Sara Ahmed (weightlifter)

Sara Ahmed
Personal information
Full name	Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed
Born	1 January 1998 (age 27); Al-Huaniya, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt
Height	155 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Weight	71.00 kg (157 lb)
Sport
Country	Egypt
Sport	Weightlifting
Event	–71 kg
Coached by	Khaled Korani
Medal record
Representing Egypt
Women's weightlifting
Olympic Games
World Championships
Youth Olympics
African Games
African Championships
World Junior Championships
World Youth Championships in Athletics
Junior African Championships
Youth African Championships

Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed (Arabic: سارة سمير السيد محمد أحمد; born 1 January 1998) is an Egyptian weightlifter who won a bronze medal in the women's 69 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the silver medal in the women's 81kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She won the gold medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.

Originally from the Ismailia Governorate, Ahmed was encouraged to take part in weightlifting by her family and was competing internationally by 2012. At the senior level, she has earned gold medals at the Mediterranean and African Games, as well as the Arab Championships. In Rio de Janeiro, she became the first Arab woman to receive an Olympic weightlifting medal and the first Egyptian woman to receive an Olympic medal on the podium in any discipline.

Early life

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 herself a spot on the Egyptian national team.^[4]

Career

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]

Ahmed won the gold medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.^[17]

Ahmed was the official flag bearer of her country at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, along with athlete Ahmed El-Gendy.^[18] In August 2024, she competed in the women's 81 kg event.^[19] She finished second with a total of 268 kg and won a silver medal.^[19]

Major results

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
Year	Venue	Weight	1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank	Total	Rank
Olympic Games
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	69 kg	107	110	112	—	135	140	143	—	255
2024	Paris, France	81 kg	113	117	~~119~~	—	146	151	~~155~~	—	268
World Championships
2014	Almaty, Kazakhstan	63 kg	100	~~104~~	104	13	120	125	~~129~~	12	229	12
2015	Houston, United States	69 kg	105	110	~~112~~	6	135	~~138~~	~~138~~	5	245	5
2017	Anaheim, United States	69 kg	~~102~~	~~102~~	~~104~~	—	126	132	136		—	—
2018	Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	71 kg	105	~~110~~	111		136	141	—		252
2022	Bogotá, Colombia	76 kg	109	113	~~116~~		138	143	148		261
2023	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	76 kg	108	—	—		138	—	—		246
2024	Manama, Bahrain	81 kg	113	~~117~~	~~117~~	4	145	149	~~153~~		262
African Games
2015	Brazzaville, Congo	69 kg	95	102	105		126	132	~~136~~		234
2019	Rabat, Morocco	76 kg	105	~~111~~	~~115~~	—	133	~~141~~	—	—	DSQ	—
2024	Accra, Ghana	81 kg	100	—	—		131	140	—		240
African Championships
2019	Cairo, Egypt	76 kg	105	109	112		135	141	145		257
2022	Cairo, Egypt	81 kg	110	116	—		140	145	—		261
2023	Tunis, Tunisia	81 kg	110	114	117		140	146	151		268
2024	Ismailia, Egypt	81 kg	105	110	113		131	140	—		253
Mediterranean Games
2013	Mersin, Turkey	63 kg	92	98	~~100~~		112	120	124		216	—
2018	Tarragona, Spain	69 kg	100	105	~~107~~		127	135	—		240	—
World Junior Championships
2015	Wrocław, Poland	69 kg	102	~~105~~	~~106~~		125	128	130		232
2018	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	69 kg	100	105	~~107~~		125	133	~~137~~		238
Youth Olympic Games
2014	Nanjing, China	63 kg	97	~~103~~	103	—	118	125	~~129~~	—	228
World Youth Championships
2013	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	63 kg	92	97	101		113	120	~~124~~		221
2015	Lima, Peru	69 kg	100	103	~~108~~		125	130	133		236