Morocco - Olympic update

The head of the Moroccan delegation to the upcoming Beijing Olympics spoke highly of the Athletes' Village of the Games on Friday, one day after the 60-member team's arrival in Beijing.

"This is the best-ever Olympic Village I have lived in," said Feddoul Benzeroual following the delegation's flag-raising ceremony on Friday morning.

Benzeroual said that the facilities and services in the Village are very good, which he believes would contribute to the success of the Games.

Having participated in the Olympic Games seven times, Benzeroual is very impressed with the food provided in the Village. "There are a variety of dishes that cater to the demands of different people," he said.

Benzeroual said that frequent exchanges have been made between the sports circles of China and Morocco, and expressed the hope that such cooperation and exchanges would be further expanded.

The official said that Morocco aims to win more medals at the forthcoming Games.

In history, the African country won 17 Olympic medals, but all from two events only -- 14 from athletics and 3 from boxing.

In Athens, four-time world champion Hicham El Guerrouj bagged two gold medals for men's 1,500m and 5,000m.

Comprising 49 athletes, the Moroccan delegation will compete in seven events, namely taekwondo, judo, athletics, boxing, swimming, archery and fencing.

"It will be a great moment to display ourselves in the Olympic Games," said Abbouda Khadija, the first Moroccan female archer participating in the Olympic competition.

She said that the working staff in the Athletes' Village are very kind and considerate. "They provide more than (what) we need," she said.

As a mother of two children, Khadija started her archery career in 2003. A full-time accounting manager, she trained two hours a day in the run-up to the Beijing Games.

Khadija said there are some 80 archers in Morocco, 40 percent of whom are female. She hopes that she could give all her best to promote the development of archery in her home country.

"I don't have a strong desire to win medals here. I just hope that I could perform as well as I did at home in the Olympic competition," she said, adding that countries such as Japan, South Korea and China are very strong in the event.

Khadija made it into the last eight of women's individual archery at the Sydney 2000 Games. She was among the top eight again at the 2005 world championships.

Olympic Updates.

Update One
Update Two
Update Three
Moroccan woman joins IOC


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news