Nawal El Moutawakel

Nawal El Moutawakel

Nawal El-Mutawakel in 2009
Medal record
Women's Athletics
Representing  Morocco
Olympic Games
	1984 Los Angeles	400 m hurdles
Mediterranean Games
	1983 Casablanca	400 m hurdles
	1987 Latakia	400 m hurdles

Nawal El Moutawakel (Amazigh: Nawal Lmutawakkil ; Arabic: نوال المتوكل‎) (born on April 15, 1962 in Casablanca) is a former Moroccan hurdler, who won the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming the first female Muslim born on the continent of Africa to become an Olympic champion.^[1] She was also the first Moroccan and the first woman from a Muslim majority country to win an Olympic gold medal.^[2] In 2007, El Moutawakel was named the Minister of Sports in the upcoming cabinet of Morocco.

Life

Although she had been a quite accomplished runner, the victory of El Moutawakel, who studied at Iowa State University^[3] at the time, was a surprise. King Hassan II of Morocco telephoned El Moutawakel to give his congratulations, and he declared that all girls born the day of her victory were to be named in her honor.^[4] Her medal also meant the breakthrough for sporting women in Morocco and other mostly Muslim countries.

She was a pioneer for Muslim and Arabic athletes in that she confounded long-held beliefs that women of such backgrounds could not succeed in athletics.^[5]

In 1993 she started running for fun, a 5 km run for women in Casablanca that has since become the biggest women’s race held in a Muslim country, with up to 30,000 who came to run.^[3]

In 1995, El Moutawakel became a council member of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and in 1998 she became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

El Moutawakel is a member^[3] of the International Olympic Committee, and she was the president of evaluation commissions for the selection of the host city for the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic Games.^[6]

In 2006, El Moutawakel was one of the eight bearers of the Olympic flag at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Turin, Italy. On 26 July 2012, she carried the Olympic torch through Westminster, London, for the London Olympics.^[7]

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Morocco
1981	Arab Championships	Tunis, Tunisia	1st	100 m	11.86
			1st	200 m	24.30
1982	African Championships	Cairo, Egypt	2nd	100 m	11.7
			1st	100 m hurdles	13.8
			1st	400 m hurdles	58.42
1983	Maghreb Championships	Casablanca, Morocco	1st	200 m	24.0
			1st	100 m hurdles	13.4
			1st	400 m hurdles	58.5
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	33rd (h)	100 m hurdles	14.85
			12th (sf)	400 m hurdles	57.10
	Mediterranean Games	Casablanca, Morocco	1st	400 m hurdles	56.59
1984	African Championships	Rabat, Morocco	1st	200 m	23.93
			1st	400 m hurdles	56.01
	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	1st	400 m hurdles	54.61
1985	African Championships	Cairo, Egypt	1st	400 m hurdles	56.00
	Universiade	Kobe, Japan	3rd	400 m hurdles	55.59
1987	Universiade	Zagreb, Yugoslavia	1st	400 m hurdles	55.21
	Arab Championships	Algiers, Algeria	1st	200 m	24.33
			1st	400 m	54.28
			1st	400 m hurdles	59.93
	World Championships	Rome, Italy	18th (h)	400 m hurdles	57.21
	Mediterranean Games	Latakia, Syria	1st	400 m hurdles	56.28

References

1. Billings, Andrew C. (2008). Olympic media. New York: Routledge. p. 3. ISBN 0-415-77250-8. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
2. Nawal El Moutawakel Wise Muslim Women. Retrieved 9 April 2011
3. Sarah Duguid (June 9, 2012). "The Olympians: Nawal el-Moutawakel, Morocco". Financial TImes Magazine.
4. Olympic report
5. Benchrif, Mohamed (1999-03-11). Nawal El Moutawakel - Pioneer and militant for Progress. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-31.
6. IOC Announces 2016 Summer Games Evaluation Commission
7. BBC torch relay coverage

External links

• International Olympic Committee profile