The Arab World was rocked by the wins of Egyptian champions Hedaya Malak and Seif Eissa, who struck two Olympic bronze medals in taekwondo during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They were quickly followed by Jordanian Saleh Al-Sharabaty’s silver medal win.
The 22-year-old Jordanian hails from Palestinian origins and is based in Amman. After beating the Uzbek Nikita Rafalovich in men’s taekwondo under 80kg semi-final, Al-Sharabaty was eyeing gold, in hopes of following in the footsteps of the Jordanian Olympic gold medalist Ahmed Abu Ghosh. Al-Sharabaty’s gold medal would have been Jordan’s second after the one secured by Ghosh in the same sport in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Nevertheless, winning the silver medal is one astounding achievement for this Jordanian athlete.
Athletic achievements
Al-Sharabaty showed brilliance in the sport from a very young age. He started practicing taekwondo at 7 years old in a youth sports center in Amman. He quickly amassed many titles in youth and junior competitions. Then in 2009, Al-Sharabaty joined the Jordanian national team kickstarting his professional career. In 2016, he left his mark on the international world when he won the bronze medal at the Asian games, followed by silver in 2018. Also in 2018, Al-Sharabaty won a silver medal at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Moscow. He continued his winning streak in 2018 when he won bronze at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Along with Al-Sharabaty’s remarkable athletic career, he graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Amman with a degree in Marketing.
Celebrating his glorious win in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Al-Sharabaty was photographed wearing the Jordanian Keffiyeh representing his country and culture with pride.
We can’t wait to see what Al-Sharabaty does next and we wish the best of luck to all Olympic athletes.