Malak, who won bronze at the Rio 2016 Games in the -57 kilogram category, has been under lockdown measures recently with Egypt yet to reopen facilities to the public. 

To date gyms, cafes, mosques and schools are all still closed in Egypt, but Malak is reportedly scheduled to return to the Olympic Training Centre in Cairo in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, she shares her apartment with her brother, who also practises taekwondo, and a human-shaped kicking pad, donated to her by one of her sponsors. 

Speaking of her situation to Reuters, Malak said: "Most of it is mental because you have to challenge yourself and push yourself to keep on training every day, which is not so easy when you’re at home and everybody’s watching TV or studying, or playing around the house.

"So it’s challenging, but at the same time you know that everybody around the world is in the same situation.

"I try to imagine that this is my taekwondo hall, and this is where I am training and this is where I find my athletes and my friends, my team mates, as if they’re training with me."

Despite the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games, now moved to 2021, Malak has been using it as an opportunity to study videos of her potential opponents next year.

Speaking of her eventual return to the training centre, she added: "It is not going to be easy.

"We don't have sparring or fighting with each other, I think we will be far from each other and I think everyone will be wearing their gloves, wearing their masks and everything, so everybody's protected."

To date, there are more than 42,900 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Egypt, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,480 people.