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Let the blame begin: Egypt’s medal count riles president

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You will not hear the chimes of Olympic medals in Egypt’s trophy cases.

The country won only one in the Beijing Games. That embarrassment has riled President Hosni Mubarak, who has ordered an investigation into why his athletes fared so poorly.

The state news agency has reported that Mubarak has ordered a committee to find out “who is responsible for the Egyptian mission’s bad performance and calling them into account.”

Someone’s going to be in trouble. But it most probably won’t be Mounir Thabet, the head of the country’s Olympic Committee. He’s the president’s brother-in-law. It also won’t be Hesham Mesbah. He’s the only one of Egypt’s 177 Olympic athletes to win a medal, a bronze in judo.

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-- Jeffrey Fleishman

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