Egypt is the biggest sporting power in Africa, as the African Games medals table shows. The Mediterranean country arrived to Accra 2023 having won a total of 650 gold medals and 1,635 total medals in the previous 12 editions of the continent's premier event. 

Nigeria is second with 470 gold medals (1,326) and South Africa is third with 397 (1,054). Algeria is fourth with 310 gold medals, but has won more medals overall (1,084). 

The North African country topped the medals table with 17 gold medals at the first edition of the African Games in Brazzaville in 1965, when it competed as the United Arab Republic (including the occupied Gaza Strip and Syria), as well as in Lagos in 1973 (25), in Nairobi in 1987 (31), in Egypt in 1991 (90), in Algiers in 2007 (74 after a battle with hosts Algeria, 70), in Brazzaville in 2015 (85) and in the latest edition in Rabat in 2019 with a record of 94 gold medals. 

With just over a week to go until the end of this 13th edition, Egypt are closing in on an astonishing milestone: 100 gold medals at an African Games. With 83 gold, 33 silver and 28 bronze medals - 144 in total - Egypt leads the medal table by a huge margin, more than tripling the tally of the three nations vying for second place: Nigeria (25), South Africa (24) and Algeria (22).

The biggest star of the first two weeks of competition is the swimmer Marwan Elkamash. The two-time bronze medallist at the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain, and 200m freestyle and in 4x200m freestyle champion at the 2019 African Games, has broken all the records with five gold medals at Accra 2023: 200, 400, 800, 1.500 and 4x200 freestyle. 

With four gold medals, Farida Osman, one of Africa's most important swimmers, won the bronze medal in the 50m butterfly at the 2017 World Championships behind two icons such as Sweden's Sarah Sjöstrom and the Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo. She won the 50m and 100m butterfly, the 50m freestyle and the women's 4x100m freestyle relay in Accra. 

Amin Bassem, ranked 62nd in the FIDE World Chess Ranking, also won four gold medals: Men's Rapid Individual, Men's Blitz Individual, Mixed Team Rapid and Mixed Team Blitz, the last two making pair with Shahenda Wafa (a three-time women African champion). She also has a gold medal in the Women's Rapid Individual and a silver medal in the Women's Blitz Individual behind 21-year-old Algerian Lina Nassr.