Who is who in Morocco's participation in the Paris Olympics

This year marks the 33rd edition of the modern Olympics, which will take place in Paris. Morocco’s 16th participation in the Summer Olympiad presents a promising opportunity to expand its medal collection.

 With 60 competitors across 19 diverse sports, including debut events such as breaking, skateboarding, golf, triathlon, and beach volleyball, Morocco is set to showcase a mix of experienced medalists and eager first-time participants. The contingent comprises 42 men and 18 women, each determined to make their mark on this prestigious global stage.

Football

Morocco will participate in football for the first time since 2012 with a total of 9 participations with their best result being 1972 in Munich when the team reached the second round.

It’s worth noting that each national team can list three players older than 23, for Morocco it would be Achraf Hakimi, Munir El Kajoui, and Soufiane Rahimi.

Morocco qualified by winning the Afcon under 23 in Morocco last year and was drawn into the group stage with Argentina the 2008 winners, Ukraine, and Iraq to try to qualify to the quarterfinals.

Tarik Sektioui will be the team’s head coach. Soufiane Rahimi will be the captain, and 22 players will be participating for the first time in the Olympics.

The List of players: Three Goalkeepers Rachid Ghanimi, Munir Mohamedi, and Mohamed Reda Asmama; seven defenders Zakaria El Ouahdi, Ayman El Wafi, Mehdi Boukamir, Adil Tahif, Haytam Manaout, Achraf Hakimi, and Akram Nakach, seven midlifers Oussama Targhalline, Benjamin Bouchouari, Oussama El Azzouzi, Amir Richardson, Yassine Kechta, El Mehdi El Moubarik, and Bilal El Khannous, and five Abde Ezzalzouli, El Mehdi Maouhoub, IliasAkhomach, Soufiane Rahimi, and Eliesse Ben Seghir.

Athletics

Morocco’s most successful sport in the Olympics has won 20 medals, seven of which are gold, five silver, and eight bronze.

Morocco is bringing to Paris Morocco has qualified 13 athletes in athletics events for the 2024 Olympics, including 8 men and 5 women.

Moroccan participants include Abdelati El Guesse competing in the 800m, who represented Morocco at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 2017 London World Championships, 2020 Tokyo Olympics, his best personal record in the 800m is 1:44.84, set in Tokyo in 2021

Anass Essayi competing in the 1500m, won the silver medal in the 1500m at the 2018 All-Africa Youth Games in Algiers and the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. He later won the bronze medal in the 1500m at the 2021 Pan Arab Athletics Championships in Rades. The student at the University of South Carolina already represented Morocco at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, competing in the Men’s 1500m event.

The Champ Soufiane El Bakkali competing in the 3000m steeplechase, one of Morocco’s, best athletes. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics golden medalist in the 3000m steeplechase, becoming the first non-Kenyan-born athlete to win the event since 1980. He is also a two-time World Champion in the 3000m steeplechase, winning gold medals in 2022 and 2023.

Faid El Mostafa, and Mohamed Tindouft will also participate in the 3000m steeplechase, and Abdelati El Guesse will be participating in the men’s 800 meters

Noura Ennadi competing in the 400m hurdles, representing Morocco in the Olympics for the first time, She won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey. And won the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2022 African Championships in Mauritius.

Assia Raziki competing in the 800m, has represented Morocco at the African Championships, Mediterranean Games, and African Games, though she has not yet reached the finals at those major events her best personal records include 23.31s in the 200m and 52.03s in the 400m.

In the Marathon, Morocco will be represented by 6 athletes, 3 in the women’s section, KawtarBoulaid, Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi, and Rahma Tahiri, and 3 in the men’s Othmane El Goumri, Zouhair Talbi, and Mouhcine Outalha.​

Morocco has a proud tradition of excellence in the athletics at the Olympics, particularly in middle and long-distance running events for both men and women. The country looks to continue this success in Paris 2024 with talents seeking to follow the steps of Hicham El Guerrouj, Saïd Aouita, Hasna Benhassi, and other Moroccan legends in the sport.

Boxing

Morocco has a decent history of success in boxing at the Olympic Games, having won a total of 4 medals in the sport, the last of these medals was won by Mohammed Rabii, a bronze medal in the welterweight division at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Morocco first competed in boxing at the 1960 Rome Olympics. The country has sent boxers to every Summer Olympics, except for the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.

Morocco will enter the sport in this Olympics in female divisions only, with 3 female boxers. Khadija Mardi who is the Reigning amateur world champion in the 75 kg category, Afterwinning gold at the 2023 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India, to be  guaranteed a spot in the Olympics, this will be Mardi’s first Olympic appearance

Widad Bertal who Qualified for the 54 kg category, and Yasmine Mouttaki who Qualified in the50 kg, will both face flyweights and bantamweights.

It is worth noting that Women’s boxing made its Olympic debut at the 2012 London Games and that this is Morocco’s debut in this category in the Olympics.

