Olympic history of Morocco

MAR

6th	5	12

Morocco , whose NOK , the Comité Olympique Marocain , was founded in 1959 andrecognizedby the IOC in the same year, has participated in the Summer Olympics since 1960. In 1976 and 1980 calls for a boycott by African countries and the USA were followed. Morocco's NOK sent athletes to the 1968, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2010 and 2014 Winter Games.

Overview

Summer games

The first medal winner in Morocco: Rhadi Ben Abdesselam with silver in the marathon (on the right the Ethiopian winner Abebe Bikila )

1960 to 1980

Morocco first took part in the 1960 Games in Rome . The 47 men competed in athletics, boxing, fencing, cycling, gymnastics, sailing, modern pentathlon, shooting, weightlifting and wrestling. The first Olympians came from the boxing relay. On August 25, 1960, the flyweight Abdelkader Belghiti, the bantamweight Ahmed Bouazza, the lightweight Abdelkader Gangani, the light welterweight Mohamed Boubekeur and the welterweight Mohamed Atmani competed in their competitions. In Rome, the Moroccan team celebrated their first medal win. The athlete Rhadi Ben Abdesselam won the silver medal in the marathon on September 10, 1960, his teammate Bakir Benaïssa reached the finish line in eighth place.

In Tokyo in 1964 , a Moroccan football team took part in the Olympic tournament for the first time, and in 1968 in Mexico City, a Moroccan basketball team. The Moroccan Olympic team was unsuccessful at both Olympic Games. There were no successes in Munich in 1972 either. On August 31, 1972, the 800-meter runner Malika Hadky became the first Moroccan woman to take part in the Olympic Games. In addition, Moroccan judokas started for the first time.

At the 1976 Montreal Games , Morocco only withdrew its Olympic team after the second day of competition to join the boycott of African countries. The country immediately joined the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games .

1984 to 2000

Nawal El Moutawakel won the first gold medal in Morocco in the 400-meter hurdles in 1984

In Los Angeles 1984 there was the first Olympic victory for Morocco. Nawal El Moutawakel not only won the first gold medal in Morocco over the 400 meter hurdles, she was also the first female medalist. Her teammate Saïd Aouita became the first Moroccan man to also win gold three days later. He won over 5000 meters.

Morocco won three medals in Seoul in 1988 . Brahim Boutayeb became Olympic champion in the 10,000 meter run, Aouita won his second Olympic medal with bronze over 800 meters. The boxer Abdelhak Achik won another bronze medal in the featherweight division. In 1992 in Barcelona , Moroccan athletes were able to win a complete set of medals. Khalid Skah achieved the second Moroccan success in a row in this discipline with his victory in the 10,000 meters. Rachid El Basir won silver in the 1500 meter run, the boxer Mohamed Achik, the brother of medalist Abdelhak Achik, bronze in the bantamweight division. In Barcelona, ​​athletes in tennis and table tennis competed for the first time.

The track and field athletes earned two more medals for Morocco at the 1996 Atlanta Games . Khalid Boulami won bronze in the 5,000 meter run, Salah Hissou in the 10,000 meter run. Defending champion Skah finished seventh here. In terms of number of medals, Morocco was the most successful at the 2000 Sydney Games . Five medals were won. Hicham El Guerrouj won a silver medal over 1500 meters, a bronze medal each was won by Brahim Lahlafi over 5000 meters, Ali Ezzine over 3000 meters obstacle, Nezha Bidouane over 400 meter hurdles and featherweight boxer Tahar Tamsamani . Canoeists, swimmers and taekwondo fighters from Morocco took part in Sydney for the first time.

2004 until today

2004 in Athens El Guerrouj celebrated a double victory over 1500 and 5000 meters. This makes him the most successful participant in Morocco in the Olympic Games to date (as of 2017). The 800-meter runner Hasna Benhassi also won silver in a race whose decision about silver and bronze came from the photo finish evaluation. Over the same distance, Mouhssin Chehibi finished fourth in the men's race and missed bronze by 0.51 seconds. In 2008, Benhassi won bronze over 800 meters for the second time in a row in Beijing . Jaouad Gharib won silver in the men's marathon. In Beijing, an archer from Morocco started for the first time.

The 1500 meter runner Abdalaati Iguider won a bronze medal in London in 2012 . A rider started for the first time in London. A golfer took part for the first time in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 . Here Morocco won another bronze medal from the welterweight boxer Mohammed Rabii .

Winter games

Samir Azzimani, the only participant from Morocco in 2010 in Vancouver during the invasion of the athletes

In Grenoble 1968 , a Moroccan team took part in the winter games for the first time. The first winter athletes in the country were the alpine ski racers Said Housni, Hassan Lahmaoui, Mohamed Aomar and Mimoun Ouitot in the giant slalom.

