Hassiba Boulmerka

Hassiba Boulmerka (Arabic: حسيبة بولمرقة‎) (born July 10, 1968 in Constantine in the north east of Algeria) is a former Algerian middle distance athlete. In 1992, she became the first Algerian to win an Olympic title.

Born in Constantine, Boulmerka started running as a young girl, specializing in the 800 and 1500 m. She was successful in national and regional races, although there wasn't much competition. Her first major international tournament was the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where she was eliminated in the preliminary heat of both the 800 and 1500m.

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 Rome, Italy. A month later, she competed at the World Championships. On the last straight of the 1500 m final, she sprinted to victory, becoming the first African woman to win an athletics world title.

Her remarkable performance did not only give her positive attention. She was frequently bothered by fundamentalist Muslim groups in Algeria who thought she showed too much of her body when racing, and Boulmerka was forced to move to Europe to train. In spite of this, she was one of the favorites for the 1500 m gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In the final, she fought off Lyudmila Rogachova and current world record holder Qu Yunxia 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 Stuttgart. In 1995, she hadn't won a single race going into the World Championships in Gothenburg, 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 Atlanta, but sprained her ankle in the semi-finals. After the 1997 season, in which she did not bother to defend her world title, she retired from sports.

Boulmerka was later elected to the athlete's commission of the International Olympic Committee.^[1]

She holds the 1500 metres African record of 3:55.30 that was set on August 8, 1992 in Barcelona. She also held One mile African record of 4:20.79 set in 1991 in Oslo. The record was beaten 17 years later by Gelete Burika of Ethiopia, who timed 4:18.23 in 2008.^[2]

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