Mohamed Shaaban will be the first Egyptian to chair a competition at the Olympic Games after his appointment as a technical delegate at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Basically, Shaaban, better known as Meedo, becomes the first non-African Arab to preside over the taekwondo events at the Olympics.
In Paris 2024, Meedo, who is a member of the Council of the World Taekwondo and president of the Games Committee, will be the youngest to take over the job and the fifth non-Egyptian to assume responsibility for this position.
“It’s a big challenge and I want to be better than my predecessors, Meedo told Al-Ahram Weekly. “It is also a great honour,” Shaaban said about being chosen the taekwondo technical delegate for the Paris Olympic Games.
“I am very happy since this position is the highest level in the sport, but you should know that it is a big responsibility. I must be worthy of the trust of the World Taekwondo President Dr Chungwon Choue who chose me for this position.”
Meedo said that from now until the 2024 Olympic Games “I must be in constant communication with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Paris Olympics Organising Committee. I have to fix with them all the details concerning the organisation of the taekwondo events at the Olympic Games: tickets and their prices, the competition hall, the calendar, the colours, the format and the design of the hall and the tatamis (mats).
“I will start my mission this week with a first control visit to the Grand Palais in Paris which will witness the taekwondo events from 7 to 10 August 2024. Apart from the organisation, I am responsible for all the technical details of the competitions and I participate in the choice of Olympic referees. In short, I must ensure that all technical aspects of the planning and management of Olympic competitions are undertaken in accordance with the rules and practices of the World Federation (WT) and that all working conditions and services for the WT and the technical officials are at a sufficient level. I would also be expected to chair the team leaders’ meetings and draws, review and approve contingency plans, and make final decisions on such cases.”
Meedo emphasised that Choue chose him for the position that takes into consideration several criteria including competence, experience, achievements made in recent years, language and means of communication. “After reviewing all these criteria he chose me which represents a great responsibility on my shoulders and my aim is to live up to the expectations of all.”
Meedo, chairman of the Taekwondo Games Committee in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, explains the difference with Paris. “At the Tokyo Olympics I was responsible for running the competitions, but the technical delegate was Frenchman Philippe Bouedou, former president of the Games Committee. So my responsibility was only during the competition but in Paris 2024, I am responsible starting from now. The technical delegate is the representative of the World Taekwondo at the Olympic Games, so I am responsible for all the details concerning taekwondo at the Olympics from here until the Paris Olympics.”
Meedo’s main goal is to make taekwondo livelier and more attractive with more excitement. On a technical level, taekwondo in Paris will be more dynamic since the Olympics will be played according to the new “Best of 3” game system instead of points (note: the winner must win two out of three sets and not by points). Perhaps there will be smaller changes in the application of the new laws. Asked if the new format will change the countries that dominate the disciplines, Meedo told the Weekly that in fact the taekwondo plan changes every Olympics. “Each year new countries begin to climb the world podium. At the Tokyo Olympics the average age of the Olympic medalists was very young. Several medalists at the Youth Olympic Games such as the Egyptian Seif Eissa won medals. And new countries have climbed the Olympic podium such as Uzbekistan which won a gold medal from a taekwondo player who was not in the standings before the Olympics. At the last Junior World Championships, new countries once again made it to the podium, such as India.”
As to how he rates the standard of taekwondo in Egypt, Meedo said that Egyptian taekwondo was on the right track. “From the beginning of the year, the Pharaohs won medals in each competition including the Arab Championships, the Al-Fujairah Open, the Algerian Mediterranean Games, the African Championships, the Junior World Championships and cadets and the Roma World Taekwondo Grand Prix. Egyptian taekwondoists have the experience of success especially the star of the team Eissa because his Olympic bronze medal gives the team more strength. In fact the Egyptian team brings together very young athletes. Even Eissa is still very young and at the Paris Olympics he will be at his sporting maturity. He is a great candidate for an Olympic medal, but they need to gain more experience by playing a good number of international tournaments which would improve their world rankings. The most important thing is the continuation of tournaments and preparation camps. You should know that today sport requires a lot of money for plane tickets, hotel accommodation and registration for competitions. So the Egyptian Federation needs sponsors to always have money and conduct long-term planning.”
Meedo said he thought that African taekwondo had experienced great momentum in recent years. “The African continent achieved a feat during the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics by winning five Olympic medals including the bronze medal of the Egyptian star Hedaya Malak. At the Tokyo Olympics, the Africans continued their momentum by winning four Olympic medals including two by Eissa and Malak who won her second Olympic medal. Thus the African continent brings together major nations of the discipline, including Egypt, Ivory Coast, Niger, Morocco and Tunisia. These countries can continue the momentum and we will find new countries in the future.”
Meedo started his journey as a taekwondo player at Al-Zohour Club in 1992, then a member of the Egyptian taekwondo Federation from 1994 to 2004. From 2012 to 2017 he was a member of the board of directors of the Egyptian Taekwondo Federation and general supervisor of the national team. From 2015 has been vice president of the Technical Committee of the World Taekwondo, chairman of the WT Games Committee and a member of the WT Federation.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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