By Sarah Touahri, Rabat, Morocco
The Moroccan government plans to boost the national track-and-field infrastructure to ensure that the country’s disappointing performance at the Beijing Olympics is not repeated.
On January 12, officials signed an agreement with the Hassan II Fund for Economic & Social Development and the Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation, to provide better facilities for athletes.
As part of the joint plan, regional athletics training centres will be built in Al Haouz, Benguerir, Benslimane, Khemisset, and Khenifra to allow promising athletes in all sports disciplines to train closer to home. In addition, 21 new athletic tracks with artificial surfaces will provide access to top-level training facilities across the country.
An international athletics academy that meets the requirements of modern training will also be built in Ifrane on a four-hectare plot of land. The future Mohammed VI Academy, with an estimated cost of US $24 million (AED 88 million), will house a sports medicine centre and two large weight rooms, physiotherapy and massage rooms, a sauna and a medical centre. Both senior- and junior-level athletes will be able to train there.
Nawal El Moutawakil, Minister of Youth & Sports, said the project will begin in 2011 with a combined cost of AED 400 million. The Hassan II Fund for Economic and Social Development will provide AED 240 million of the total, local authorities AED 129 million, and the state AED 31 million.
“We’re seeking to promote athletics in Morocco in line with recommendations made at the National Sport Conferences,” said El Moutawakil. “These new facilities will definitely help the Federation and athletes prepare for the 2012 Olympics and beyond.”
The president of the Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation, Abdesselam Ahizoune, said the plan will cover towns which lack facilities. “It’s because Morocco has had a shortage of athletics tracks that our achievements have mainly been in the area of long-distance running,” he said.