In this first-person narrative, Egyptian diver Malak Tawfik reflects on growing up in Cairo, pushing past cultural expectations and embracing a new chapter as an incoming UC Berkeley student-athlete.
Before I do a dive, I take deep breaths and tell myself: “I’m confident. I can do this. I’ve done this before.” I fill myself with positive energy.
I started diving when I was 5. My family would go to Gezira Sporting Club, a big outdoor facility in Cairo where people play sports and socialize. These kinds of clubs are very common in Egypt. When I first saw people jumping off the diving boards there, I told my mom, “I want to try this.” So I started diving two to three times a week, and they soon realized I was talented at it.
Courtesy of Malak Tawfik
Growing up in Cairo, I didn’t see many girls who dived. Although Egypt is a Muslim-majority country, attitudes toward girls and women wearing swimsuits in public vary widely. In more conservative settings, people think it’s unacceptable to wear one. But my family is open-minded. We think: It’s a sport, I train every day, it’s healthy for my body. Yes, it requires that I wear a swimsuit, but it’s not wrong.
Every day after school, I took the bus to the club to train. During summer break, I trained all day, from early in the morning until the evening. I loved it. Of course, there were ups and downs, but I never quit. By the time I was 14, I was competing in the 10-meter platform event. Even when my teammates didn’t want to practice, I’d put in extra time on my own. They’d joke that I cared too much about diving. I’ve always been very independent.
Diving can be scary, though — every millisecond matters. I fear hitting my head on the board. Whenever I’m learning a new dive and I screw it up, like if I land on my belly or back, it hurts and then the next time I do it, I’m so scared. But it gets better the more I do it, like anything.
In 2024, I competed for Egypt in the women’s 10-meter platform diving event at the Olympic Games in Paris. I qualified in December 2023 in Durban, South Africa, so I only had a year to prepare. It happened so fast.
Courtesy of Malak Tawfik
I tried to not stress at the Olympics. My dad has always told me: “It’s the power of now.” I really tried to enjoy every moment of it. I was 16, and I knew I was the youngest diver competing that year — I was the least experienced and least trained, so I didn’t feel as much pressure as many of the competitors. A lot of people have been training for the Olympics for years.
During the competition, I got hate comments from other Egyptians online. They said things like, “You should stay in the kitchen. How dare you show your body like this?” They didn’t look at my performance, my age, how hard I’d worked. They just looked at the swimsuit I was wearing. Someone even started a rumor that I had drowned during the Olympics because of my low placing. It was all over sports news in Egypt; everyone believed it. My friends were calling me to make sure I was OK. It doesn’t make me sad, though — it actually makes me laugh, because I’m proud of myself and I know how much I have worked for this.
I visited Berkeley last May, and met with the diving coach Pei Lin. I felt that she’s really passionate about diving. I also met the diving team, and they’re a really close group. I didn’t feel any bad vibes between them. This is something very important to me: that they’re not only good divers, but good people with good bonds. And of course, Berkeley’s academic excellence and its beautiful campus was a draw, too. I’m considering getting a business degree, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m just going to try to enjoy my time here as it happens.
