Career
She claimed two gold medals in the 55-kg division at the African Championships (2003 and 2005), and represented her nation Egypt as a seventeen-year-old teen at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Essawy qualified for the Egyptian squad in the women"s featherweight class (57 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by defeating Ivory Coast"s Mariam Bah for the top spot and securing a berth from the African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in her native Cairo. With a limited international experience, Essawy lost her opening fight by a solid 0–8 deficit to Chinese Taipei"s Chi Shu-ju.