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Egypt bids farewell to the guard of Semsemya, Zakaria Ibrahim.
For the past 44 years, Zakaria Ibrahim or “El-Rayes” (meaning the chief) had played and safeguarded the heritage music of his hometown Port Said through the Port Said Folk Heritage Troupe, which he established in 1980.
In an interview with Ahram Online, Ibrahim previously said that his initial approach relied on the sounds of the Semsemya musical instrument. Five years later, he reintroduced the ancient Tanboura instrument, a larger predecessor and origin of the Semsemya, dating back to ancient Egyptians. Consequently, he rebranded his ensemble as Al-Tanboura.
“We the Bamboteya, no one is like us, merchant boatmen in the canal” the troupe sang about the Semsemya’s affiliation with the history of trade on the Port Said marina. Small boats, called ManBoats, moored offshore, and sold goods to passing vessels, using sign language in trading. This language is the foundation of the heritage dance affiliated with Semsemya.
To safeguard and revive heritage music, beyond Semsemya, Ibrahim co-founded the Mastaba Centre for Egyptian Folk Music in 2000. Documenting and archiving traditional Egyptian songs, music, and musical instruments, as well as the voices and history of Egyptian music were among the centre’s main goals.
He also established El-Damma theatre in Abdeen district, Cairo, where heritage troupes played for years on a weekly basis. El Damma means coming closer, and it was a social ritual in Port Said where people would come together and sing their heritage songs and play the Semsemya.
For the eighth time in history and for the third consecutive time, Egypt secured the title at the CAHB African Men’s Youth Handball Championship, displaying a flawless performance in Mahdia, Tunisia, taking six wins in six matches to secure yet another gold medal, the eighth in 10 editions of the competition.
The eight participating teams at the 2024 CAHB African Men’s Youth Handball Championship were divided into two groups of four teams each, with all teams progressing to the quarter-finals, but Egypt and hosts Tunisia taking three wins in three matches in the preliminary round.
Egypt clearly outplayed their opponents in their group, taking wins against Guinea (46:22), Burundi (66:15) and Algeria (42:22) to secure the first place, being followed by Guinea, Algeria and Burundi in the final standings.
In the other group, hosts Tunisia took wins against Libya (30:17), Kenya (44:16) and Morocco (26:17), to set up a path towards a final against Egypt, with Morocco, Libya and Kenya finishing second, third and fourth respectively.
The reigning champions, the big favourites to take another gold medal, had no issues against Kenya in the quarter-finals, 55:14, while Tunisia also easily disposed of Burundi, 48:27, to progress to the semi-finals.
The closest match in the quarter-finals was the one between Morocco and Algeria, with Morocco taking a 25:20 win, while Guinea dominated Libya, 34:22, as the top two sides in each group went into the semi-finals.
The semi-finals saw the two big favourites take control again, with Egypt sealing their fifth double-digits win in a row, this time against Morocco, 40:15, while Tunisia slowly followed suit, setting up the final against Egypt, with a 31:22 over Guinea.
However, in the last act of the competition, Egypt did not have an easy mission. After the first half, the hosts had a 16:15 lead, which morphed into a two-goal lead after 35 minutes, 19:17. But in the next 25 minutes, Egypt doubled the number of goals scored, adding another 17, to cruise to yet another win.
With their sixth win in the competition, 34:29, Egypt, the future hosts of thr 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, secured the eighth title in 10 editions of the CAHB African Men’s Youth Handball Championship, delivering a pitch perfect performance, to consolidate their status as a powerhouse of the continent, as Tunisia secured the fifth silver medal in the continental competition at this age category.
The bronze medal was sealed by Guinea, with a 20:11 win over Morocco, their maiden medal in the history of the competition, after their best performance was the fifth place in 2018.
