Oh people of Egypt, listen to me!!

SME – Written by / Abdullah Al-Harazi
The final result of the Arab sports missions in the Paris Olympics was not the first disappointment, this has been the case for decades except for exceptional cases that occurred from athletes and countries that I touched on in my previous article, and I will dedicate today’s topic to Egyptian sports and Egyptian youth, Egypt of giving, work and the future and not Egypt of the past, as that has become in the memory of history, and not about Egypt politics that has its men and I am not good at diving into its seas, rather I do not like it.
As for why Egypt, it is simply and spontaneously the leading country in our Arab world in all fields, including sports. From its men we gained knowledge, in its educational institutions we learned all kinds of knowledge, at the hands of its specialized men we were treated, and with its youth we were colleagues and learned the secrets of media work, not to mention sports, which its sons worked to spread among Arab youth by taking over the reins of technical management as coaches, referees, and administrators who transferred their expertise, experiences, and knowledge to their brothers in most of our Arab countries. As for my relationship with Egypt, the land, it began in 1978 and will continue, God willing. Despite all this, Egyptian youth and athletes have lagged behind the train in which students were able to catch up with them and excel over them. Here I am talking about the international presence in which the Gulf countries, collectively and individually, have recorded a remarkable superiority over Egyptian sports. For example, Saudi Arabia reached the World Cup finals six times in just thirty years, and won a bronze medal in athletics, and another in equestrianism in previous Olympic Games. Bahrain won three gold medals in athletics in Paris, and Qatar recorded a remarkable presence in the world championships. I exclude here Morocco and Algeria, which are always present in the Olympic Games, even if there is a failure in one session, as they have been present in most sessions since Los Angeles 1984 until today. It is true that Egypt has a strong presence on the African scene in some games such as football, which records the achievements of Egypt’s national teams and clubs, but at the level of the Olympic Games, or let’s say individual games, they do not at all rise to Egypt’s leading position as the largest Arab country in terms of population and has a geographical diversity that achieves everything for it, and wealth that places it at the forefront of nations, but the problem is in the administration. Are Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and even the Bahamas, Haiti, and others better off and economically than Egypt?!
Reality and logic say no..
So where does the problem lie?
Quite simply, in the successive sports administration that did not improve planning for the future, and investing its human, material, geographical, and scientific capabilities to achieve renaissance, or let us say keeping up with the global bandwagon, what I noticed and felt, and many others like me who care about Egyptian sports, is that Egyptian sports administration is a prisoner of the ancient past in civilization, and that the clubs, with their popularity, succeeded in stopping the wheel from turning within the borders of their stadium, and the interests of their fans’ stands, and in order for Egypt to take off athletically at the Olympic and international level in various sports, its administration must get rid of the clubs’ dominance over the decision and put the interests of the nation first and last, and that any activity that is held, and in which the parties participate, is to serve that goal. If we accept that the financial obstacle is the reason for limiting the ambition of Egyptian athletes, there are possible solutions, the most important of which is establishing a fund to support youth and sports, which derives its income from fees imposed on unnecessary things in life that harm human life, such as cigarettes, soft drinks, energy drinks, and others, as Egypt is one of the countries that consumes the most of them. Therefore, the return will be imaginary, exceeding one hundred million pounds per day, and perhaps multiples of this number, which provides fixed incomes that help prepare distinguished athletes for qualitative participation, not quantitative participation, provided that spending is regulated, work is studied, and the path is clear. Then Egypt will compete with America, China, Russia, and Japan in the Olympics.