Jamil Omar Hatem Abdulalem Jamil El Reedy (; born 2 October 1965 in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

) is a retired

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

. El Reedy grew up in Plattsburgh, New York, USA. He was the first sportsperson to represent Egypt at the Winter Olympics.

Early life

Jamil El Reedy's parents moved from Egypt to

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The population of the sur ...

, USA following the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. He learned to ski on

Whiteface Mountain Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in the U.S. state of New York, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains, located in the town of Wilmington in Essex County. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summ ...

with his father coaching him. He gained local recognition as a star skier in his high school. Owing to his Egyptian heritage, he qualified to represent Egypt at the 1984 Winter Olympics. To prepare for the event, his father focused on training him mentally with arduous tasks, including sending him to a cave full of snakes and scorpions for 40 days.

1984 Winter Olympics

He was Egypt's sole representative at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) and commonly known as Sarajevo '84 (Serbian Cy ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. As such, he attracted lasting media attention, particularly when it was reported that he had "prepared by spending 40 days in a cave in the Egyptian desert"."WINTER OLYMPICS; The Tourist Athlete Gets Snowed Out of These Games"
''New York Times'', February 7, 1994 He finished 46th out of 101 in the slalom, 60th out of 61 in the downhill event, and

did not finish In racing, did not finish (DNF) denotes a result of a participant who does not finish a given race, either because of a mechanical failure, injury, or involvement in an accident. This may also be used in cases where the competitor has hit the time ...

the giant slalom, thus being eliminated. El Reedy did not participate in the subsequent

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

. Due to him representing a non-alpine country and being seemingly unqualified for the Olympics, El Reedy has been described as a

tourist athlete Tourist athlete, also Olympic tourist, is a term for athletes who attend events, particularly the Winter Olympics, without having qualified to be there competitively. History Development of the issue The Olympic games were originally an amateur ...

and has been compared to

Eddie the Eagle Michael David Edwards (born 5 December 1963), better known as Eddie the Eagle, is an English ski jumper and Olympian who in 1988 became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping, finishing last in the Normal Hil ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reedy, Jamil El 1965 births Living people Egyptian male alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers for Egypt Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Cairo Egyptian emigrants to the United States People from Plattsburgh, New York Sportspeople from Clinton County, New York Skiers from New York (state) 20th-century Egyptian sportsmen