The Independent calls Britain to seek moroccan champ support
Morocco-UK, Culture, 6/4/2003

"The Independent" columnist, Alan Hubbard, calls Britain to pay court to former Moroccan champ, and member of the International Olympic Committee, Nawal El Moutawakel, and obtain her support in hosting the 2012 games.

A possible "humiliation engineered by those who opposed the invasion of Iraq, which could cost London vital votes in favor of Paris, has to be considered. Which is why bridges have to be built quickly, and no one is better placed to help construct them than the 41-year-old mother of two from Casablanca, who is also the chief executive of a banking foundation, the columnist, Alan Hubbard, wrote in a sports policy story.

El Moutawakel, who speaks four languages, (É) is an increasingly influential voice in international sport's corridors of power. It is mooted that Lamine Diack, the Senegalese judge who heads the IAAF, is grooming her for the presidency when he steps down.

Nawal El Moutawakel "is not a name that will trip easily off the tongues of those augmenting London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, but it is one to conjure with. And one to learn to pronounce if political cards are to be played adroitly."

She is now the only Muslim woman on both the International Olympic Committee and the International Association of Athletics Federations, a situation which should not go unheeded by London's advocates," Hubbard writes, tracing back Nawal's sports itinerary.

"(É) she was the first Muslim woman to stand on the podium, a historic breakthrough not only for her race but for a religion which in the majority of Islamic countries had hitherto actively discouraged sporting participation by women.

"Nineteen years on from winning the inaugural women's 400m hurdles in Los Angeles - the first gold medal ever for her nation - El Moutawakel is still leaping barriers.

"But it is with the IOC that she can be of greatest assistance to the London cause for, as she told me in Monaco last week, she would not support any move to orchestrate an anti-British lobby over Iraq. "I have heard that there could be this Islamic vote against London because of the Iraq war, but I ask why. I will be surprised if such a feeling does exist among IOC members, and I do not think it will happen. I am certain that in the end whoever gets the 2012 Games will be decided on sporting issues, not politics, in the true spirit of Olympism.

"Personally, I welcome London back into the race. England is a nation of great athletes, of great sporting traditions and wonderful leaders. If the bid is the best, it will win. I say, 'Good luck to London'."

El Moutawakel was in Monte Carlo for the Laureus Awards as a member of their Sport for Good Foundation, which has set up a project to educate village women in Morocco about health and nutrition through sports such as handball, basketball and volleyball.

On the terrorist blasts that shook Casablanca, Nawal El Mutawakil's home city, the athlete was quoted by the paper as saying "It makes me very sad but it will not affect the way life goes on in my country. You have crazy people everywhere, but we cannot tolerate this sort of thing in Morocco. We are an Islamic country, almost 100 per cent Muslim.

"What happened is about hate. Our religion is not about hate. There has to be solidarity to fight such terrorism. For this to happen now is a terrible thing, but our life will go on, and so will our sport."

Sporting life in Morocco, certainly for women, has been going on apace since her LA triumph, Hubbard goes. "Unlike women in most other Muslim countries, she never experienced hostility from male-dominated religious factions. "In Morocco, women have been participating since the early sixties. My mother herself competed in volleyball. But it has been one step at a time.

"In 1984 I was the only woman in a Moroccan team of 100, but as a hurdler I am used to jumping barriers. Now those barriers are coming down in other Islamic countries because I believe I showed Muslim women a wider horizon."

Two weeks ago, she organized a 10km women's race, with 11,000 women of all ages running and jogging their way through the streets of Casablanca, some in ankle-length robes and veils. She is helping to set up similar events in other African nations. "Muslim women are on the move," says the barrier-breaker whom the IAAF's Diack calls "a great lady."

Previous Stories:
  Marrakesh hosts global women summit next month   (5/28/2003)
  Violence against women in Morocco probed in symposium in cairo   (5/16/2003)
  King Mohammed dedicates socio-economic projects in Oujda   (3/12/2003)

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