Nada Hafez is not your common world-class athlete. She’s competing within the 2024 Paris Olympics — whereas seven months pregnant.
The Egyptian competitor, only a month shy of turning 27 years outdated, earned a spot at her third Olympic Video games, having first competing in Rio in 2016 after which the much-delayed 2020 Video games in Tokyo, the place she positioned thirty sixth and twenty ninth, respectively. This 12 months, she’s again, and he or she made a shock announcement after a match.
“7 MONTHS PREGNANT OLYMPIAN!” Hafez wrote on Instagram on Monday. “What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three! It was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!”
Hafez mentioned that she and her unborn youngster have “had our fair share of challenges, be it both physical & emotional.”
“The rollercoaster of pregnancy is tough on its own, but having to fight to keep the balance of life & sports was nothing short of strenuous, however worth it,” she mentioned, thanking her husband and household for his or her help. “I’m writing this post to say that pride fills my being for securing my place in the round of 16!”
Hafez is not only a fencer, she can be a earlier nationwide gymnastics champion in Egypt, in accordance with the Worldwide Fencing Federation, and studied medication at Cairo College. On her Instagram account, she says she is a medical pathologist.
Fencing begins with 64 rivals within the ladies’s sabre particular person competitors. Hafez was among the many last 16 to compete, dropping to Korea’s Jeon Hayoung with a last rating of 15-7. Hayoung went on to lose within the subsequent spherical to Korea’s Choi Sebin. France’s Manon Apithy-Brunet took dwelling the gold and Sara Balzer took dwelling silver, whereas Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan gained bronze.
Although she did not win, Hafez says, “I’m lucky.”
“This specific Olympics was different,” she wrote on Instagram. “Three times *Olympian* but this time carrying a little Olympian one.”
This story was initially revealed by CBS Information on Tuesday, July 30 at 9:45 a.m. ET.
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