Who is the first Arab woman to win a medal in the Olympic Games?

Moroccan champion Nawal El Moutawakel has engraved her name in gold on the local and Arab athletics scene after becoming the first Arab woman to win a medal at the Summer Olympics.

Arab champions did not have any presence on the podiums of the Olympic Games until 1984, when Al-Mutawakel won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, by winning the 400-meter hurdles race.

The 400-meter hurdles champion entered the history of this type of sport in the Arab world and Africa, as she became the first African and Arab woman to win a gold medal, and the first Arab woman to win an Olympic medal.

Birth and upbringing

Nawal El Moutawakel was born on April 15, 1962 in Casablanca. She grew up in a sports home, with a father who practiced judo and brothers who practiced track and field, which contributed to shaping her athletic personality and encouraged her to join the Casablanca Municipal Club when she was 15 years old.

She trained under the French coach Jean-François Cocan, starting in 1978, and it was the latter who directed her to specialize in the 400-meter distance.

Titles

Al-Mutawakel shone at the 1982 All-Africa Games, winning two gold medals in the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

She participated in the Mediterranean Games in 1983 and won the precious metal, and three years later she won the gold medal in the 1987 Mediterranean Games for the 400-meter race in Syria.

Historic achievement

Nawal El Moutawakel participated in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, full of hopes to honor Morocco and the Arabs, and she succeeded in winning the gold medal, as the first Arab and African woman to achieve this accomplishment, and she exploded with a heavy-caliber surprise.

Al-Mutawakel opened the door wide for Moroccan, Arab and African girls to enter this sport, and she became an inspiration to Moroccans after this achievement.

Al-Mutawakel was plagued by injuries, and after her Los Angeles achievement, she won the gold medal at the 1987 Mediterranean Games, and was forced to retire early at the age of 25.

Senior positions

In addition to her sporting achievements, Nawal El Moutawakel has held several positions in international and governmental sports institutions. She became a member of the Executive Board of the International Association of Athletics Federations and then of the International Olympic Committee in 1995. She was assigned the portfolio of Minister of Youth and Sports in Morocco in 2007, and in the 1990s she served as Minister of State for the same sector.

She chaired the Olympic Committee, which oversees the evaluation of the files of cities nominated to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

On July 26, 2012, Nawal El Moutawakel was elected as Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, becoming the first Arab, Muslim and African woman to hold this position.

In 2015, French President François Hollande awarded her the Legion of Honor as an influential Moroccan and African figure.