Morocco at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Morocco competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Medalists

Gold

• Hicham El Guerrouj — Athletics, Men's 1500 metres

• Hicham El Guerrouj — Athletics, Men's 5000 metres

Silver

• Hasna Benhassi — Athletics, Women's 800 metres

Results by event

Athletics

Morocco sent a 23-person Athletics team to Athens and was rewarded with three medals. Two came from one of the Games' biggest stars, Hicham El Guerrouj. Guerrouj entered the Games as a four-time World Champion in the 1500 metres, but had fallen in the Atlanta final, and finished second in Sydney, and was still pursuing an Olympic gold medal. He breezed through the qualifiers for the 1500 metres, and held off Bernard Lagat in the final to win gold. Four days later, El Guerrouj used a strong finish to pull past 10000 metres gold medalist Kenenisa Bekele to win gold in the 5000 metres, being the first athlete to win the 1500-5000 double since Paavo Nurmi, and also becoming the first ever Moroccan double gold medalist.

Morocco's other medal in Athens also came in middle-distance running, in this case, the women's 800 metres. Hasna Benhassi easily qualified to the final, where she set a new national record, and just pushed ahead of two other runners to earn silver in a very close finish, just five-hundredths of a second short of gold, and just eight-hundredths ahead of fourth.

Moroccan runners recorded five other finals appearances in Athens. Mouhssin Chehibi in the men's...
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