Ahmed and Elmenyawy deliver a golden day for Egyptian powerlifting
Rehab Ahmed secured her first Paralympic gold and Mohamed Elmenyawy won on debut at Paris 2024.
Egypt celebrated two Para powerlifting titles at Paris 2024 on 5 September as Rehab Ahmed and Mohamed Elmenyawy reached the top of the podium. World Para Powerlifting’s report on the IPC website recorded Ahmed’s first Paralympic gold after silver medals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Experience and a successful debut
Ahmed won the women’s up to 55kg event with 121kg. Her opening lift of 117kg was already sufficient for victory, but she improved in the second round. Turkiye’s Besra Duman took silver with 113kg and Thailand’s Kamolpan Kraratpet bronze with 108kg.
Elmenyawy won the men’s up to 59kg category on his Paralympic debut, ahead of China’s Qi Yongkai and Iran’s Mohsen Bakhtiar. Algeria also reached the podium when Hocine Bettir’s final lift of 209kg secured bronze in the men’s up to 65kg competition. The results highlighted both established experience and new achievement among African powerlifters.