2024 CAHB African Men’s Youth Handball Championship – final standings
Earlier this year, Africans Column, a platform dedicated to celebrating African excellence in art, architecture, and design, released its prestigious list of the 50 Influential African Women Architects. Among the honourees were four remarkable Egyptian women whose contributions transformed the architectural landscape and redefined the role of women in this field. These women have reached extraordinary professional heights while maintaining their private lives and family commitments, making them inspiring role models for future generations of architects.
Magda Mostafa, an architect and Principal of StudioTM, is also a Professor of Design at the American University in Cairo (AUC). She is internationally recognised for her pioneering work in autism-inclusive design, particularly through developing the ASPECTSS™ design guidelines. This framework, the first research-based model for designing spaces for individuals with autism, has significantly impacted architectural projects across five continents.
Mostafa’s achievements have earned her prestigious awards, including the UIA International Research Award in 2014 and a second award in 2023. Her work was also showcased at the Venice Architecture Biennales in 2021 and 2023. In addition to her architectural practice, Mostafa co-directs the UNESCO-UIA education commission, where she helps shape global architectural education policies.
May Al-Ibrashy: Preserving Egypt’s Architectural Heritage
May Al-Ibrashy is a conservation architect with nearly 30 years of experience and also an Architectural Engineer Professor at AUC. She is the founder and chair of the Built Environment Collective, an NGO dedicated to preserving Egypt’s architectural and cultural heritage. Her work in Historic Cairo, specifically restoring the Shrine of al-Imam al-Shafi’i, has earned her recognition from organisations such as the US Embassy in Cairo and The Barakat Trust.
Al-Ibrashy’s dedication to heritage conservation is both professional and personal. She believes in the power of architecture to connect people with their history and works closely with local communities to ensure they are integral to any preservation project. Her initiatives, such as the Athar Lina Initiative, demonstrate her commitment to participatory conservation that benefits both the community and the built environment.
Sarah El Battouty: Championing Green Architecture and Sustainability
Sarah El Battouty founded ECOnsult, which has led the way in green building and sustainable development for over 18 years. Her innovative approach to architecture has earned her international recognition, with projects in Egypt, Italy, and China. As a senior advisor to the Egyptian president on sustainable community development, El Battouty has played a key role in shaping Egypt’s environmental policies, including energy and water conservation initiatives and the Paris Climate Agreement.
El Battouty’s influence extends beyond architecture. She is a Global Ambassador for the UN Climate Change Campaigns and the first Egyptian to be recognised as a UN Sustainable Development Leader. Her work promoting sustainability has also earned her recognition as a Green Entrepreneur by Bloomberg Good Business.
Shahira Fahmy, founder of Shahira Fahmy Architects, established her practice in Cairo in 2005. Since then, her firm has gained international acclaim, winning awards in cities such as London, Chicago, Switzerland, Istanbul, and Dubai. Her work spans architecture, urbanism, product design, and art. Her work has also been featured in prominent publications like The New York Times, The Architects’ Journal, and The Architectural Review.
Fahmy’s impact extends beyond her work in architecture. She is a visiting professor at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and has been a guest critic and speaker at prestigious institutions like Harvard, Yale, and MIT.
Thirteen Egyptian businesswomen made it to the Forbes Middle East 100 Most powerful businesswomen 2023 list this year.
The list was prepared by the famous financial magazine’s Middle East edition according to the size of the business, the individual’s impact and achievements, performance over the last year, and the scope of CSR and other initiatives led by the person.
The 100-entry list included 104 women from 27 different sectors and 27 nationalities.
The UAE and Egypt scored the most entries at 15 and 12, respectively, followed by Saudi Arabia (11) , Kuwait (eight), and six from each of Lebanon, Qatar and Oman.
Egyptian businesswomen are no strangers to the list, having topped the list in previous years in terms of the number of entries.
Below Ahram Online sheds light on the Egyptian businesswomen who made it to the list:
Dalia El-Baz (13th on the list)
An American University in Cairo alumna, El-Baz is the executive deputy chairman of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE).
El-Baz, who has been on the list before, posseses 28 years of experience in the banking sector.
