Africa Triathlon

Libby Burrell (ITU Sport Development) has just completed a very successful visit to Cairo, Egypt on the invitation of the Egyptian Triathlon Federation (ETF) President, Mr. Ahmed Nasser.

This visit came about as a result of the work done by Dr. Lanre Glover (President, Nigerian Triathlon Union) who has several contacts in Egypt through his work on the Executive Board of the African Union of Sports Medicine and the African Handball Confederation. Dr. Glover was in Cairo with Libby as this particular visit to the Egyptian Triathlon Federation coincided with the recent Executive Board meeting of the African Union of Sports Medicine.

This three day visit included inspection of the local training sites and race venues, presentations to administrators, coaches and athletes, and the highlight of the trip was a formal visit to the Executive Director of the National Sports Council and Deputy Minister of Sport in Egypt, Mr. Medhat El-Beltagy.

The newly formed Egyptian Triathlon Federation is now in the process of final approval by the sporting authorities in Egypt but all the meetings with the sporting authorities in Cairo confirmed that this group of administrators have been given the blessing to take the sport to a new level in the country.

Libby Burrell said:
I have no doubt Egypt has something very exciting to contribute to the sport of triathlon in Africa, in the Mediterranean Region and to the whole ITU family. They have the athletic talent, the administrators and the enthusiasm to make an impact. This visit has been a very exciting experience for me and special thanks go to Mr. Ahmed Nasser; Mr. Mohamed Ramadan; and Mr. Mohamed Wanis of the ETF Executive Board for their time, energy and hospitality shown to both Dr. Glover and myself.