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8/06/2012

Aouita Blames Morocco’s Disastrous Olympics Participation on the Head of Federation of Athletics

According to the daily Al Massae, Saïd Aouita, a former Moroccan track and field athlete, directed allegations at the Moroccan Federation of Athletics, saying that it somewhat supports doping consumption and fails to fight against it. Abdessalam Ahizoun, the president of the Federation, has not shown any reaction against doping, especially when Saïd Aouita was appointed as the technical manager and tried to wage war on doping. Aouita promised to unveil some secrets about the issue on August 12 as soon as London Olympic games end. In this regard, Aouita went on to call on Ahizoune to admit his failure and resign from the federation presidency. “His strategy is a failure, the Federation is in dire need of a comprehensive purging,” Aouita was quoted by Al Massae as saying. In response to the deplorable system of the Federation, Aouita admitted that “the federation has now grown notorious for corruption and doping. There are also many times when some athletes fake their age. Worse, addiction to doping is now rampant among athletes,” he noted. It is worth mentioning that last month several Moroccan athletes, such as Meriem Alaoui Selsouli and Amine Laalou, were banned from taking part in London Olympic Games after they tested positive during doping tests. Selsouli had been one of the favorites for the event and her ban from the event stunned Moroccan sports fans. “If this doping case is confirmed then it is a catastrophe. Should it prove to be true then it is unacceptable,” Moroccan Minister of Sport Mohamed Ouzine told AFP after Laalou was denied participation in the Games. Like the heads of other Moroccan Federations, Ahizoun has no credentials in this sport and since his appointment at the helm of the Federations of Athletics, many were dubious about his ability to redress the situation of this sport and bring Morocco back to the world stage. If Moroccans were to break away with this wave of successive failures in all kinds of sports, they will have to adopt new management and training strategies and appoint the right people in the right positions. In the absence of this change of mentality, Morocco will reap a failure after another. moroccoworldnew
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