She joined Egypt’s largest bank in terms of assets in 2008 as head of the operational risk management group, becoming Chief Operating officer (COO) in December 2015.
In 2016, she was appointed on the bank’s executive committee.
In September 2017, she became the first woman to become the executive deputy chairman of the NBE.
Pakinam Kafafi (21st on the list)
A Cairo University graduate, Pakinam Kafafi started her career in finance and banking at EFG-Hermes in the mid-1990s, rising to the position of vice president in 2000.
She then moved to the oil and energy sector.
In 2003, Kafafi was appoointed the strategy and investment general manager of Gas & Energy Group (GENCO).
When Citadel Group acquired GENCO and merged it with TAQA Arabia, Kafafi maintained her role.
In April 2013, Pakinam Kafafi was selected as the company’s CEO.
Rawya Mansour (27th on the list)
A Cairo university graduate, Rawya Mansour proved herself one of Egypt’s leading businesswomen.
Mansour is a descendant from one of Egypt’s oldest families in the field of business.
In 1999, she founded RAMSCO for Refined Architecture and Interior Design.
In 2007, she started RAMSCO for Trade and Distribution.
She also established the Organic Agriculture for Social International Solidarity (OASIS) in Monaco in 2012.
Reem Asaad (39th on the list)
An Egyptian American, Reem Asaad is a Harvard business school graduate who continued her career in Egypt when she served as the CEO of Raya Data Center from January 2012 till December 2016.
From January 2017 to February 2020, Asaad served as Raya Contact Center CEO befor
In 2020, she was appointed Cisco Middle East and Africa Vice President.
Cisco employs 3,000 people and contractors in 74 countries across the Middle East and Africa.
In March 2021, she was appointed by Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology to serve on the board of directors for the country’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency.
Hend El-Sherbini (42nd on the list)
A graduate of Cairo University, Dr Hend El-Sherbini is a professor of clinical pathology at the University’s Faculty of Medicine.
El-Sherbini served as the CEO of Al-Mokhtabar between 2004 and 2012.
She has been seving as IDH Group’s CEO since 2012.
IDH has a network of 546 branch labs as of September 2022 in Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan and Pakistan.
The group recorded revenues of $281 million in 2021 and $143 million in the first nine months of 2022.
In August 2022, El-Sherbini increased her holdings in the group with 7.3 million additional shares through Hena Holdings.
Now, she owns 26.71 percent of the group.
Farida and Yasmine Khamis (43rd on the list)
The daughters of the famous Egyptian carpets tycoon, Farida and Yasmine Khamis are considered veterans of the Forbes list.
American University of Cairo alumni, Yasmine Khamis is currently the Chairwoman of Oriental Weavers Group, while her sister Farida is her vice-chair.
Both sisters made headlines last December when they transferred their combined 24.61percent stake in Oriental Weavers Carpet to London-based FYK limited, which is fully owned by them.
They are also board members of the British University in Cairo .
Mona Zulficar (48th on the list)
The famous renowned lawyer and human rights activist is the Forbes Middle East 100 women list veteran who has appeared constantly on the list since it started.
A Cairo University graduate, Zulficar is a veteran corporate, banking, and project finance attorney and human rights activist.
She cofounded Zulficar & Partners in 2009. Mona Zulficar chaired EFG Hermes Holding since 2008 and the Egyptian Microfinance Federation since 2015.
Mona Zulficar is currently a member of Egypt’s National Council of Human Rights.
Elham Mahfouz (56th on the list)
An AUC alumna, Elham Mahfouz has over 30 years of banking experience mostly in Kuwait.
Mahfouz has been the CEO of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait (Al-Tijari) since 2014.
Al-Tijari recorded $179 million in net profit and $14.1 billion worth of total assets in 2021.
Mahfouz is a member of the supervisory board of the American University of Kuwait.
Hilda Louca (62nd on the list)
A graduate of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, Transport and Maritime Transport, Hilda Louca is a newcomer to the list.
Louca started her career in Lufthansa’s customer service before moving to become a sales marking manager at Al-Ahram Beverage Company-Heineken Egypt for three years.
