is an Olympic “B” standard but misses the Olympic “A” standard by .02 seconds. She is believed to be the first in priority in the 50 free if any “B” standards are taken, but her exclusion seems to validate World Aquatics warnings that swimmers with “B” cuts might not be invited because of the athlete quota.

Instead, Egypt will have to rely on Universality for a female invite. Because of new Universality rules that limits Universality choices to athletes who are no older than 30 as of the end of the year and who have not competed in two prior Olympic Games. Osman, 29, represented Egypt at the 2012, 2016, and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Instead, Abdallah, 19, will race the 200 free with a best time of 2:03.63 that was swum in March at the 13th African Games. That time would have placed her 44th at last year’s World Championships, while Osman’s 24.72 would have finished tied-for-12th in the semi-finals at that meet.

In May, she was named the Best Female Swimmer at the 16th African Swimming Championships after winning gold in the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, and 1500 free.

Abdallah’s Best Times in Long Course Meters:

• 50 free – 28.97
• 100 free – 1:00.11
• 200 free – 2:03.63
• 400 free – 4:19.34
• 800 free – 9:05.26
• 1500 free – 17:13.46

She trains at Fastlane Swimming Academy in Cairo.

Osman released a statement (translated to English below) apologizing to Egyptian sports fans for not qualifying.

With deep regret and for reasons beyond my control, I announce that I will not be part of the Egyptian delegation participating in the Paris Olympics 2024.

I started the training program from the beginning of the season to reach the best possible level for this cycle. When I was asked to represent Egypt in the World Championships in Doha and the African Games in Ghana, I did not hesitate for a moment about this honor. Through these competitions, I actually obtained the required medals, despite my knowledge of the extent of the impact of these participations on the training program prepared by the technical staff for my participation in the Olympic cycle.

The time I achieved, despite all these difficult circumstances, was 24.72 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle race, 0.02 seconds ahead of 24.70 – A cut. On this basis, I was officially informed by the Egyptian Olympic Committee that I would participate in the Olympic Games. But unfortunately, in the last stages of preparation, as a result of a conflict in the interpretation of the terms of the Olympic qualification regulations, and despite the very close number achieved by the B Cut and my advanced global classification, I was informed again that I would not be able to participate due to the limited quota in Paris.

Now that my dream of representing Egypt in my fourth Olympics has ended because of 0.02 of a second, I am very sad about the difficulty of the situation. Despite the hard efforts and sacrifices made, this is sport. I apologize to all Egyptian sports fans for not participating.

Thank you for your continued support. God destined and whatever He wished He did (And it may be that you dislike a thing and it is better for you…)

I wish success to all members of the Egyptian delegation!! #Paris2024

While the women’s selection was complicated, Elkamash’s was not. The third-time Olympian, aged 30, hit automatic Olympic Qualifying Times in the 800 free (7:46.55) and 1500 free (14:55.19) at the 2023 World Championships, placing 10th and 9th in those races, respectively.

Elkamash attended college in the United States, starting his career at South Carolina before finishing it at Indiana. More recently, he has been training with former US Olympic coach Mark Schubert at The Swim Team in southern California. That group has become one of the best distance groups in the world, with fellow team member David Johnston qualifying to represent the US at the Olympics.

Elkamash has also taken advantage of a new loophole in the qualifying procedures allowing swimmers who race the 800 and/or 1500 in the pool to race the 10km open water race if their country doesn’t already have two qualifiers. The US (Johnston), Spain, and Ireland have also taken advantage of that rule so far.

At last year’s World Championships, Elkamash and Osman were part of a roster of nine men who qualified. Other big names from that roster like Ali Khalafalla and Youssef Ramadan did not hit the qualifying standards for Paris.

Egypt has 38 medals at the Olympics in its history; while two of those are in diving (from 1928), none of them have come in swimming.