Judo

Morocco has a modest history of participating in judo at the Olympics, the sport that has been in the Olympics.

for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Morocco has qualified 2 judokas Soumiya Iraoui in the women’s 52kg category, and Abderrahmane Boushita in the men’s 66kg category

These two athletes qualified through their rankings on the IJF World Ranking List and continental quota spots.

Samia Eroui is the African champion in judo and will participate for the second time in the Olympic Games after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. As for Abderrahmane Boucheiti, it will be his first participation in the Olympic Games.

Beach Volleyball

Morocco men’s pair qualified for Paris after winning the 2024 CAVB Continental Cup Final in Martil. Mohamed Abicha AND Zouheir El Graoui will be facing Brazil, the USA, and Cuba in the preliminary rounds if they qualify, they will be in the round of 16.

It’s worth noting that This will be the first time Morocco has qualified a men’s beach volleyball team for the Olympics.

Taekwondo

Morocco qualified two athletes to compete at the games. Fatima-Ezzahra Aboufaras in the Women’s 67 kg category earned her spot for Paris 2024 following her victory in the semifinal round at the 2024 African Qualification Tournament in Dakar, Senegal. And Oumaima El-Bouchti in the Women’s 49 kg category qualified after receiving the re-allocation of unused Oceanian Olympic quotas.

The Moroccan men’s and women’s national taekwondo won 11 medals including seven gold, one silver, and three bronze in the African Championships held in Côte d’Ivoire. Which gaveMorocco the first place in the overall competition rankings.

Swimming

Morocco sent two swimmers to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ilias El Fallaki will compete in the Men’s 400 m freestyle event, while Imane El Barodi will compete in the Women’s 100 m breaststroke event. Both athletes will aim to advance through the heats, semifinals, and finals in their respective categories.

Breaking

Breaking will make its debut as an official Olympic sport at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, and the Moroccan team will be participating in it

Morocco entered two breakdancers to compete in their respective gender-based dual battles for Paris 2024. Bilal Mallakh (Billy) and Fatima El-Mamouny (Elmamouny) secured spots on the Moroccan squad with a gold-medal victory each in the B-boys and B-girls final battle at the 2023 WDSF African Breaking Championships in Rabat.

Canoeing

Morocco entered a single boat into the slalom competition for the Games through the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in London, Great Britain. Mathis Soudi will be competing in Men’s K-1​​​

Moroccan male canoeists qualified one boat for the Games through the highest-ranked eligible nation’s result in the K-1 1000 meters event at the 2023 Canoe Sprint African Championships in Abuja, Nigeria. Achraf El Aydi will be participating in Men’s K-1 1000 m.

Cycling

Morocco has participated in cycling events at the Olympic Games since their debut in 1960. Cycling has been one of the sports that Morocco has consistently competed in at the Summer Olympics over the decades.

Morocco has continued sending cyclists to the Olympics in the 21st century, including the 2016 Rio Games and 2020 Tokyo Games.

Morocco entered one male rider to compete in the men’s road race events at the Olympics. Morocco secured this quota through the UCI Nation Ranking.

Achraf Doghmi will be participating in the Men’s road race​​

And in the BMX Morocco entered one male rider to compete in the men’s race events at the Olympics through the 2023 African Championships in Harare, Zimbabwe Nadim Laghmouchiwill be participating in the Men’s race

One of Morocco’s most successful Olympic cyclists was Khalid Lahssaini, who competed in four consecutive Summer Games from 1984 to 1996. Lahssaini won a bronze medal in the men’s individual road race at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.​

Fencing

Morocco has had a total of 10 Olympic fencers who have represented the country at 4 different Olympic Games.

Morocco entered two fencers into the Olympic competition. Houssam El Kord secured a quota place in the men’s épée events, after being nominated as one of the two highest-ranked individuals eligible for the African zone through the release of the FIE Official ranking for Paris 2024; meanwhile, Youssra Zekrani qualified for the games by winning the gold medal in the women’s foil events, at the 2024 African Zonal Qualifying Tournament in Algiers, Algeria.

Other sports in which Morocco is participating.

Equestrian

Two Moroccan riders have qualified through the final Olympic ranking for Group F (Africa & Middle East).

Golf

 Ines Laklalech qualified for the women’s individual competitions, based on her world ranking positions on the IGF World Rankings.

Rowing

 Majdouline El Allaoui will compete in the women’s single sculls. Majdouline qualified through the 2023 African Qualification Regatta in Tunis, Tunisia.

Shooting: Idriss Haffary will compete in the men’s trap. The competitor qualified based on their results at the 2022 and 2023 ISSF World Championships, 2023 African Championships, and 2024 ISSF World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Skateboarding

 Aya Asaqas qualified for the women’s park event after being ranked in the top 20 within the Olympic World Skateboarding ranking.

Surfing

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Ramzi Boukhiam will compete in the men’s shortboard games by virtue of the results of the top six individual men’s surfers not yet qualified at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

Triathlon

Jawad Abdelmoula will participate in the men’s event.