In 2018, she founded MITCHA – platform to support Egyptian designers.
Today, the platform features 200 designers and brands.
Omnia Kelig (84th on the list)
An AUC alumna, Omnia Kelig is a banking and cooperate financing veteran who started her career in the CIB in 1999.
Kelig is currently Deputy CEO, Chairwoman and Managing Director of NAEEM Holding, a dual-listed company on the Egyptian Stock Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market.
In the first nine months of 2022, NAEEM reported $8.2 million in total revenues and $273 million in assets.
Before joining NAEEM, Kelig was a founder and managing director of Viveris Mashrek, a subsidiary of France’s Viveris Management.
She was also a partner and director for Haykala Investment Management and a co-head of investment banking at Barclays Bank in Egypt.
Abir Leheta (87th on the list)
An AUC alumna, Abir Leheta is another veteran on the Forbes list.
Leheta joined the Egyptian Transport and Commercial Services Company “EgyTrans” in 1997.
She has been EgyTrans CEO since 2017.
She is also the chairman of Barwil Egytrans and ScanArabia.
Abeer Helmy Saleh ( 99th on the list)
An AUC alumna, Abeer Helmy Saleh previously held a number of managerial positions, including managing director and board member at Wafa Life Insurance Company and managing director of Bupa Egypt Insurance.
In March 2022, Saleh was appointed as a Board Member & Managing Director of Misr Life Insurance, Takaful, which was established as a joint venture between Misr Insurance Holding Company, the National Bank of Egypt, and Banque Misr, with a capital of over $5 million.
Born in Saudi Arabia and the daughter of a Sudanese father and Egyptian mother, Marwa Zein is a woman that truly embodies multiple identities, and for many it is this that perhaps shines through the most in her work. Even when it comes to her roles, that diversity and multiplicity are frontline and center. An award-winning director, scriptwriter, film producer, women’s rights activist, and founder of ORE Production, a Khartoum-based film production company, Zein is inspiring in every way.
Before setting off on a journey to become a filmmaker, Zein enrolled in Cairo University as a chemical engineering student to please her parents. While studying, she worked and saved up to have the means to leave her degree behind three years later, instead study cinema at the Academy of Arts in Cairo, Egypt in 2005. In 2009, she graduated with honors and moved to Germany to continue her film studies. Her graduation project, “A game,” was an official selection of more dozens of international festivals across the globe and was translated into five languages.
From her inspiring start into the world of film and her academic achievements, Zein moved on to bigger goals, nabbing awards for her short film “One Week, Two Days,” which premiered at the 2016 Dubai International Film Festival. In 2019, she was selected as one of the seven young filmmakers from across to attend the Cannes Film Festival 2019 by the International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA).
Perhaps her most renowned recent work is “Khartoum Offside,” which was awarded Best Documentary for 2019 at the 15th Africa Movie Academy Awards AMAA 2019. The documentary tells the story of women footballers whose dream it is to play for Sudan at a Women’s World Cup hosted by their home country, revealing the challenging social, economic, and political situations they face and inspiring audiences with their tale.
Speaking to Women and Hollywood in 2019, Zein had some inspiring words of advice for other female filmmakers, saying, “There’s no competition. Everyone is unique, and we can’t tell the same story even we have the same idea. You are special, different, and inspiring, and you lead the way for the people coming after you.”
“Take care of your mental, physical, and financial situations. It’s a very challenging and demanding business, so don’t lose your soul in the process. Stay true to who you are, and you will reach the horizon,” she continued.
About 34 million years ago, in the Eocene period of the Paleogene (the period from 66 to 23 million years ago), and in a tropical-like environment with forests and swamps in what is today the Qatrani Desert in Egypt’s Fayoum Depression, a genus of rodents that was not known before, used to live.
In a new study published in PeerJ, researcher Shorouk Al-Ashqar, a member of the “Sallam Lab” team specialised in vertebrate fossils at Mansoura University, studied two skulls and a large group of mandibles of fossils belong to the “Qatranimys Safroutus”.
