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Rabat – Moroccan former hurdler and minister of sports Nawal El Moutawakel has been re-elected to the board of World Athletics, the global governing body for athletics, to a four-year term.
The election took place on Thursday during the 54th Congress of World Athletics in Budapest.
El Moutawakel is a Moroccan sports legend, having won the gold at the inaugural women’s 400 meter hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Moroccan to win an Olympic medal.
The medal was not only a victory for El Moutawakel and Morocco, but was also considered a triumph for all Muslim, Arab, and African women.
The olympic medal was not her only athletic victory, with gold medals in the Moroccan, Arab, and African Athletic Championships in the late 70s and 80s.
She was also a gold medalist at the 1987 World University Games in Yugoslavia.
She also helped promote sport, especially among women, by organizing recreational athletic activities in her home country following her Olympic victory.
In the 90s, El Moutawakel started holding regular recreational runs for women in Casablanca, with one of them reaching 30,000 participants, the biggest women’s run in any Muslim-majority country.
After her sports career, she also delved into the world of sports administration and politics, taking up office as Morocco’s Minister of Youth and Sports from 2007 to 2009.
She has also taken up administrative posts in various international athletic organizations.
These include her post as Vice-President of World Athletics’ Athletes’ Commission, as well as roles in Moroccan and pan-African athletics confederations.
Notably, she served as a member of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee.
