Nawal El Moutawakel
Nawal El Moutawakel was born on 15 April 1962 and is a Moroccan former hurdler, who won the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and is the first Moroccan, Arab, African, and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold.
Quotes
edit- I started at 100 and 200 meters. My coach was thinking about moving me to 400 meters or switching totally to 400-meter hurdles. I’m 5-feet, 1-inch.
- The 400-meter hurdles is a highly technical event which at the international level was only a men’s event. In Africa, there were few women competing in that event. I knew I had to go where there was more competition, better competition.
- I remember in 1984, when I was the only woman in the team, and I was wondering then why there were no women journalists, in my Moroccan team. Why were there no women coaches, referees, or a woman as a leader in the team?
- I used this as a force, saying to myself in the mirror, you should win for your father because he let you leave, because he believed in you
- The biggest achievement is to see that all IFs [International Federations] are presenting women in their sport.
- When I see how far we came from in 1984, when for the very first time, I competed in an event that was not allowed for women, which is the 400m hurdles, and all of a sudden now we see women running marathons like men, competing in boxing, in wrestling …we will witness a fantastic summer Olympic Games in Paris.
- We will witness for the first time now in Paris 2024, almost, equal opportunities for women in every field. I'm so glad to see this happening.”
- This is the happiest moment for me