Olympic Champion
"My dream: that Morocco offers the world of
great athletes. Like
all youth, ours needs idols, "says Nouzha Bidiouane, known as Nezha Bidouane. The Moroccan champion,
specialist of the 400 meters hurdles, always wanted to surpass herself:
" I very soon became aware of my desire to achieve something
exceptional”, she says. Nouzha was ranked among the top 100 athletes in the
history of the world championships by the British newspaper The Times. This accomplished
athlete has one goal: to involve women in the world of running. She is the initiator of
the Women's Victory Race, whose ninth edition in 2016 attracted many
participants. Nouzha
embodies the image of the talented athlete: "When someone wants to become a
champion, one thinks sport, one breathes sport”, she says. But let’s come back
to the 1970s. Nouzha has a quiet childhood in Rabat and discovers gymnastics. It is only later that
the girl experienced a craze for athletics. At the age of sixteen, in contact with professional
sportsmen, she decides to make of track-and-field her career: "I said to
myself: “why would not I be the best?”. From 1996 to 2001, it will be thanks to
an unshakeable will and Intensive physical and psychological training. In 1997, she won her
first world title in Athens in
1998 and received in 1998 a
first Wissam from King Hassan II. In 2001, for his second world title in Edmonton, it
was His Majesty King Mohammed VI who awarded her another Wissam: "Every
victory has a history”. The story of the athlete is made of many gold medals
but also injuries, injustices, disappointments and obstacles that were
overcome.
The champion does not forget those who have contributed to her success
and her happiness, her family, her husband, a former athlete and unwavering
support, and her coach Aziz Daouda who has given her the confidence to fight
and win. Today, she is president
of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Sport for All and has made of philanthropy
her new challenge. She
also enjoys the affectionate motherhood of her children, Yacine and Yassir