Ali Ezzine (; born September 3, 1978 in Ain Taoujdate) is a Moroccan

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who specializes in the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually Abbreviation, abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase (athletics), steeplechase in track and field. It is an obstacle race over the distance of the 3000 met ...

. He won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in this event at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. He first came to prominence with a bronze medal in the steeplechase at the

1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Sydney, Australia on August 20–25. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1049 athletes from 142 c ...

, also held in Sydney. His first senior medal came at the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where his twelfth-place finish helped the Moroccan men to the team

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

. He had his first individual global success at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

. At the 1999 World Championships he won the bronze medal in the men's steeplechase. He also won the bronze at the 1999 IAAF Grand Prix Final. Two years later, after his Olympic medal performance, he attended the 2001 World Championships and improved to the

. He returned to the Olympic stage at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, but he did not reach the podium on that occasion, finishing in eighth in the final. In 1999 he achieved the fastest ever time in the steeplechase for a non-Kenyan athlete (8:03.57). This mark has since been surpassed by several other non-Kenyans.

Achievements

Personal bests

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

- 3:43.8 min (1998) *

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

- 7:45.9 min (2004) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

- 13:32.56 min (1997) *

- 8:03.57 min (2000)

External links

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IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

* * 1978 births Living people Moroccan male long-distance runners Moroccan male steeplechase runners Olympic athletes for Morocco Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Morocco People from Ain Taoujdate Sportspeople from Fès-Meknès World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) {{Morocco-athletics-bio-stub