Mohamed Abdel Khalek Allam

Mohammed Abdel Khalek Allam graduated with an education degree in 1944 and spent several years as a secondary school teacher prior to being hired by the Egyptian National Ministry of Education as an inspector in 1947. An avid gymnast and diver, he was a national champion in the former in 1946, but selected to represent Egypt in the latter at the 1948 Summer Olympics, where finished 24th among 25 competitors in the platform event. At the time he was earning a Masters’ Degree in Physical Education from The Ohio State University, which he acquired the following year. He then entered Indiana University, which granted him a doctoral degree in Health and Safety Education in 1955. In the meantime, he returned to the Olympics in 1952, this time as the coach of the Egyptian diving team.

Upon his return to Egypt, Allam held numerous positions in both governmental institutions and universities, with some of his most notable work coming after he was appointed as Vice-President of Student Affairs at the American University in Cairo in 1973. Over the course of his career he worked with physical education development programs in Syria and Sudan, staged several international festivals and conferences, and authored numerous books. He was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Indiana University in 1979, as well as the institution’s Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion in 1992.