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Morocco at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Sporting event delegation

Morocco at the 2004 Summer Olympics
IOC code	MAR
NOC	Moroccan Olympic Committee Arabic: اللجنة الأولمبية الوطنية المغربية
Website	www.cnom.org.ma (in French)
inAthens
Competitors	55 in 9 sports
Flag bearer	Nezha Bidouane[1]
Medals Ranked 36th	Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze 0 Total 3
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Morocco competed at the 2004 Summer OlympicsinAthens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's eleventh appearance at the Olympics, except the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, because of its partial support to the United States boycott.

Comité Olympique Marocain sent a total of 55 athletes, 47 men and 8 women, to compete in 9 sports. Men's football was the only team-based sport in which Morocco had its representation at these Olympic Games. There was only a single competitor in fencing, swimming, and weightlifting. The Moroccan team featured four Olympic medalists from Sydney: boxer Tahar Tamsamani, steeplechaser Ali Ezzine, middle-distance runner and top favorite Hicham El Guerrouj, and hurdler and former world champion Nezha Bidouane, who later became the nation's first ever female flag bearer in the opening ceremony.^[1]

Morocco left Athens with a total of three Olympic medals (two gold and one silver), being considered the most successful Olympics based on the gold medal count. As one of the major highlights of these Games, Hicham El Guerrouj set an Olympic historical milestone as the first ever Moroccan athlete to strike a distance double (1500–5000) since Paavo Nurmi did so in 1924, and the first to claim a gold since the 1992 Summer OlympicsinBarcelona, where Khalid Skah won the men's 10,000 metres title.^[2][3] On August 29, 2004, at the time of the closing ceremony, El Guerrouj was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission, along with three other athletes.^[4] Meanwhile, the silver medal was awarded to fellow middle-distance runner Hasna Benhassi in the women's 800 metres.^[5]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Hicham El Guerrouj	Athletics	Men's 1500 m	August 24
Gold	Hicham El Guerrouj	Athletics	Men's 5000 m	August 28
Silver	Hasna Benhassi	Athletics	Women's 800 m	August 23

Moroccan athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard).^[6][7]

Key

• Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
• NR = National record
• N/A = Round not applicable for the event
• Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Men

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Mohammed Amyne	10000 m	—				28:55.96	18
Youssef Baba	1500 m	3:38.71	7q	3:42.96	10	Did not advance
Hicham Bellani	5000 m	13:22.64	6q	—		13:31.81	9
Mouhssin Chehibi	800 m	1:46.77	2Q	1:44.62	3q	1:45.16	4
Abdelatif Chemlal	3000 m steeplechase	8:29.36	9	—		Did not advance
Khalid El Boumlili	Marathon	—				DNF
Hicham El Guerrouj	1500 m	3:37.86	1Q	3:40.87	1Q	3:34.18
	5000 m	13:21.87	3Q	—		13:14.39
Ali Ezzine	3000 m steeplechase	8:20.18	5q	—		8:15.58	8
Rachid Ghanmouni	Marathon	—				DNF
Jaouad Gharib		—				2:15:12	11
Abderrahim Goumri	5000 m	13:20.03	5Q	—		13:47.27	13
Adil Kaouch	1500 m	3:39.88	4Q	3:35.69	1Q	3:38.26	9
Amine Laalou	800 m	1:45.88	1Q	1:47.53	7	Did not advance
Zouhair Ouerdi	3000 m steeplechase	8:27.55	4	—		Did not advance

Field events

Women

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Amina Aït Hammou	800 m	2:03.70	2Q	2:00.66	7	Did not advance
Seltana Aït Hammou		2:03.95	2Q	2:00.64	6	Did not advance
Hasna Benhassi	800 m	2:01.20	1Q	1:58.59	1Q	1:56.43 NR
	1500 m	4:05.98	5q	4:07.39	5q	4:12.90	12
Nezha Bidouane	400 m hurdles	55.69	3	Did not advance
Bouchra Ghezielle	1500 m	DNS		Did not advance
Hafida Izem	Marathon	—				2:40:46	27
Kenza Wahbi		—				2:41:36	30

Morocco sent seven boxers to Athens. Only two of them won their first bouts, including Sydney bronze medalist Tahar Tamsamani, and both were defeated in the second round to give the team a combined record of 2–7.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Redouane Bouchtouk	Light flyweight	Tamara (COL) L 25–48	Did not advance
Hicham Mesbahi	Flyweight	Luza (BOT) W 25–20	Rżany (POL) L 20–33	Did not advance
Hamid Ait Bighrade	Bantamweight	Prasad (IND) L 17–25	Did not advance
Tahar Tamsamani	Lightweight	Rukundo (UGA) L 22–30	Did not advance
Nafil Hicham	Light welterweight	Mosquea (DOM) W 42–40	Karimzhanov (KAZ) L 13–33	Did not advance
Ait Hammi Miloud	Welterweight	Saitov (RUS) L 15–30	Did not advance
Rachid El Haddak	Heavyweight	—	Vargas (USA) L RSC	Did not advance

