Athletes

Track and field heroine Hassiba Boulmerka has left her footprints on history. With one Olympic title (1992) and two world championships (1991, 1995) to her name, the Algerian is the most successful female 1,500m racer ever at the international level. Racing with a style characterized by an even, sustained pace and careful expenditure of energy, she won Algerian and African titles in the 800m and 1,500m races in 1988 and again in 1989. Her victory at the 1991 world championships in Tokyo was the first gold for a woman from Algeria and established her as a runner of international standing.

The following year at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, by winning the 1,500m title, Boulmerka also became the first Algerian to win an Olympic gold medal. At the Games, she finished with a time of 3:55:30, which at the time made her the fourth fastest woman on the 1,500m all-time world list. In 1993, at the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Boulmerka took the 1,500m bronze medal and two years later she would win gold at the world championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

In 1997, Boulmerka retired from sports, but she continues to promote the cause of women athletes. Boulmerka was one of the first people to be directly elected to the Athletes’ Commission of the International Olympic Committee. In 1999, she demanded that the International Olympic Committee put pressure on countries that discriminate against women competitors. Throughout her career, Boulmerka has maintained that her participation in athletic competitions does not contradict her commitment to Islamic values and religion.