The 2024 Summer Olympic Games are currently underway in Paris, and all eyes from our region are locked in on the rich slate of Arab athletes taking part in the quadrennial tournament. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shine a light on their respective home countries, since the tournament kicked off on July 26, several of our homegrown talents have already earned a spot on the podium of the Summer Games. Enter Fares Ferjani, the first Arab medallist at Paris 2024.
Over the weekend, the young Tunisian fencer clinched a silver medal after an intense Men’s Sabre Fencing final against South Korea’s Oh Sang-uk. Defeated 15 to 11, Ferjani was only four points away from becoming both the Arab World’s and the African continent’s first gold medalist at the 33rd edition of the modern Olympic Games. That said, his achievement remains a historic milestone for both his personal career and his native Tunisia’s sports history.
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To celebrate the feat— which he described as an “incredible feeling” on his official Instagram account— we decided to gather five quick facts to know about the first athlete from our neck of the woods to bring home a piece of silverware.
He’s 27
Ferjani was born on Jul. 22, 1997 in Tunis, making him 27-years-old.
He comes from a family of fencers
Like most Olympians, his journey to the Games’ podium started as a child. Enrolled from a young age at a local fencing club, it’s worth noting that Fares’ passion for foils was passed down by his father, who’s a professional fencing referee. His eldest brother, Mohamed Ayoub is also a professional fencer.
He’s Tunisia’s second Olympian Fencing medalist
Hoping to meet the benchmark set by fellow Tunisian fencer Ines Boubakri, who became her country’s first-ever Olympic fencing medallist at Rio 2016 with a bronze medal, Ferjani not only became an Olympian himself but surpassed her achievement by securing a silver medal almost a decade later.
He’s based in New York
Ferjani moved to the United States in 2017 to pursue a bachelor’s degree, on a scholarship, in finance at St. John’s University in New York. Three years later, he took on his master’s in international business at the same university. According to an interview given to Tunisian web-media Kapitalis, he picked St John’s to be able to “train under the orders of the Ukrainian legend, one of the best in history, Yuri Gelman.”
This is his third time competing at the Olympics
Ferjani made his Olympic debut in Rio in 2016 but didn’t secure a medal. He then qualified for the Tokyo Games in 2020, where he also went without winning. However, as they say, third time’s the charm, and he truly proved that to be the case this time around.
