سارة سمير: شعرت بالفخر لرفع علم مصر، وشقيقي سبب حبي لرفع الأثقال

I was so happy and proud to have raised my country's flag at both the opening and closing ceremonies. We raised it at both events, and it gives you a feeling of distinction and pride that you're the one who carried the flag. I was so happy that I held onto it from the moment we boarded the

ship until we disembarked. I didn't want to let go at all. I was so happy and kept taking pictures. It was a beautiful day. Of course, we have many legends in our sport. We have, of course, Captain Nahla Ramadan, may God heal her. Everyone who lifts weights or understands weightlifting knows Captain Nahla. When I first started, the first thing people would say when they talked about it was, "You lift weights?" and they'd

say, "You want to be like Nahla Ramadan?" She was truly an inspiration to all of us. And of course, there's Captain Abeer, who also had two Olympic medals. Everyone talks about Captain Abeer and wants to be like her, and Captain Asmat too. Captain Madiha, we have so many legends in the sport, and they all deserve our utmost respect

and appreciation. When I first started weightlifting, my brother, Dr. Mohamed, was doing it, and I used to go with my father to watch him. Suddenly, I fell in love with the sport. I had n't seen girls playing it, so I told them I wanted to, and honestly, no one objected. They were quite restrictive about

the idea. The people who objected were from our community; they all said, "What are you doing playing weightlifting? That's a boy's sport! Why don't you try swimming or something else for girls?" But I felt it was a bigger challenge, that I wanted to change their perspective. They didn't believe there was such a thing as separate sports; there were only

boys' and girls' sports. The important thing was that we played sports. And thank God, I changed their minds. Now, everyone is playing weightlifting. The player is supposed to go to the match... It means I'm well-prepared and well-trained, and I leave the rest to God and then to the coaches with me. I mean, I didn't

try to use my brain to think about how many goals I scored, how many goals I scored, that's the job of the coach with me. He sees how many goals the other players have scored and whether they can score more. That's how the coaches work together with the numbers. I just try to

completely disconnect from thinking about the number that will be set so I can get closer to the medals.