“But it wasn’t easy; the samples were very small and very thin and adhered to the solid rocky clay, which made preparing the samples for study very difficult. We had to make accurate CT scans to be able to study them in a three-dimensional image,” said Hesham Sallam, the lead author of the study.
The newly discovered genus of rodents was called “Qatranimys Safroutus” which refers to the location of the discovery in the first word, whilst “safroutus” means too small in the Egyptian Arabic dialect.
The length of the molar of Qatranimys Safroutus was one millimetre, and its skull was about 1.5 centimetres long, and its weight did not exceed 45 grams.
Jebel Qatrani Formation is famous for its rich rodent assemblages from the Eocene–Oligocene deposits, which contributes to enhancing our understanding of the origin and paleobiogeography of what scientists call the “Hystricognathi” which are an infraorder of rodents, distinguished from other rodents by the bone structure of their skulls.
Al-Ashqar said that the samples used in the study showed clear differences in the morphological characteristics of the upper and lower teeth. And by comparing these samples with the discovered rodents from Afro-Arabia, it was clear that it belongs to a new genus that has never been discovered before.
“We did not only record a new genus and species, but we were able to record the first bones of the skull of a large group to which the discovery belongs, called the “Phiocricetomys”, she added.
Researchers from Mansoura University, the American University in Cairo, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Duke University and the University of Salford participated in the study.
An awards ceremony hosted by the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language honored the top three teams in the event
Event aims to enhance the dictionary with innovative applications and new ideas
Russian team Spiderweb Network has won first place in the second Arabic Hackathon, scooping a prize of SR150,000 ($39,994) for their innovative idea.
Their project proposed an automatic enrichment system for the “Riyadh Dictionary” using three knowledge sources — the Arabic language expert community, artificial intelligence, and dictionaries found on the web.
An awards ceremony hosted by the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language honored the top three teams in the event, which aims to enhance the dictionary with innovative applications and new ideas.
This global technical challenge is aimed at individuals and organizations with technical and linguistic skills from all over the world. Teams develop innovative technical solutions and digital platforms for automatic Arabic language processing to enhance its status among the world’s living languages.
Second place went to the Pioneers of Intelligence, a joint Algerian-French team who received SR100,000. Their project focused on using AI to provide terms and definitions from specialized fields in a fast and effective way, with the possibility of creating specialized lexicons such as the “Riyadh Medical Dictionary.”
The Saudi-Egyptian Arabic Examples team took third place and a prize of SR50,000 with their idea for an AI system that provides appropriate examples for the meaning of each word.
The second edition of the challenge saw a total of 546 participants, 57 percent of whom were female and 43 percent male, representing 30 countries in 142 competing teams.
Abdullah Al-Washmi, Secretary-General of the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, highlighted the establishment’s commitment to promoting the use of the Arabic language and launching supportive initiatives.
The closing ceremony was accompanied by activities such as an exhibition by the Arabic Intelligence Center, which was launched in April and specializes in automated Arabic language processing.
The center includes several initiatives, such as: the “Suwar” platform for digital dictionaries, “Falak” for digital corpora, and the Riyadh Dictionary for Contemporary Arabic Language.
Al-Washmi said the center represented a significant leap in the digital transformation of Arabic language services by developing technologies that aided its use, analysis, understanding, and production.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The Russian team won first place in the Arabic Hackathon challenge, which concluded in Riyadh on Thursday (June 6). / Russian team Spiderweb Network has won first place in the second Arabic Hackathon, scooping a prize of SR150,000 for their innovative idea. (KSGAFAL)
Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel-Wahab became the first Arab artist to be awarded at the Billboard Women in Music Awards.
Sherine, 43, claimed the title of Billboard Arabia, a partnership between Billboard and SRMG, a Saudi-integrated media group.
She became one of seven winners of the Global Force Awards at Billboard Women in Music, part of the Billboard Awards held at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles on 7 March.
