Competing in the under 63 kilogram division, 16-year-old Ahmed, who also triumphed at the senior Mediterranean Games in 2013, was the outstanding performer across both the snatch and the clean and jerk disciplines.

Her winning total of 228kg was a mammoth 18kg clear of runner-up Ana Lila Duran Ayon of Mexico, while Sofya Zenchenko of Ukraine took bronze to ensure three different continents were represented on the podium.

"Two years of hard work paid off, I am delighted," said Sara Ahmed.

"I am extremely grateful to all my team and my coach who helped me all the way.

"This is the first Youth Olympic gold medal for Egypt, it is unbelievable."

Akram Ahmed claimed the second Egyptian victory ©Getty Images





It did not take long for the second, however, as Akram Ahmed stopped the clock at 7min 54.29sec to win the 800 metres freestyle after a superb final 200m.

The Cairo-born athlete, who received a scholarship to train full-time in South Carolina, was cheered on by family and friends as he finished almost three second clear of Norway's Henrik Christiansen, while Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk claimed bronze.

As well as success for new areas of the world, day five was also showcased by a number of mixed team competitions providing opportunities for athletes to unite from vastly diverse countries.

No sport epitomised this better than shooting, where Bulgaria's Lidia Nencheva and Uzbekistan's Vladimir Svechnikov teamed up to win the 10m air pistol title, with silver going to a duo from Singapore and Egypt and bronze to Latvia and Guatemala.

Gold for Bulgaria and Uzbekistan is celebrated in shooting ©Nanjing 2014





In judo an even more international team - composed of players from France, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Russia, The Netherlands, Portugal and Uzbekistan - took gold, while the triathlon mixed team relay event was won by a European squad including Great Britain's individual champion, Ben Dijkstra.

Elsewhere, there was more Chinese success to report in the pool as Hexin Yu third gold medal of the Games, in the 50m butterfly on this occasion, was complemented by a dominant win for the host nation in the girl's 4 x 100m freestyle relay.

Maaike de Waard of The Netherlands won the 50m backstroke.

There was another victory for the host nation on the first day of trampoline gymnastics, courtesy of Zhu Xueying in the girl's competition.

On the final day of taekwondo action, Yoann Miangue of France took the boy's over 73kg division, after United States Opening Ceremony Flagbearer Kendall Mount claimed over 63kg honours.

Hakob Mkrtchyan of Armenia won the boy's under 77kg weightlifting.

The evening concluded with surely the most innovative disciplines yet, the male slam dunk and female shootout competitions in basketball.

France's Karim Mouliom won the former event, before Lucia Togores Carpintero of Spain, standing at 173 centimetres tall, won the shootout.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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