Basant Mossad, 21, has shown after practicing high jump for 12 years that some sports are no longer dominated by men only.
She says that she started playing this kind of sports through a coach who saw her while a running race. He believed her body was suitable for athletics so he offered to train her.
Bassant started training and took part in Cairo championship below age of 12 years. She was able to jump at height of 1.20 meters, achieving a new Egyptian record ranking the first place. “I loved it. I felt the sport was different and new, unlike other sports that people know. I like to be different,” she says.
Winning made Bassant decide to resume and take part in more championships. She took part in the first international championship in Turkey ranking the first place.
Bassant then took part in more Arab, African and international championships grabbing many medals. She won the gold medal in 2010 in her first African championship. After that she qualified for the Junior Olympics in Singapore and ranked the seventh center.
In 2014, she got the silver medal in African championship. She applied for the cup of continents championship in Morocco to be the first Egyptian who qualified for the championship in athletics.
“That was the biggest thing for me. I never dreamt to get it. It honors me to be the first Egyptian to take part in such championship,” she says.
“My goal is not to take part in the Olympics. But I want to compete on medals too,” she adds.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
