The 2017 World Champion from Egypt Mohammed Ehab announced his retirement from the sport of weightlifting yesterday on the Egyptian news site ahramonline.
After five additional doping bans from Egypt were announced yesterday, including that of the Olympic bronze medalist Sara Ahmed, Ehab decided to put his career to an end.
Here’s why:
- On the 18th of September the IWF announced that they were handing Egypt a two-year international ban due to seven failed drug tests from youth weightlifters in 2016. This eliminated Ehab’s opportunity to compete at the 2019 World Championships and qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The Egyptian weightlifting federation fought the IWF on the grounds that neither Ehab nor their senior team had failed any tests.
- On the 8th of October Egypt received five additional doping bans, this time for their senior athletes. Whatever chances Ehab had of being pardoned were now gone. He currently stares down the barrel of a five-year wait if he hopes to compete at the Olympic Games again. Now at 29 years of age, the chances of Olympic glory in 2024 seem unlikely.
Can Ehab still qualify?
The only way Ehab can hope to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is if he becomes a citizen of another nation. His application for this, however, would have had to have gone in months ago, and it still doesn’t solve the problem that he hasn’t yet made a total during this second Olympic qualifying period that ends on the 31st of October ’19.
Mohammed Ehab now plans on completing his Master’s degree and commencing his career as a weightlifting coach, something he has planned on doing for several years.
Whatever the reason for Ehab’s retirement, we are sure to miss his greatest creation- “The Ehab Olympics” – you can check out our favourites here, here, and here.
You are doing a great job brother, how can I contribute?