Global Force also included Annalisa (Billboard Italy), Maria Becerra (Billboard Argentina), Sarah Geronimo (Billboard Philippines), Nini Nutsubidze (Billboard Georgia), Tia Ray (Billboard China), and Luísa Sonza (Billboard Brasil).
Sherine was awarded for her Kalam Eineh at No. 1 and El-Watar El-Hassas at No. 2 which topped Billboard Arabia’s global flagship charts.
In her acceptance speech, Sherine expressed her appreciation for Billboard, saying “I am very proud you enjoyed my work, and of course, I am thrilled and proud that there is a music award specially for women. I hope that my work will always reach the entire world.”
Billboard Arabia was launched in June 2023 to shed light on Arab artists, while pledging “to be the premiere global destination for artists with Arab roots.”
According to Billboard Arabia, the platform follows the well-established parameters set by Billboard over eight decades, drawing data from leading digital streaming platforms like Spotify, Anghami, YouTube, and Apple Music, reflecting Arab music preferences globally.
In its inaugural year, Billboard Arabia included ElGrandeToto, Marwan Pablo, Amr Diab, and Ahmed Saad in its top five Arab artists.
Masters of relaxation: The record-breaking freedivers of Egypt.
When the countdown began, Khaled Elgammal took one final, deep breath before descending without any breathing equipment into the ocean. One minute and 29 seconds later, still holding his breath, the Egyptian athlete had free-fallen to 102 metres (335 feet) – a national record.
But for it to count, he had to reach the surface again. He turned at the bottom of the line and began his ascent – focusing on deep relaxation and the feelings of the surrounding water. In all, he had held his breath for two minutes and 50 seconds.
Elgammal is Egypt’s deepest freediver, and his remarkable achievement set a new national record at the Sharm el-Sheikh competition in October 2023.
“When I came to the surface, it was bliss. It felt amazing,” Elgammal recalls.
Freedivers like Elgammal rely solely on the ability to hold their breath while diving underwater. Through training, these divers master relaxation to slow down their heart rate, allowing them to stay beneath the surface without breathing equipment for minutes at a time. Very deep dives like the one he did recently usually require divers to hold their breath for around three minutes at a time.
The practice of freediving can be traced back to traditional fishing in communities like Asia’s Bajau people, where coastal groups have used freediving to hunt underwater for 200 years. As a sport, freediving is now undergoing record growth, attracting people looking to connect with the ocean and better understand their body’s abilities.
As for Elgammal, he says he was captivated by the unique sensations of diving with a single breath.
“I always say that scuba diving is everything in slow motion; you’re moving slow, breathing slow, and the sound of the bubbles is hypnotising, so everything is in slow motion. Freediving is like you’ve paused… and are the only thing moving down there. So you give yourself the chance to sink within.”
The sport is now growing in popularity around the world. According to AIDA International rankings, 2,889 freedivers registered to compete in competitions in 2023, more than twice the number a decade earlier.
The freediving organisation told Al Jazeera that around 20,000 people have become certified freedivers in recent years. Scuba Schools International (SSI) has similarly seen a steady 10 percent annual rise in the number of people earning their first freediving certification.
Many of these certifications are awarded in Dahab, a bohemian enclave on Egypt’s Red Sea coastline which has become home to numerous freediving schools and elite instructors. Dahab featured a shoreline of palm trees and traditional Bedouin homes just a few decades ago. While still considered a small town today, it boasts a thriving beachfront of Egyptian and international restaurants and attracts a growing crowd from Cairo, Europe and Asia. A handful of luxury hotels have emerged but Dahab still maintains an authentic charm – with herds of goats freely roaming the streets.
It’s also one of the world’s best-known freediving hotspots due to its year-round water conditions and proximity to Egypt’s Blue Hole. Just 20 minutes away by car, the Blue Hole is a famous reef-lined sinkhole accessible from the shore.
Here, divers can descend to around 90 metres (295 feet) – almost the height of the Statue of Liberty.
