If Soufiane El Bakkali showed that out of 40 million Moroccans, the country has only one athlete capable of competing for gold and winning it at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Moroccan Paralympic athletes have won 15 medals, including three gold, six silver and six bronze.
A real feat that must be saluted and analyzed to understand this enormous gap that separates Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Because, whatever anyone says, this is a real lesson in resilience given to us by so-called “disabled” athletes. What disability are we talking about here? We didn’t see any during these days of Paralympic competition. Far from it, we saw very high level athletes, who fought on all terrains, with the same strength and the same determination to climb to the highest steps of the podiums. We saw a lot of rigor, a lot of aggression, a certain desire to surpass oneself and to shine among the best athletes in the world. With 15 medals, it’s done. This shows on the one hand that when we work, when we make sacrifices, when we apply ourselves, when we have the rage to win deep in our guts, we can achieve it. On the other hand, this shows that, disability or not, Moroccan Olympic athletes have a lot to learn from this lesson from Paralympic athletes. This is clear proof that we must review all training and training methods for all Moroccan sports if we want to compete with the best sports nations. We need a total overhaul of the national sports doctrine, at all levels, with new blood, a new outlook, new concepts, optimal supervision with the imperative of results, as a barometer for seeking a place among the elite of Olympic athletes. Because, if it bears fruit in the Paralympic disciplines, it is because it is also possible to achieve it among Olympic athletes. Unless it is a real question of the great resilience of which those who have a disability are capable and who have given everything to overcome it by making it a tool and a means to succeed. Which is the case today, with these brave athletes who shone in Paris.
