CAIRO – When Ahmed el-Gendy met Mohamed Salah in January, he was given a pep talk and posed for a picture with the Egyptian soccer star while wearing the modern pentathlon silver medal that he earned at the Tokyo Olympics.
Yet the 24-year-old dreams of taking another photo with Salah after the upcoming Paris Olympics, but this time he hopes to don a gold medal as he seeks to etch his name deeper into Egypt’s sporting history.
“Salah is a role model for all of us. Having a conversation with him, not just taking a photo, is a very big thing,” El-Gendy told Reuters. “We talked about the Olympics and preparations; it was a very good meeting.”
El-Gendy was a relative unknown when he made history in Tokyo, becoming the first African to win an Olympic modern pentathlon medal.
A late rally in the men’s individual event saw him finish just behind gold medallist Joe Choong of Britain.
Since then, he has been beset by injuries, including a shoulder injury that forced him out of the semi-finals of the Pentathlon World Championships last month.
However, after an intensive rehabilitation program, he has been declared fit and hopes deliver a gold medal in Paris.
“Things are different now compared to Tokyo; I’m more experienced and confident. Over the past three years, I’ve participated in only seven championships due to my shoulder injuries, yet I won medals in five of them,” El-Gendy explained.
“My primary target is to win gold, but I will also be happy if I win a silver or bronze as it will mark a second successive Olympic medal.”
Modern pentathlon athletes will face an added challenge in Paris with a riding contest in both the semi-finals and the final. In Tokyo, this event was part of a single-round format.
