Egypt's Farida Osman denied place at Paris Olympics

Swimmer missed 50m freestyle qualifying time by 0.02s and changes to Universality Program missed by Egyptian Olympic Federation

Farida Osman is the Arab world’s most successful female swimmer and was getting ready to fly to the French capital later this month to participate in her fourth – and likely final – Games. Photo: InsiShow more

Egyptian swimmer Farida Osman has revealed she will not compete at the Paris Olympics following a mix-up over her eligibility after she missed out on qualifying by 0.02 seconds.

“Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I am sorry to announce that I will not be part of the Egyptian delegation participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics,” said Osman in an Arabic statement posted on her social media.

A three-time Olympian, three-time World Championship bronze medallist, and holder of multiple African records, Osman is the Arab world’s most successful female swimmer and was getting ready to fly to the French capital later this month to participate in her fourth – and likely final – Games.

Osman competed as a 17-year-old in the London 2012 Olympics courtesy of the Universality Program, which allows countries without swimmers who have hit Olympic ‘A’ or ‘B’ standard times to send up to one male and one female swimmer to the Games.

The Egyptian secured outright qualification for Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 by swimming Olympic ‘A’ standard times, but was unable to replicate that feat for Paris, missing the qualifying time for the 50-metre freestyle event by 0.02s.

With an Olympic ‘B’ standard time that positions her as the fastest Egyptian female swimmer, Osman says she had received official confirmation from the Egyptian Olympic Committee, which is run by the head of the Egyptian Swimming Federation, Dr Yasser Idris, that she will be participating in the Paris Games beginning July 26.

She was part of a group of Egyptian athletes that were invited to a special event at the French Embassy in Cairo last month to celebrate their qualification for the Paris Olympics and had been training for the Games with her former college team, the Cal Bears, at Berkeley University since the start of the season.

Except Osman’s qualification was never actually secured and the rules were misinterpreted by Egyptian officials.

In June 2022, World Aquatics announced changes to its universality system, stating that universality athletes can only compete in up to two Olympic Games in their career and must not be older than the age of 30 as of December 31, 2024.

As a three-time Olympian, Osman, 29, is not eligible for a universality place in Paris, a fact that seems to have escaped the relevant governing bodies in Egypt.

Universality athletes take priority over swimmers who have achieved the ‘B’ standard times and Osman didn’t make the cut because all spots in the 50m freestyle had been filled.

Instead, 19-year-old Lojine Abdallah, who recently swept the 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1,500m freestyle events at the African Championships in Angola, has received Egypt’s Universality spot and is Paris-bound.

“I started my training programme from the start of the season so I can reach the best level possible for this competition,” continued Osman in her statement.

“And when I was asked to represent Egypt at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha and the African Games in Ghana, I did not hesitate for a second to take on that honour. And I indeed delivered the medals that were expected of me despite me knowing how these participations would affect the training programme prepared by my technical team to prepare me for the Olympics.

“The time I achieved, despite these difficult circumstances, is 24.72s in the 50m freestyle, which is 0.02s off of the A-cut standard time of 24.70s. And based on that, I was informed by the Egyptian Olympic Committee that I will be participating in the Olympic Games.

“But unfortunately, during the final stages of my preparations, as a result of conflicting interpretations of the Olympic qualification rules, and despite me achieving a time that was incredibly close to the A-cut, as well as my high world ranking, I have been informed that I won’t be participating after all due to the limited quota places in Paris.

“My dream of representing Egypt in my fourth Olympics is over because of 0.02 seconds. I am extremely sad over this difficult situation. Despite the amount of effort I put in and all the sacrifices, this is sport. I apologise to all Egyptian sports fans for not participating in Paris and I thank you for your continued support. Best of luck to all members of the Egyptian delegation.”

Speaking to Mehwar TV on Sunday night, Dr Idris explained the rules and described Osman’s situation as “unlucky”.

“We spoke to World Aquatics about the Universality place and they told us she is not eligible because she competed in three previous Olympic Games,” he explained.

“So we waited for her to take her turn using her B-cut, but she didn’t make it. So World Aquatics informed us, either Egypt will forgo its Universality place, or the next swimmer in line should take the spot, which is Lojine Abdallah, who has indeed taken it. So there are no conflicting rules.

“These are all decisions made by World Aquatics and the International Olympic Committee, these aren’t personal decisions.”

Marwan El Kamash is the only Egyptian swimmer to have achieved ‘A-cut’ qualifying times and will be competing in the 800m and 1,500m events in Paris.