AUC Athletes Won 19 Medals in 49th National Universities Tournament

Student athletes at The American University in Cairo (AUC) have won 19 medals: three gold, fourteen silver and two bronze medals, in the ongoing 49th National Universities Tournament, which kicked off in November. The tournament includes over 75 athletes from AUC as well as others from over 50 universities in Egypt who are competing in CrossFit, table tennis, swimming, fencing, pentathlon, karate and track and field.

Of the 19 medals awarded, five of them went to athlete Haydy Morsy, the three-time Olympian who won two silver medals in the modern pentathlon (one for individual and one for teams), a bronze medal in swimming and silver medals in fencing and track and field. In 2017, she was awarded the Medal of Honor in Sport, first degree, by the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

“I was very excited to compete after almost a year and a half without any activities due to COVID-19,” she said, expressing her gratitude to be able to compete across four different events with four different teams.

During the tournament, Mariam Amin, a double silver medal recipient in track and field (400-meter sprint and 4x100 relay) managed to qualify for the African Olympic University Championship, despite recently recovering from an injury. “I’m grateful I was able to compete and put myself out there mentally and physically,” she said, expressing her excitement for a continued comeback next season.

Swimmer Mostafa Tarek took home two medals during the tournament — a silver medal in the 200 butterfly and a bronze medal in the 1500 freestyle. 

“The moment I won, I was relieved that all of the effort I put into my training hadn’t gone to waste,” he said. “I felt honored to be representing a prestigious university like AUC on the podium.”

In addition to the tournament, the University’s Futsal teams competed in the National Arab Academy tournament, taking third place (men) and second and third place (women).