Morocco (MAR)

After gaining independence from France in 1956, a Moroccan National Olympic Committee was established on 15 April 1959, which was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the IOC Session in München in May of the same year. Morocco first competed at the 1960 Roma Olympics. It has since missed only the 1980 Games. Morocco also joined the 1976 African boycott, yet some of its athletes had already competed by then.

Through 2022, Moroccan athletes have won 24 Olympic medals (seven gold), with 20 in track & field athletics (and all the golds), and four in boxing.

With two gold medals, middle distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj, who won both the 1,500 metres and the 5,000 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has been the country’s top Olympian. Four years earlier, at Sydney 2000, he won the silver in the 1,500 metres. Only two other Moroccan athletes have won two medals: runners Saïd Aouita, with a gold in 1984 and a bronze in 1988, and Hasna Benhassi, with a silver in the 2004 women’s 800 metres, and a bronze in the same event four years later.

Morocco has sent athletes to the Olympic Winter Games in 1968, 1984, 1988, 1992, and from 2010 onwards. They have had 26 Winter Olympians, three of them women. Morocco has only competed in Alpine skiing and cross-country skiing through 2022. In 1984, Ahmad Ouachit had their best finish to date, placing 38th in men’s slalom skiing.