Chief of 2012 Olympics visits Morocco

Chief of 2012 Olympics visits Morocco to promote youth sports
Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympic Games, met with Moroccan officials and athletes Monday (January 7th) to discuss how to promote sports among young people.

"Few countries are able to boast of having such sports stars as Nawal Al Moutawakil, Said Aouita and Hicham El Guerrouj", Lord Coe said at a press conference in Casablanca. "It's a great honour for me to be in Morocco, a country that has contributed so much to sport in general and athletics in particular."

According to Lord Coe, his discussion with National Athletics Federation President Abdessalem Ahizoune was quite relaxed. "We talked about a range of topics directly or indirectly affecting athletics in Morocco, with the sole purpose of bringing sport up to speed just four years ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in London," he explained, adding that the big challenge today is getting young people to take up athletics rather than other activities. He emphasised that realising this goal is in everyone's best interest.

Legendary Moroccan athlete Hicham El Guerrouj said, "When I learned that Lord Coe had come to Morocco, I left Nice in France straight away to come and meet him, because he was always a role model for me." It is a great honour, the former Olympic and world champion said, to work with Coe on youth athletics in Morocco and elsewhere.

Nawal El Moutawakil, named Minister for Youth and Sports by King Mohammed VI last month, also appeared with Lord Coe at the press conference. She said Morocco needs the know-how of a great champion like Sebastian Coe to move forward in athletics. "I met Lord Coe at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and for me he was a model to emulate, especially in his determination to succeed," said the minister.

In 1984, El Moutawakil became the first Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She is now a member of the International Olympic Committee and, as president of the IOC Evaluation Commission, helped choose the host nation for the 2012 Games. London won the rights to organise the Olympic Games, beating out Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid.

The new minister is also vice-chair of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which uses sports programmes as a "universal language" to battle crime and drugs, "break down the barriers of war-torn nations and regenerate forgotten communities".

Sebastian Coe broke the world records for the 800 m, 1500 m and mile in the 1980's. He has been Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympic Games since 2005. He is also Vice-President of the International Athletics Federation.


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