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Rabat – For the first time in the history of Moroccan sports, disabled Moroccan athletes will receive the same rewards and bonuses as their non-disabled counterparts if they participate in the Olympics.
The Moroccan Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports already allocated rewards for disabled Moroccan athletes who are set to participate in the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, running from August 24 to September 5. The rewards will be equivalent to those of Moroccan Olympic participants, according to a press release from the Royal Moroccan Federation of Sports for People with Disabilities.
According to the press release, the Paralympic rewards are as follows: the gold medal will earn the participant MAD 2 million ($ 223,192); the silver medal will earn them MAD 1.25 million ($ 139,495); bronze medal will earn them MAD 750,000 ($ 83,697); while qualification will earn them a bonus of MAD 100,000 ($ 11,159).
There will be a total of 38 Moroccan athletes participating in the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021. Among the disciplines they will participate in are the para-athletics, five-a-side football, powerlifting, para-taekwondo, wheelchair tennis, and cycling.
Morocco has won a total of 20 medals at the Paralympic Games since the country began participating in the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, according to the International Paralympic Committee. The Moroccan team’s best performance was in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, where it won four gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.
Overall, Morocco currently is ranked in the 53rd place on the Paralympic Summer Games’ all-time medal table.
In this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games, the Moroccan athlete Soufiane El Bakkali brought home the country’s only medal, coming first in the 3000m steeplechase. El Bakkali was the first non-Kenyan athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in that category since 1980.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI sent the athlete a congratulatory message, wishing him “success and brilliance in [his] rich sporting career, covered by our generous sympathy and satisfaction.”
