Rania El-Wani

Rania El-Wani was a freestyle sprint swimmer who swam at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympic Games. El-Wani competed in the United States as she swam in college for Southern Methodist University from 1997-99. She later obtained a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Misr University for Science and Technology in 2004 and a master’s in obstetrics and gynecology from Ain Shams University in 2014. She earned degrees in sports management from the International Centre for Sports Studies, Switzerland in 2009 and in healthcare and hospital management from the American University in Cairo in 2015.

As a swimmer El-Wani’s best tournament was the 1999 All-Africa Games, where she won gold in the 50 metre freestyle and bronze medals in the 100 and 200 free. She was given Egypt’s Order of Merit of First Class for Sports and was named Egypt’s Athlete of the Year every year from 1991-98. In 1997 she was awarded the Arab Sports Federations Order of Merit for Sport, and in 2014 the United Arab Emirates gave her the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Award for Sports Excellence.

El-Wani served as an athlete member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2004-12. In 2010 she was also named to the athlete committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). She received the International Fairplay Award in 2010, and is a member of the Champions for Peace Club.