A heightened state of self-awareness
But what has contributed to the rise of freediving?
The sport is linked to several mental and therapeutic benefits. A 2013 study by academics at Atilim University in Turkey, found that freedivers tend to exhibit lower stress and anxiety levels than non-freedivers.
Carlos Diezel, the manager of Dahab Freedivers, a school that trains divers, explained that much of this is down to “breathwork”.
“The fact that we have to pay attention to our breath, our mind and relaxation when we go down teaches us awareness,” he says. “I believe that part of the problem, statistically speaking, for mental health issues is related to the lifestyle in modern society, that’s leading people to forget or block any kind of self-awareness.”
This heightened state of self-awareness is something that dedicated freedivers like Elgammal strive for. “I’m always aware now of what I’m feeling, what I’m sensing,” he says. “Freediving helped me to connect with myself.”
Freediving’s connection with nature and immersion in water may also contribute to its mental health benefits. Diezel says the most common reasons people sign up for freediving courses are a fascination with the ocean and learning more about themselves.
“They grasp this connection with themselves when you hold your breath and go deep,” he said, adding that students consider it “a ‘deep’ experience – sorry for the pun”.
Social media equally plays a role in bringing freediving to the forefront. Many freediving pictures allude to a sense of freedom, featuring divers among marine life and colourful reefs. The hashtag #freediving has amassed more than 3.5 million mentions on Instagram so far. “It’s getting a lot of attention as it’s quite photographic. Some videos are just mesmerising,” Diezel adds.
Diving safely
Within the existing freediving community, the sport’s surge in popularity brings added responsibility. Considered an “extreme sport”, freediving can be risky if safety protocols aren’t followed, or divers push themselves beyond their physical limits. They can experience oxygen deficiency symptoms like hypoxia and blackouts, as well as pressure-related risks like a ruptured eardrum, an example of a barotrauma.
Contrary to portrayals such as Netflix’s The Deepest Breath, divers losing consciousness – known as blackouts – are relatively uncommon, particularly in recreational diving at shallower depths.
Freedivers are also trained to rescue a fellow diver safely as part of their earliest training, learning to monitor each dive, spot signs of distress and how to react. Under the buddy system, which helps to ensure freedivers remain safe, divers never dive alone.
Tamsyn Signe is a professional freediver who champions safety whenever she enters the water. She has worked as a safety freediver in multiple competitions, and it’s her role to ensure the competing divers make it to the surface safely. Last year, she saved a diver’s life 30 metres (98 feet) underwater in a rare example of a deep rescue.
“As he got in front of me, the lights went out,” Signe recalls, describing the moment the ascending freediver just stopped moving after losing consciousness. At 30 metres below the surface, Signe was also holding her breath. However, she wasn’t thinking about the carbon dioxide building in her body – she had a job to do.
“Everything really slowed down,” she says. “I knew I was his best shot at being ok.” As she’s trained to do, Signe closed his airways with her hands and started finning (swimming up with flippers) with him toward the surface – a tricky job with the added weight of another diver. The competitor regained consciousness after reaching the surface, partly thanks to Signe’s quick thinking and supportive team. He would later reach out and thank her for saving his life.
Signe says the rescue changed her life too, making her more observant and prepared for unexpected risks, but it’s part of the job. Most freedivers believe that practising safety in freediving, such as never diving alone and being trained for rescue, is crucial to the sport’s survival.
But this is not just a tick-box exercise; safety also forges close bonds within the community. “When you go through an experience with people where you could potentially die, there’s some sort of connection that happens that is way deeper and intimate than normal. And those friendships do last a lifetime,” Signe adds.
Responsibilities beyond the breath-hold
Alongside valuing safety, Zahraa El-Husseiny, a freediving instructor and Egyptian national record holder, believes that protecting our oceans is also an important responsibility which comes with freediving. Many freedivers collect plastic they find floating in the water; others, like Diezel, stopped eating seafood after learning about the human impact of overfishing.
