- Title: MOROCCO: Meryem Alaoui Selsouli will be running for Morocco at Beijing 2008
- Date: 4th June 2008
- Summary: (MER-1) RABAT, MOROCCO (RECENT) (REUTERS) OLYMPIC RUNNER MERYEM ALAOUI SELSOULI AND PACEMAKER ABDELILAH AL-HANI WALKING TO HER CAR OUTSIDE HER APARTMENT SELSOULI BEING GREETED BY HER NEIGHBOUR AICHA HAJJI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AICHA HAJJI, MERYAM SELSOULI'S NEIGHBOUR, SAYING: "I am very proud of them because they are very kind. We have been neighbours for only a short period but we soon discovered that they are great people. We were delighted when Meryem won her last medal." WIDE OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ATHLETICS IN RABAT SIGN READING (in Arabic/French): "NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ATHLETICS" SELSOULI GREETING FELLOW ATHLETE EL-KOUCH/ SELSOULI GREETING FELLOW ATHLETES DETAIL OF FORMER LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING CHAMPION ZAHRA OUAZIZ'S SHIRT SELSOULI TALKING TO FORMER LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING CHAMPION ZAHRA OUAZIZ (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ZAHRA OUAZIZ, FORMER LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING CHAMPION, SAYING: "Meryem has achieved some good results. She broke my national record of 3,000 metres. I have always seen in her the champion who would replace me." VARIOUS OF MERYEM RUNNING WITH HER PACEMAKER ABDELILAH EL-HANI VARIOUS OF MERYEM AND EL-HANI STRETCHING AND WARMING UP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MERYEM ALAOUI SELSOULI, OLYMPIC RUNNER, SAYING: "I have great confidence in myself because it is not easy to rank third in a world championship with Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes. I find myself almost as good as the Ethiopians and better than the Kenyans. I am very optimistic about the Olympic Games." MORE OF SELSOULI AND EL-HANI RUNNING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RACHID SEMLAL, MERYEM'S HUSBAND, SAYING: "As her husband, I know that she has a good chance of winning gold at the Olympics. If the rift between Meryam and her rivals was wide in the past, she has now managed to narrow it. If she had had enough self-confidence in Valencia, she could have come second." VARIOUS OF SELSOULI'S MEDAL COLLECTION VARIOUS OF SELSOULI PREPARING BREAKFAST BOOKSHELF/ SELSOULI, SEMLAL AND FELLOW ATHLETES HAVING BREAKFAST TWO ATHLETES SELSOULI AND SEMLAL BREAKFAST ON TABLE MORE OF SELSOULI, SEMLAL AND FELLOW ATHLETES CLOSE OF SELSOULI
- Embargoed: 19th June 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Morocco
- Country: Morocco
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA3DWP141EW5LLGCRNLPIV2KFP2
- Story Text: Moroccans are pinning their hopes on long-distance runner Meryem Alaoui Selsouli at this summer's Beijing Olympic games.
She may not be the strongest person in the Moroccan contingent to the Beijing Olympic this summer, but Meryem Alaoui Selsouli, who weighs just 42 kilos, will carry the hopes of a whole nation with her.
"I am very proud of them because they are very kind. We have been neighbours for only a short period but we soon discovered that they are great people. We were delighted when Meryem won her last medal," Selsouli's neighbour Aicha Hajji told Reuters.
The 23-year-old won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain last March in the 3,000 metres race. She says that in Beijing she will be going for gold.
Like all the athletes hoping to clinch a medal in China next summer, Meryem is following a rigourous daily routine where training is paramount.
Everyday, she and her pacemaker Abdelilah al-Hani spend hours at the National Institute for Athletics in Rabat, a club frequented by many of the country's leading athletes.
Former long distance running champion Zahra Ouaziz has nothing but praise for the young Selsouli.
"Meryem has achieved some good results. She broke my national record of 3,000 metres. I have always seen in her the champion who would replace me," Ouaziz said.
Meryem's first appearance in a major international competition was only a year ago, when she competed at the 2007 World Athletics championships in Osaka, Japan, and came fifth.
At Valencia, where she ranked third, she led the race for the first seven laps only to be overtaken by Ethiopian runners Mesereth Dewar and Mesilitch Mlekamo in the last 400 metres.
Selsouli says her Valencia performance shows she has good chance at the Olympics.
"I have great confidence in myself because it is not easy to rank third in a world championship with Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes. I find myself almost as good as the Ethiopians and better than the Kenyans. I am very optimistic about the Olympic Games," she said.
Her words are echoed by her husband Rachid Semlal, himself a gold winner at the Arab Games in Tunisia.
"As her husband, I know that she has a good chance of winning gold at the Olympics. If the rift between Meryam and her rivals was wide in the past, she has now managed to narrow it. If she had had enough self-confidence in Valencia, she could have come second," Semlal said.
Moroccans have performed well at previous Olympics, such as the 1984 Los Angeles Games where runner Said Aouita and hurdler Nawal el-Moutawakil both won gold medals.
Rabat is hosting an international athletics convention on June 14.
Selsouli says it will give her an indication of how ready she is for the big test in August. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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