Alaaeldin Mohamed El-Sayed Abouelkassem ( ar, علاء الدين محمد السيد أبو القاسم; born 25 November 1990) is an Egyptian fencer who won a silver medal in the men's foil event at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He took up fencing at the age of eight and, in 2008, began fencing internationally, winning medals at the African and World Junior Championships, as well as the Junior World Cup, before progressing to the senior level in 2011 and capturing bronze at the

Fleuret de St-Petersbourg A foil is one of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing, all of which are metal. It is flexible, rectangular in cross section, and weighs under a pound. As with the épée, points are only scored by contact with the tip, which, in elec ...

. Later that year he earned gold medals at the

2011 Pan Arab Games The 2011 Pan Arab Games also known as the 12th Pan Arab Games took place in Doha, Qatar from 6 to 23 December 2011. This was the first time that the country had hosted the multi-sport event. Khalifa International Stadium was the main venue for th ...

in the individual and team foil events before progressing to the 2012 Summer Games, where he won Africa's first-ever Olympic fencing medal.

Early life

Abouelkassem was born on 25 November 1990 in

Sétif Sétif ( ar, سطيف, ber, Sṭif) is the capital of the Sétif Province in Algeria. It is one of the most important cities of eastern Algeria and the country as a whole, since it is considered the trade capital of the country. It is an inner ci ...

, Algeria to an Egyptian father and an Algerian mother and moved to Egypt at the age of four. Growing up in Alexandria, he first became athletically involved in swimming and karate before beginning his training in fencing at age of eight in the city's Al-Selah Al-Sakandry club. After successes in the sport at a young age, he was forced to give it up upon entering the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, as the program was too demanding for him to pursue engineering studies and fencing. He was soon re-discovered by his former coach, Mohamed El-Sayed, who nominated him to join the national team.

Career

Abouelkassem's international career began in 2008, when he captured a gold medal in foil fencing at the African Junior Championships and bronze at the World Junior Fencing Championships in Italy, in addition to one third-place finish at the Junior Fencing World Cup. At the 2009 Junior Fencing World Cup, he earned another third-place win and followed up with gold one year later at the 2010 World Junior Fencing Championships. He earned his first World Cup medal as a senior, bronze, at the 2011

, and captured gold at the

in the individual and team foil events. Abouelkassem qualified for the

and entered the individual foil event in the round of 32, defeating American Miles Chamley-Watson 15-10. He had the same result against Peter Joppich of Germany and Andrea Cassarà of Italy in the round of 16 and quarterfinals respectively, before moving on to defeat Choi Byung-Chul of South Korea 15-12 in the semi-finals. Abouelkassem lost the gold medal match 13-15 to Lei Sheng of China, but the silver medal he won was the first Olympic fencing medal for a competitor representing an African nation. He also participated in the team foil event, where the Egyptians were eliminated by the British team by a score of 45-33 in the opening round. At the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games ( tr, 2013 Akdeniz Oyunları), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games ( tr, XVII Akdeniz Oyunları) and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 i ...

, Abouelkassem won a bronze medal in the individual foil. , he is coached by

Paul Kantorsky Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

of Poland. At the

2015 African Games The 11th African Games took place from September 4–19, 2015 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. This edition marked the 50th anniversary of the Games, as well as their return to Brazzaville, which hosted the first edition in 1965. Host aw ...

he won gold medals in the men's individual and team foil events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abouelkassem, Alaaeldin 1990 births Living people Egyptian male foil fencers Olympic fencers of Egypt Olympic silver medalists for Egypt Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Egyptian people of Algerian descent Olympic medalists in fencing Sportspeople from Sétif Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport alumni Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Egypt Competitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games African Games gold medalists for Egypt African Games medalists in fencing Mediterranean Games medalists in fencing Competitors at the 2015 African Games Competitors at the 2019 African Games Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 2022 Mediterranean Games 20th-century Egyptian people 21st-century Egyptian people