Moroccan gold medalist receives Flo Hyman memorial award
Morocco, Sports, 2/6/2003

Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel, the first Arab and Muslim female ever to win an Olympic gold medal, will receive this Friday, at a congressional luncheon in Washington, the Flo Hyman Award, the Women's Sports Foundation's most prestigious award.

The award recognizes an outstanding female athlete whose achievements reflect Flo Hyman's spirit and commitment to excellence on and off the playing field.

Nawal El Moutawakel captured the gold in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, becoming the first woman from an Islamic nation to win an Olympic medal and the first Moroccan of either sex to catch the gold. A graduate of Iowa State University, El Moutawakel received an athletic scholarship for track and field, and was the NCAA 400-hurdles champion in 1984 and an All-American.

In 1995, she became a council member of the International Amateur Athletic Foundation. Two years later, El Moutawakel was appointed Minister of Sport and Youth in Morocco and became the first Muslim woman ever elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Today, El Moutawakel continues to work with the IOC's group on Women and Sports and the IOC Marketing Commission. Her efforts to gain equal opportunity for women in sports continues to build from the groundwork that she herself laid in 1984 when she won the gold.

It was El Moutawakel's Olympic feat that convinced the Moroccan government of the benefits of investing in girls, as well as boys, at the grassroots level. She was also instrumental in the development of women's sports organizations in the Arab states and the African continent.

The award is named after Flo Hyman, who as captain of the 1984 silver medal-winning U.S. volleyball team contributed to the sudden popularity and respect for U.S. volleyball around the world.

Hyman's passion and dedication to sports led her to Congress where she fought for equal opportunities for women in sports. She died suddenly from Marfan Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, while playing in Japan in 1986.

El Moutawakel joins an elite group of women previously awarded the Flo Hyman Memorial Award, including basketball stars Lisa Leslie and Lynnette Woodard; Hall of Fame golfers Nancy Lopez and Patty Sheehan; Olympic gold-medal gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton; world disabled ski champion Diana Golden; two-time Olympic softball gold medalist Dot Richardson; Olympic speedskater Bonnie Blair; swimming champion Donna de Varona; tennis greats Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles and track and field stars Evelyn Ashford and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

The award is extended at the annual celebratory luncheon for National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD). NGWSD celebrates the achievements of girls and women in sports and recognizes the importance of their participation in athletics.

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