Nawal El Moutawakel (Amazigh: ⵏⴰⵡⴰⵍ ⵍⵎⵓⵜⴰⵡⴰⵇⵇⵍ; ; born 15 April 1962) is a Moroccan former hurdler, who won the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and is the first Moroccan, Arab, African, and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold. She is currently a vice president of the International Olympic Committee. In August 2024, the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) voted her as the fourth best female athlete of the past 100 years after Serena Williams, Nadia Comăneci and Simone Biles. In 2007, El Moutawakel was named the Minister of Sports in the upcoming cabinet of Morocco.
Life
El Moutawakel was born in Casablanca, and was studying at Iowa State University Her medal also meant the breakthrough for sporting women in Morocco and other mostly Muslim countries.
She was a pioneer for Muslim and African athletes in that she confounded long-held beliefs that women of such backgrounds could not succeed in athletics.
In 1993 she started running for fun, a 5 km run for women in Casablanca that has since become the biggest women's race held in a Muslim majority country, with up to 30,000 who came to run.
In 1995, El Moutawakel became a council member of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), now known as World Athletics, and in 1998 she became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). She was elected as a vice-president of the IOC in 2016 for a period of four years and re-elected in 2024.
El Moutawakel was one of the ambassadors of the Morocco 2026 FIFA World Cup bid.
International competitions
{|
|-
|rowspan=2|1979
|rowspan=2|Mediterranean Games
|rowspan=2|Split, Yugoslavia
|6th
|100 m
|12.13
|-
|5th
|200 m
|24.64
|-
|rowspan=6|1981
|rowspan=2|Universiade
|rowspan=2|Bucharest, Romania
|15th (sf)
|100 m
|12.18
|-
|16th (h)
|200 m
|24.23
|-
|rowspan=2|Arab Championships
|rowspan=2|Tunis, Tunisia
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|100 m
|11.86
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|200 m
|24.30
|-
|rowspan=2|World Cup
|rowspan=2|Rome, Italy
|8th
|100 m
|11.92<sup>1</sup>
|-
|7th
|4 × 100 m relay
|46.15<sup>1</sup>
|-
|rowspan=4|1982
|rowspan=4|African Championships
|rowspan=4|Cairo, Egypt
|bgcolor=silver|2nd
|100 m
|11.7
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|100 m hurdles
|13.8
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|58.42
|-
|bgcolor=cc9966|3rd
| relay
|3:47.40
|-
|rowspan=9|1983
|Universiade
|Edmonton, Alberta
| –
|400 m hurdles
|DQ
|-
|rowspan=3|Maghreb Championships
|rowspan=3|Casablanca, Morocco
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|200 m
|24.0
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|100 m hurdles
|13.4
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|58.5
|-
|rowspan=2|World Championships
|rowspan=2|Helsinki, Finland
|33rd (h)
|100 m hurdles
|14.85
|-
|12th (sf)
|400 m hurdles
|57.10
|-
|rowspan=3|Mediterranean Games
|rowspan=3|Casablanca, Morocco
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|56.59
|-
|bgcolor=cc9966|3rd
| relay
|46.69
|-
|4th
| relay
|3:38.87
|-
|rowspan=4|1984
|rowspan=3|African Championships
|rowspan=3|Rabat, Morocco
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|200 m
|23.93
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|56.01
|-
|bgcolor=cc9966|3rd
| relay
|3:54.41
|-
|Olympic Games
|Los Angeles, United States
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|54.61
|-
|rowspan=4|1985
|African Championships
|Cairo, Egypt
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|56.00
|-
|Universiade
|Kobe, Japan
|bgcolor=cc9966|3rd
|400 m hurdles
|55.59
|-
|rowspan=2|World Cup
|rowspan=2|Canberra, Australia
|4th
|400 m hurdles
|56.05<sup>1</sup>
|-
|7th
|4 × 400 m relay
|3:36.86<sup>1</sup>
|-
|rowspan=6|1987
|rowspan=3|Arab Championships
|rowspan=3|Algiers, Algeria
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|200 m
|24.33
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m
|54.28
|-
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|59.93
|-
|Universiade
|Zagreb, Yugoslavia
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|55.21
|-
|World Championships
|Rome, Italy
|18th (h)
|400 m hurdles
|57.21
|-
|Mediterranean Games
|Latakia, Syria
|bgcolor=gold|1st
|400 m hurdles
|56.28
|}
<sup>1</sup>Representing Africa
See also
- Politics of Morocco
- Sport in Morocco