Day 15: No medals for the Maghreb near Games' end

2008-08-24

Competitors from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia saw their medal hopes dashed on Saturday as as more athletes were eliminated at the Beijing Games.

Nazim Fethi in Algiers, Mona Yahia in Tunis and Mawassi Lahcen in Casablanca contributed to this report – 24/08/08

[Mawassi Lahcen] Algeria's Nabil Madi (centre) and Nadjim Manseur came in last in the men's 800m final, dashing Algeria's hopes for any additional medals at the Games.

With competition in its next-to-last day at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Saturday (August 23rd), Maghreb athletes failed to bring home additional medals in athletics and taekwondo.

Abdelkader Zrouri, Morocco's last hope for a medal in taekwondo, left the competition in the heavyweight quarter-finals in Beijing due to an injury. Zrouri began with a win by knockout over Venezuelan opponent Falcon Juan Carlos Diaz, but injured his left foot in the quarter finals against Greek challenger Alexandros Nikolaidis, leaving him disoriented by the pain. Nikolaidis used the advantage to beat Zrouri 5-4. Although Zrouri had a chance to come back in the rematch, he was forced to withdraw because of the injury.

In athletics, Moroccan runners Siham Hilali and Btissam Lakhouad placed 10th and 12th, respectively, at the conclusion of the women's 1,500m final, crushing Morocco's hopes for a gold. On the penultimate day of the games, Morocco dropped to number 35 on the rank of participating countries, based on their scores. Algeria ranked 55nd on the same list. Though Morocco sent 26 athletes to the Olympic Games in 12 different events, the team managed to score just nine points, six of which were scored by Hasna Benhassi who won the bronze medal in the women's 800m race. The remaining points were scored by runner Abdalaati Iguider, who came in sixth in the men's 1,500m.

Morocco is still holding on to the hope of improving its ranking in athletics on the final day of the Olympics, sending three runners to the marathon. Atop the list is Jaouad Gharib, two-time marathon world champion, in Paris in 2003 and Helsinki in 2005.

Additionally, he placed 11th in Athens in 2004. Morocco is also pinning great hopes on Abderrahim Goumri, who switched over the past two years from 5,000m to the marathon. He spent the last year in intensive preparations for the Beijing games. The wild card is Abderrahime Bouramdane, who may rise to the occasion and bring another medal home to Morocco.

Tunisia's Khaoula ben Hamza waved goodbye to the women's -67kg taekwondo competition on Saturday, losing 6-4 to Swedish opponent Karolina Kedzierska in round 1 of the rematch. Ben Hamza was crushed in the previous round by Mexico's Maria del Rosario Espinoza, four points to zero.

Algeria's last two Olympic hopefuls failed to place on Saturday, ending fans' dreams of another medal. Nabil Madi and Nadjim Manseur finished last in the men's 800m final, with Madi in seventh and Manseur in eighth place. Liberté quotes the 20-year-old Manseur as saying his failure to earn a medal was due to his lack of experience.

Algeria must content itself therefore with its two medals in Beijing – one silver and one bronze – earned by judokas Soraya Haddad and Amar Benikhlef.