Egyptian swimmer Farida Osman reveals the reason behind her absence from the Paris Olympics in a video on her personal account via Instagram..

Farida said: “I always meet with the coaching staff to discuss how we will prepare for the competition I will participate in and where we will hold the training camp. We had two goals: the first was the World Championships in Doha 2024, and the second was qualifying for the Paris Olympics.”

She added: “Thank God, I was fortunate to win a bronze medal for Egypt in my special race, the 50 meters butterfly, and I was about to start preparing for the 50 meters freestyle, which is the event in the Olympics.”

She continued: “While I was in Doha, I was surprised to learn that they wanted me to go to the African Games in Ghana to win medals for them. This was not part of the plan, and I was worried that it would affect my training and preparation for the 50 meters freestyle at the Olympics.”

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Farida continued: “I kept thinking about it because it was a national duty, but I had one question: is the African Games a qualifier for the Olympics or not? This could affect my training plan. To achieve the qualifying time, I needed to reduce the training load.”

She explained: “They told me that the African Games were not a qualifier for the Olympics, so I treated the event as part of my training. I went there while still carrying a heavy load and without my coach. A day before the competition, I found out that it was indeed a qualifier for the Olympics.”

She added: “I decided to participate, do my best, and leave the rest to God. I achieved a time of 22.74 seconds, while the Olympic qualifying time was 24.70 seconds—just two hundredths of a second off. I competed while carrying extra weight and without my coach, and I considered it part of my training.”

She confirmed: “The federation president told me I would be participating on a nomination from the federation. I reviewed the regulations and requirements, and something worried me. I inquired, and the federation president confirmed that I would go on a nomination basis.”

A dream cut short

She noted: “I returned to Egypt, and then they told me to send them my race times so they could enter them into the Olympic system. Later, the Olympic Committee sent an email saying that Farida could not travel to the competition (on a federation nomination basis) because it was her fourth Olympics.”

She mentioned: “There was confusion, and I had no choice but to travel to the last Olympic qualifying event. The federation president told me to get on the plane and go to Rome to try to achieve the qualifying time for the Paris 2024 Olympics.”

She addressed: “How could I do that when I had just finished training, was still carrying extra weight, and had no coach? But I said I would go and try. Unfortunately, I was not successful. The next day, they called me and told me that the International Olympic Committee had sent an email saying that the issue had been resolved and that I would travel to Paris.”

“The swimming federation told me to come and pick up my clothes and do a ‘photo shoot.’ I was very happy until I discovered that they had misread the email.”

Hope for change..

She emphasized: “I am sharing this story because I often see criticism of athletes. We shouldn’t be held accountable for such issues. We put in maximum effort and go the extra mile on our own. They should support us and provide funding after we win medals.”

Farida concluded: “If we want to achieve great things, we need to learn from our mistakes and ensure that federations are managed in a technical and professional manner across all sports.”