Morocco decided not to participate in the following three Winter Games. In 1984 in Sarajevo and in 1988 in Calgary Morocco was again represented by alpine ski racers. Cross-country skiers took part for the first time in Albertville in 1992 . In addition, Nawal Slaoui, the country's first female winter athlete, competed in the Super-G.

After an 18-year break, Morocco took part again in Vancouver in 2010 and in Sochi in 2014 .

IOC members

Nawal El Moutawakel , the 1984 Olympic champion, has been a member of the IOC since 1998 . From 2012 to 2016 she was the Vice President of the IOC.

Overview of the participants

Summer games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports																					Medals
	total	m	w																										total	rank
1896-1956	not participated
1960	48	48	0		8th	7th	4th	7th	6th	2	1	4th	4th	5													1		1	32
1964	20th	20th	0		4th	2							2		12
1968	24	24	0		3	5								4th		12
1972	35	33	2		8th	3								3	19th		3
1976	9	9	0			5								4th
1980	not participated
1984	34	33	1	Lahcen Samsam Akka	3	4th	4th							5	15th		3									2			2	18th
1988	27	24	3	Faouzi Lahbi	11	7th								5			4th									1		2	3	28
1992	44	43	1	Lahcen Samsam Akka	13	7th							1	4th	16			1	2							1	1	1	3	31
1996	34	32	2	Khalid Skah	17th	6th			1				1	5			3		1									2	2	68
2000	55	46	9	Abdil Bel Gaid	24	5					1				17th		2		1	1	1	3					1	4th	5	58
2004	55	47	8th	Nezha Bidouane	22nd	7th		1					1		16		2		2		1	3				2		1	3	37
2008	47	36	11	Abdelkader Kada	26th	10		2									4th				2	3	1				1	1	2	67
2012	63	46	17th	Wiam Dislam	21st	8th	3	2				1		2	16		4th			1	3	3		1				1	1	78
2016	49	29	20th	Abdelkebir Ouaddar	20th	8th	3	1				1	2	3			3			1	2	3		1	1			1	1	78
total																										6th	5	12	23	100

Winter games

Adam Lamhamedi in Sochi 2014

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports		Medals
	total	m	w							total	rank
1924-1964	not participated
1968	5	5	0		5
1972-1980	not participated
1984	4th	4th	0		4th
1988	3	3	0	Mustapha Neitlho	3
1992	12	10	2		9	3
1994-2006	not participated
2010	1	1	0	Samir Azzimani	1
2014	2	1	1	Adam Lamhamedi	2
2018	2	2	0	Samir Azzimani	2
total							0	0	0	0	-

List of medal winners

Saïd Aouita, the first Moroccan man to become Olympic champion

Gold medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline
Nawal El Moutawakel	1984 Los Angeles	athletics	400 meter hurdles
Said Aouita	1984 Los Angeles	athletics	5000 meters
Brahim Boutayeb	1988 Seoul	athletics	10,000 meters
Khalid Skah	1992 Barcelona	athletics	10,000 meters
Hicham El Guerrouj	2004 Athens	athletics	1500 meters
Hicham El Guerrouj	2004 Athens	athletics	5000 meters

Silver medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline
Rhadi Ben Abdesselam	1960 Rome	athletics	marathon
Rachid El Basir	1992 Barcelona	athletics	1500 meters
Hasna Benhassi	2004 Athens	athletics	800 meters
Jaouad Gharib	2008 Beijing	athletics	marathon

Bronze medals

Boxer Tahar Tamsamani won bronze in featherweight in 2000

Surname	Games	sport	discipline
Abdelhak Achik	1988 Seoul	Boxing	Featherweight
Said Aouita	1988 Seoul	athletics	800 meters
Mohamed Achik	1988 Seoul	Boxing	Bantamweight
Khalid Boulami	1996 Atlanta	athletics	5000 meters
Salah Hissou	1996 Atlanta	athletics	10,000 meters
Tahar Tamsamani	2000 Sydney	Boxing	Featherweight
Ali Ezzine	2000 Sydney	athletics	3000 meters obstacle
Brahim Lahlafi	2000 Sydney	athletics	5000 meters
Nezha Bidouane	2000 Sydney	athletics	400 meter hurdles
Hasna Benhassi	2008 Beijing	athletics	800 meters
Abdalaati Iguider	2012 London	athletics	800 meters
Mohammed Rabii	2016 Rio de Janeiro	Boxing	Welterweight

Medals by sport

sport	gold	silver	bronze	total
athletics	6th	5	8th	19th
Boxing	0	0	4th	4th
total	6th	5	12	23

Web links

• Morocco in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Morocco on Olympic.org  - The Official website of the Olympic movement (English)