Day 16: Morocco closes Beijing Games with silver medal

24/08/2008

Morocco was the only Maghreb country to compete on the 16th and final day of the Beijing Olympics. For fans back home, elite runner Jaouad Gharib's silver medal in the marathon event made the wait worthwhile.

By Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca – 24/08/08

[Mawassi Lahcen] Morocco's Jaouad Gharib beat out the Ethiopians to take the silver medal in the marathon event on Sunday.

Moroccan marathon runner Jaouad Gharib thrilled Moroccans on Sunday (August 24th) by taking second place and thus the silver medal in the marathon event that closed out the Beijing Olympics.

Moroccans enjoyed an evening following the 42km-race, which began at half past midnight, Moroccan time. The event was Morocco's last hope to achieve another medal in the Games. Although the race lasted over two hours, it was thrilling on account of the sharp competition among the six top African runners. Two Kenyans, two Ethiopians, one Eritrean and Morocco's Gharib led the pack from the beginning of the race.

The Ethiopians and Kenyans jumped into the lead and took turns setting the pace, hoping to keep the elite Moroccan runner at a distance sufficient to keep him out of competition and away from the medals. Gharib persevered, however, and managed to stick with the group, keeping the pace by adopting a lurking strategy that involved staying in fourth or fifth position throughout the race.

During the second half, some of the leading racers tired and began to lag behind and drop out one after the other. The competition was down to Kenya's Samuel Kamau Wansiru and Morocco's Gharib. Wansiru snuck to the forefront and snatched the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 32 seconds. Gharib came in second place for the silver, with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 16 seconds. The bronze medal went to Ethiopia's Tsegay Kebede, came up from behind, taking advantage of the exhaustion of the other leading athletes. His time was 2 hours, 10 minutes.

With Gharib's silver medal, Morocco scored seven additional points in the overall athletics competition, thus improving its ranking from 35th to 28th, with a total score of 16 points. Hasna Benhassi scored six points with her bronze medal in the women's 800m race and Abdalaati Iguider scored three points for the Moroccans by taking sixth place in the men's 1,500m race.