Zahra Ouaziz of Morocco leads the pack in the 5000m (© Getty Images)
After a rich career which has taken the now 34year-old Zahra Ouaziz to World Championships medals at the women's 5000m (silver, 1999 and bronze, 1995), the Moroccan has now embarked on a career as a coach at national level.
Ouaziz who will turn 35 on 20 December has been put in charge of a group of youngsters who she will prepare ahead of next year’s 4th IAAF World Youth championships on home soil in Marrakesh (14 - 17 July 2005).
The initiative to involve such an experienced athlete in an effort to pass on her experiences to the next generation has come from the national technical director Aziz Daouda.
Ouaziz, who also took the 1999 World Indoor 3000m silver in a distinguished career, has been given the responsibility for a talented young group of girls who include Siham Hilali, the reigning World 3000m Youth champion who also took bronze medals at both 1500m and 3000m at this year’s World Junior Championships.
The former middle distance star will also help with the team’s preparations for the 2005 World Cross Country Championships next March but her prime focus will be the World Youths.
As Daouda explained because the World Youths are taking place in Morocco “Marrakech remains the premier objective (for Ouaziz) as there we ( the team) are counted on to be at the top and to raise the national flag high.”
Mohammed Benchrif for the IAAF