As Earth’s oceans face increasing pressures from pollution and global warming, those who rely on the sea will play a vital role in future conservation. First drawn to freediving because she was fascinated with marine life, El-Husseiny tries to teach others about respecting the ocean through her sport.
“We are very connected to the ocean, and we owe it to this to protect it. We know how essential it is to move freely underwater, so… we need to protect it,” she says.
For many, freediving offers a path for self-discovery and a deeper connection to the natural world. As a sport, it’s poised for continued growth in the future.
Freediving isn’t reserved for a select few either, and freediving communities are expanding in many coastal locations. “Everyone can learn how to hold their breath,” El-Husseiny adds.
“Everyone can learn how to enjoy the ocean and the peacefulness of diving. I would like people to know that this is something they can do, learn and progress in”, she says.
Passing on the love of this sport is something many freedivers take seriously. When Elgammal isn’t training for record-breaking dives, he’s working as an instructor and coach. He similarly urges those interested in the sport to “be curious”.
“Relax, enjoy, trust. Think about what you like and try to visualise that feeling.”
Rahman was one of the first women to be paid to play football in Europe – and set a host of records!
Deena Rahman owns five Guinness World Records
She was one of the players who got contracts when Fulham became professional in 2000
Rahman represented Bahrain in 40 matches, and scored 23 goals
In 2000, almost a decade before the English Football Association awarded the first central contracts to women, Fulham Ladies, at the insistence of club chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, turned fully professional. It was a watershed moment in the history of women’s football. One of the 16 players paid to play professional football, a first in Europe, was Deena Rahman.
Deena Rahman’s career has since become one of football’s enduring legacies. She has played for the England women’s age group teams, then Bahrain national team. A midfielder during her playing days, the 39-year-old now works to promote gender equality in football while also creating a host of world records. The former Fulham midfielder currently holds five Guinness World Records!
Born to an Egyptian father, Deena Rahman rose through Fulham’s youth ranks, then joined the Arsenal Academy. But she returned to Fulham, and became a member of the team which completed a treble of Premier League National Division, FA Cup and League Cup in 2003. The club became semi-professional soon enough, after three years.
At 15, Rahman made her England U-18 debut. She also represented the country of her birth in two UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championships. However, she retired as a Bahraini player, having scored 23 goals in 40 matches after making her debut in 2011. She is regarded as one of the greatest to have played for the Reds, the nickname for the team from the small Western Asian kingdom.
In her journey – from Fulham to Manama with a brief stoppage in Cairo – Deena Rahman has witnessed a whole gamut of human experience. As a prodigious talent in England, she was a regular at the all-conquering Fulham. But injury and the disbandment of the Cottagers in 2006 forced her to move to Egypt, where she played for Wadi Degla for a brief spell. Another injury sidelined her, and she was back in England.
Then Bahrain came calling, thanks to her association with Arsenal. In 2010, Rahman arrived in the Gulf to work as a coach at Arsenal Soccer School at Soccer City in Janabiya. After five years there, she and her husband Paul Shipwright established their own academy, Tekkers Academy.
Meanwhile, Rahman was also busy creating her own legacy. In 2017, she, along with 32 women from 20 countries, set the Guinness World Record for the highest game of football ever played. And the setting was 18,760 feet above sea level, atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania – the highest mountain in Africa.
The following year, Deena Rahman played her part in setting another Guinness World Record, this time for a game of football at the lowest point in the world, the Dead Sea in the Jordan Rift Valley, at 1,412 ft below sea level.
In 2019, Rahman clocked two more Guinness World Records by taking part in a match featuring 822 players during the biggest five-a-side game at Olympic Lyonnaise Training Academy in Meyzieu, Lyon. Then in an exhibition match on the sidelines of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, she got her fourth Guinness World Record as a part of the match with the most nationalities – 114 participants, representing 53 nationalities. In 2020, Rahman secured her fifth record by hammering 7,876 penalties in 24 hours at the Kick Off Academy in Saar.
