[ad_1]
Like many countries, Three Algerian athletes On Monday, August 12, the Olympic champions returned from Paris to a hero’s welcome in Algiers.
Arriving at Algiers airport, young gymnast Kaylia Nemour (gold) discovered for the first time the homeland of her grandparents, boxers Imane Khelif (gold) and Djamel Sedjati (800 m) won A grand welcomeWitness the Algerian people reflect on the “pride and happiness” given to them in the competition space watched by the whole world.
The feat of three Algerian athletes
The feat of our three athletes was achieved in adversity and is therefore all the more praiseworthy. At the heart of an unprecedented campaign of gender denigration, the targets of violent attacks include Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the US presidential election, Elon Musk, the billionaire, the owner of Tesla and X platform, and even the president, Imane Khelif, the representative of the Italian Council Giorgia Meloni, a cross-cutting topic within the UN body, who, despite the enormous pressure on her fragile shoulders, won a gold medal that now makes her the most famous Algerian athlete.
No doubt her pride was wounded, she, who in her youth sold bread and cakes to help her family and was able to train in the small town of Tiaret, did everything she could to overcome her bad luck and pawned it to the great champion. Algeria won the first gold medal in the history of women’s boxing.
Kaylia Nemour is a talented athlete who has also had to withstand pressure from parts of the French media and sports officials who do not understand her choice to defend the Algerian colors.
The medals he won in the prestigious discipline of gymnastics, competing against representatives of countries unrivalled in this discipline, gave a special flavour to Algeria’s harvest.
As for Djamel Sedjati, he narrowly escaped a destabilization attempt and experts said he would have won the 800m gold medal if it had not been for some tactical errors.
But it doesn’t matter: these athletes returned in triumph, among the top 40 medal-winning countries at the 2024 Olympics, bringing glory to Algeria and solace to the hearts of Algerians who have been weaned off the joy of victory in recent times, especially at the international level, where, as we know, the national football team has missed everything since its coronation in Egypt in 2019.
Although there are also some meaningless controversies with ideological overtones, especially around Imane Khelif or Khelia Nemours, it must be remembered that they were not trained in Algeria.
However, this feat, loud as it is, should not exempt us from the necessary review of the situation in different sports, an objective assessment of Algeria’s participation and the necessary lessons to be learned.
Algerian football, an endless well
In any case, as is often the case in such cases, it must not become the trees that hide the forest for carelessness and lack of regard for individual sports, women’s sports, or even team sports (if we exclude football).
Despite the huge amount of money allocated to Algerian football and the increasingly modern infrastructure, Algerian football, as the most popular sport of excellence, is indeed struggling to make the country shine internationally.
Neither the Algerian team nor the club have made their mark at the continental and international level, especially in recent years, with the exception of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations won by the national XI and the 2023 CAF Cup won by USMA.
In a country where football is almost a religion, there is little to boast about. Plagued by corruption, overrun by opportunists, lacking a quality basic training academy to the point where we have to draw from dual nationals to form a capable national XI, Algerian football struggles with its flaws and sometimes even produces violence, which has caused concern among the authorities.
Other sports, on the contrary, are left behind. Without a real policy, without organization, without vision, without adequate means and support, many disciplines, especially individual sports, can only be remembered by those in charge through individual performances, which are often the result of the will and efforts of the athletes and their team staff.
The case of Iman Khalif is instructive in this regard. This is a self-made girl who, under extremely difficult circumstances, rose to the top of world women’s boxing through sustained hard work and perseverance.
She described selling bread on the street and collecting plastic utensils to earn money to be able to travel from her small village to train in the gym.
She was small and seeded for the championship, but she went undetected, suggesting that the system that detects athletes who have made Algeria shine in international competitions is broken.
A broken system
When it’s not a lack of resources, it’s other obstacles that hold athletes back.
Recently, two karate champions, Cylia Ouikene and Louisa Abouriche, were eliminated from the world championships due to a “trap” by the karate federation, which their coach Dihia Chikhi condemned before admitting defeat.
Algerian boxing was once a hotbed of talent, but now it has disappeared.
Handball, swimming and even athletics have suffered a similar fate. It is a sign of a descent into hell: collectively, no team will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics; individually, most of the participating athletes are eliminated in the first round.
This is reason for pride, but in an environment where real policies are lacking and where incompetence and privilege abound, the feats of our athletes require serious support for the different sports disciplines, especially individual and female ones, serious reforms, organization, means and goals based on high level demands and professionalism.
As long as the political will exists, there is no shortage of emerging talents. Nowadays, sports are no longer just a simple exercise, they have become an effective weapon of “soft power”.
Imane Khelif, whose name eventually resonated around the world, showed the way. Thanks to it, the world “can now find Algeria on the geographical map,” to paraphrase Nelson Mandela after South Africa won the 1990 Rugby World Cup.
She achieved what many leaders could not. Now it is up to those responsible to learn the necessary lessons. But not short-lived, selfish dividends.
[ad_2]
Source link
