Interview: Nawal El Moutawakel talks about the small female revolution in sport
Ghada Shouaa, Hassiba Boulmerka, Habiba Ghribi: names of Arabic women, some from Africa, who were all pioneers in the area of sport. They were the first women to win an Olympic medal for their countries Syria, Algeria and Tunisia. In order for them and many others to be able to make it to the podium, a woman made history in Los Angeles 1984 by winning the 400m hurdles the first time the event was included in the Olympic female programme. She became the first Arabic and African woman to win a gold medal at the Games. Her name is Nawal El Moutawakel.
The name Nawal is very much known by the Brazilian and international media, as she is the head of the Coordination Commission of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. However, the 52 year old Moroccan national has a long history of contributing to increasing the participation of women in sport. First as an athlete and then, as a sport administrator – she has worked as Minister of Sport and Youth back in Morocco -. For her, we are experiencing a “small revolution” in sport.
“We have seen in the London the number of women (4,676) who attended the Games and I think we're experiencing a historic moment in the Olympic movement, as well as sport in general. For the very first time, we had at least one female athlete in each delegation. We´ve seen over 35 National Olympic Committees with more women than men in their delegations. For the first time, there are four women in the IOC´s Executive Board. This has never happened before”, she mentioned.
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Family of sportspeople
I started when I was a teenager, 14 or 15. I come from a family that really loved sports. My father used to play judo, my mother played volleyball and my five brothers and sisters did athletics. I don’t remember having any obstacle when I was training, when I was competing, even when I was dreaming to become a champion. I had full support from my family, my small club, from the national federation and from the highest authority in the country.
I don’t think that it was an isolated case, as before I started to compete at the national and international level, I had already found female Moroccan athletes who were better than me at that moment and it was almost impossible for me to beat them at the 100m, 200m, 400m. Little by little I started improving, understanding athletics, the energy it demanded, the determination I needed. Maybe there was a lack of financial resources, appropriate infrastructure, but I had support all around me.
400m hurdles
Running was in my DNA. I really loved training, I loved challenges. I used to run 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x400m relay, 4x400m, but my coach at that time, Jean-François Coquand, was a visionary. He said: "I suggest that you move to the 400m hurdles. It is a new event for women and will probably be included in the Olympic programme". It was my chance to deviate from the 100m, 200m, 400m to the 400m hurdles.
I didn’t like it much at the beginning. I wasn’t very tall and very strong, and I thought that I wouldn't excel. My coach had to work on my mental attitude, he made me like the event and very quickly I became African champion, Mediterranean champion, National champion and French champion in 1983. This really helped me in Los Angeles 1984 to be really fit. I started believing that I could win in 1984. Although I had little doubts in my own capabilities, but sport does this, makes you stronger, makes you believe in yourself, have higher self-esteem, a stronger determination and, most of all, makes you passionate about what you do.
First time event open to women
For me, the 400m hurdles was a race with ten obstacles. I have always said that the 400m hurdles are a school of life, it teaches you everything I have said before about passion, determination, excellence and I really did feel that I was flying over the hurdles. However, the 400m hurdles were a new event for women in the Olympic programme, like the marathon, and technically I wasn't at my best. Women today are improving the techniques more and more. But there is always a beginning, which was when I competed in 1984. I was very happy to be part of that history, very happy to show all the women in the planet that they could run, jump and excel. Now, the doors are wide open. I’m thankful because at least I contributed a little to these achievements and to the empowerment of women in athletics and sport.
Pioneer gold
Of course I was very proud (with the Olympic gold), I felt very happy that I had achieved my dream. I cried a lot because my fahter, who had always been there, encouraging and supporting me, could not share in the happiness (he died months before). You think of all the days of hard dedication, hard training, day and night, on the weekends, on vacation, when everyone was enjoying themselves in the sun and you are a teenager training in harsh conditions sometimes – I lived in the United States for many years, where the temperature could reach – 20°C. It's not joy all the time, when you very far away from your family, when your father was no longer there, when my university’s team in the USA died in a plane crash. When you’re young and you need to deal with all this, you try to get stronger internally. And you say: yes, I can do this, because this is my time, this is my story, this is my day and I have to make it today, here and now. You go from zero to hero.
Paving the way
There is a Nawal before the Games and a new Nawal after them. And this is a fantastic story. But there are many other women with beautiful stories and I´m sure that my story somehow inspired them in some way, including the young Saudi Arabian athlete Dalma (Rushdi Malhas), who won a medal in Singapore in Equestrian (bronze at the Youth Olympic Games in 2010) and was the first woman to compete for Saudi Arabia in an Olympic event. There is also Ghada Shouaa from Syria (gold in the heptathlon in Atlanta 1996, first medal won by a Syrian female at the Olympics), Hassiba Boulmerka from Algeria (gold in the 1500m in Barcelona 1992, first Algerian female to win an Olympic medal) and Habib Ghribi from Tunisia (silver in the 3000m hurdles in London 2012, first Tunisian female to win an Olympic medal). There is a long list of Arabic and African women, who never had the chance to excel in their lives due to lack of support. Now, the doors are wide open.
Small revolution
We have seen in the London the number of women (4,676) who attended the Games and I think we're experiencing a historic moment in the Olympic movement, as well as sport in general. For the very first time, we had at least one female athlete in each delegation. We´ve seen over 35 National Olympic Committees with more women than men in their delegations. For the first time, there are four women in the IOC´s Executive Board. For the first time, Gunilla Lindberg, from the Executive Board, is the president of the Coordination Commission of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games and Angela Ruggiero is heading the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games. And there's me, heading the Rio 2016 Coordination Commission. This has never happened before, it’s a small revolution.
Minister of Sport
I worked as Minister of Sport for two administrations. Indeed, I was the first Arabic, Muslim, Moroccan woman to reach such position. It was different at the beginning, but I grew up in a sporting environment, knew a lot of people and a lot of people knew me. We worked in total collaboration and cooperation, we understood each other well and worked as a team. I only remember good times in trying to open more doors for women, changing sport legislation, increasing transparency of federations, providing equal access to sport for people with disabilities, young people, more sport infrastructure. We understand that sport is powerful for young people, it helps bring them out of poverty, avoids violence, disease. Today, we have an obesity problem. Young people are moving away from sport, we have to attract them.
Rio 2016
I’m eagerly waiting to be there on 5 August 2016, feeling proud, just like all Brazilians for all you have achieved in the last few years, first as a bidding nation, then as an organizing country. The legacy left behind will be extraordinary: all the venues for athletes, infrastructure for Rio. When you look at the Olympic Villa, the Olympic Park, when you go to Deodoro, when you see the events that will be held in Copacabana… All these elements put together are fantastic for Rio, for the country, for South America and for sports as a whole.
