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Hassiba Boulmerka (Arabic: حسيبة بولمرقة) (born July 10, 1968 in Constantine in the north east of
Algeria) is a former Algerian middle distance athlete. In
1992, she became the first Algerian to win an Olympic title.
Born in Constantine, Boulmerka started
running as a young girl, specializing in the 800 and 1500 m.
She was successful in national and regional races, although there
wasn't much competition. Her first major international tournament
was the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where she was eliminated in
the preliminary heat of both the 800 and 1500m.
Boulmerka's performances slowly became better, and her big
breakthrough came in 1991. The first major race she won was the
800 m. at the Golden Gala race in Rome, Italy. A
month later, she competed at the World
Championships. On the last straight of the 1500 m final,
she sprinted to
victory, becoming the first African woman to win an athletics world title.
Her remarkable performance did not only give her positive
attention. She was frequently bothered by fundamentalist Muslim groups in Algeria who thought she showed
too much of her body when racing, and Boulmerka was forced to move
to Europe to train. In spite of this, she was one of the favorites
for the 1500 m gold
medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In the
final, she fought off Lyudmila Rogachova for the gold
medal. It was Algeria's first gold medal at the Olympic Games.
Boulmerka's next two seasons were not as successful, although
she won a bronze medal at the 1993 World
Championships in Stuttgart. In 1995, she hadn't won a single
race going into the World
Championships in Gothenburg, but this did not prevent her
from winning her second world title. It
was her only victory of that season, and her last major victory.
She competed at the Centennial Olympics in Atlanta, but sprained her ankle in the semi-finals. After the 1997 season,
in which she did not bother to defend her world title, she retired
from sports.
Boulmerka was later elected to the athlete's commission of the
International Olympic
Committee.[1]
She holds the 1500 metres African
record of 3:55.30 that was set on August 8, 1992 in Barcelona. She also held
One mile African record of 4:20.79 set in 1991 in Oslo. The record
was beaten 17 years later by Gelete Burika of
Ethiopia, who timed 4:18.23 in 2008 [2].
References
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