Hassiba Boulmerka (, born 10 July 1968) is a former Algerian middle distance athlete. While under threat of death from fanatics, she won Algeria's first Olympic gold medal.

Career

Born in Constantine in northeastern

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, Boulmerka started running seriously at the age of ten, specializing in the

800 __NOTOC__ Year 800 ( DCCC) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 800th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 800th year of the 1st millennium, the 100th and last year of the 8th century, a ...

and 1,500 metres. She was successful in national and regional races, although there wasn't much competition. Her first major international tournament was the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

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, where she was eliminated in the preliminary heat of both the 800 and 1,500 m. 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

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. A month later, she competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. On the last straight of the 1500 m final, she sprinted to victory, becoming the first African woman to win an

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

world title. Her performance did not only give her positive attention. She was frequently criticized by Muslim groups in Algeria who thought she showed too much of her body when racing. Boulmerka received

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

sHassiba Boulmerka: Defying death threats to win gold
BBC, 2012-02-11. Retrieved 2012-02-11. and was forced to move to Europe to train. In spite of this, she was one of the favourites for the 1500 m

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. In the final, she fought off Lyudmila Rogachova and Qu Yunxia (world record holder until 2015) 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

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. In 1995, she hadn't won a single race going into the

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, 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

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, but sprained her ankle in the semi-finals. After the 1997 season, in which she did not defend her world title, she retired from sport. Boulmerka was later elected to the Athletes' Commission of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

. She formerly held the 1,500 metres African record with her time of 3:55.30 run on 8 August 1992 in

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. She also held the one mile African record of 4:20.79, set in 1991 in Oslo, for 17 years until it was beaten by Gelete Burika of Ethiopia, who timed 4:18.23 in 2008.IAAF, September 7, 2008
Powell cruises to 9.77 and 9.82 in Rieti – IAAF World Athletics Tour
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Post-athletics career

Boulmerka has returned to Algeria and is now a businesswoman.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boulmerka, Hassiba 1968 births Living people Algerian female middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Algeria Olympic gold medalists for Algeria Sportspeople from Constantine, Algeria World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Algeria Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Algeria Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics World Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Algerian sportswomen Arab Athletics Championships winners