One Moroccan fencer qualified for the following events:

Men

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Aissam Rami	Individual épée	Kochetkov (RUS) L 6–15	Did not advance

The Morocco national football team qualified for the Olympics after getting a go-ahead penalty goal in their final qualifying match against Angola.^[8]

Roster

The following is the Moroccan squad in the men's football tournament of the 2004 Summer Olympics.^[9]

Head coach: Mustapha Madih

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	2004 club
1	1GK	Omar Charef	(1981-02-19)19 February 1981 (aged 23)	24	0	Mouloudia Club d'Oujda
2	2DF	Moncef Zerka	(1981-08-30)30 August 1981 (aged 22)	10	0	Nancy
3	3MF	Salaheddine Aqqal	(1984-01-01)1 January 1984 (aged 20)	18	1	Khourigba
4	2DF	Jamal Alioui	(1982-06-02)2 June 1982 (aged 22)	11	1	Perugia
5	3MF	Merouane Zemmama	(1983-10-07)7 October 1983 (aged 20)	12	9	Raja Casablanca
6	2DF	Badr El Kaddouri	(1981-01-31)31 January 1981 (aged 23)	19	0	Dynamo Kyiv
7	4FW	Farid Talhaoui	(1982-02-10)10 February 1982 (aged 22)	4	0	Guingamp
8	3MF	Yazid Kaissi	(1981-05-16)16 May 1981 (aged 23)	9	3	Lens
9	4FW	Mustapha Allaoui	(1983-05-30)30 May 1983 (aged 21)	21	12	MAS Fes
10	4FW	Bouabid Bouden	(1982-02-01)1 February 1982 (aged 22)	28	15	Lens
11	4FW	Mehdi Taouil	(1983-05-20)20 May 1983 (aged 21)	6	2	Nürnberg
12	4FW	Bouchaib El Moubarki*	(1978-01-12)12 January 1978 (aged 26)	20	0	Al Wasl FC
13	2DF	Oussama Souaidy	(1981-08-25)25 August 1981 (aged 22)	18	7	Mallorca
14	3MF	Azzeddine Ourahou	(1984-08-12)12 August 1984 (aged 20)	4	0	Istres
15	2DF	Tajeddine Sami	(1982-06-10)10 June 1982 (aged 22)	18	2	Raja Casablanca
16	2DF	Elamine Erbate	(1981-01-01)1 January 1981 (aged 23)	31	5	Raja Casablanca
17	3MF	Otmane El Assas*	(1979-01-30)30 January 1979 (aged 25)	35	8	Al Ittihad
18	1GK	Nadir Lamyaghri*	(1976-02-13)13 February 1976 (aged 28)	30	13	Wydad Athletic Club

* Over-aged player.

Group play

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6	Qualified for the quarterfinals
2	Costa Rica	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Morocco	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Portugal	3	1	0	2	6	9	−3	3

Costa Rica	0 – 0	Morocco
	Report

Attendance: 3,212

Referee: Massimo De Santis (Italy)

Morocco	1 – 2	Portugal
Bouden 85'	Report	Ronaldo 40' R. Costa 73'

Attendance: 7,581

Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)

Morocco	2 – 1	Iraq
Bouden 69' (pen.) Aqqal 77'	Report	Sadir 63'

Attendance: 4,019

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

Two Moroccan judoka qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Repechage 3	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Younes Ahamdi	Men's −60 kg	Stanev (RUS) L 0000–1000	Did not advance
Adil Belgaid	Men's −81 kg	Hontyuk (UKR) L 0000–1020	Did not advance			Chahkhandagh (IRI) W 0013–0001	Wanner (GER) L 0000–0201	Did not advance

Men

Three Moroccan taekwondo jin qualified for the following events.

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Abdelkader Zrouri	Men's +80 kg	Noguera (VEN) W 8–5	Nikolaidis (GRE) L 2–5	Did not advance	Rojas (COL) W 6–2	Gentil (FRA) L 1–3	Did not advance	5
Mouna Benabderassoul	Women's −67 kg	Nahdi (TUN) W 6–2	Díaz (PUR) L 4–4 SUP	Did not advance
Mounia Bourguigue	Women's +67 kg	Castrignano (ITA) L 4–6	Did not advance

Morocco nominated two male tennis players to compete in the tournament.

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Hicham Arazi	Men's singles	Ferrero (ESP) L 3–6, 1–6	Did not advance
Younes El Aynaoui		Hrbatý (SVK) L 3–6, 4–6	Did not advance
Hicham Arazi Younes El Aynaoui	Men's doubles	—	Mirnyi / Voltchkov (BLR) L RET	Did not advance

One Moroccan weightlifter qualified for the following events:

• Morocco at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
• Morocco at the 2005 Mediterranean Games

• Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad
• Moroccan Olympic Committee (in French)