Soufiane El Bakkali, twice Olympic gold

Champion of the 3,000 m steeplechase in Tokyo, he kept the title in Paris in 2024. Morocco has a king of the water jump.

Repeating an Olympic steeplechase gold is rare.

Soufiane El Bakkali, born in Fez, won the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021. He gave Morocco an Olympic title in an event where the Kingdom’s middle-distance school had so often come close.

In Paris, on 7 August 2024, he kept the title, in 8:06.05. Repeating an Olympic steeplechase gold is rare. Doing it in front of a crowd that already knows the Moroccan song of the track made the night larger still.

At the same Games, the men’s Olympic football team brought home bronze, after a 6–0 win against Egypt. Two medals, two ways of wearing a shirt.

You can love a country for its king, for its flag, and also for a runner who puts his hands on his knees at the end of the water jump, knowing he has won again.

Source note. Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 3,000 m steeplechase final, 7 August 2024; men’s football Olympic bronze.