Amine Laâlou (born 13 May 1982) is a Moroccan

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete, who specializes in

middle-distance running Middle-distance running events are Track and field#Running, track races longer than Sprint (running), sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be clas ...

. He has represented his country at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

on two occasions; in 2004 and 2008. He began his career as an

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

specialist and made his global debut at the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Men's results ...

. He won medals at smaller international competitions, including the

2004 Pan Arab Games The 10th Pan Arab Games was an international multi-sport event which took place in Algiers, Algeria, between 24 September and 10 October 2004. It witnessed the participation of all Arab League members for the first time – 22 countries participate ...

and

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

. He reached his first global final at the 2007 World Championships, taking sixth, and was a semi-finalist at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. He began competing in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and was a double finalist at the 2009 World Championships. He also won

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s at the

2009 Mediterranean Games The 2009 Mediterranean Games, officially the XVI Mediterranean Games ( it, XVI Giochi del Mediterraneo) and commonly known as Pescara 2009, was a multi-sport event held in Pescara, Italy, from 26 June to 5 July 2009. It was governed by the Inte ...

and 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie that year. In 2010 he won silver at the 2010 African Championships and was the 1500 m champion at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

. His personal best over the 800 m is 1:43.25, which is the Moroccan record for the event.

Career

Born in

Salé Salé ( ar, سلا, salā, ; ber, ⵙⵍⴰ, sla) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Founded in about 1030 by the Banu Ifran ...

, Laâlou started his international

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

career competing at the younger levels, running over 800 m at the inaugural World Youth Championships in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and reaching the semi-finals at the 2000 World Junior Championships. He won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the 2001 African Junior Championships and made the 800 m semi-finals of the senior event at the 2002 African Championships. He made his senior debut on the global stage at the

, although he did not progress beyond the heats stage. He came close to winning a medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championships but he missed out after coming fourth in the 800 m behind Brazil's

Osmar dos Santos Osmar Barbosa dos Santos (born October 20, 1968 in Marilia) is a retired Brazilian middle distance runner who competed mostly over 800 metres. He started competing internationally around year 1996 and won a bronze medal at the 2004 World Indoor C ...

. He improved his personal best to 1:43.68 at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

meeting prior to the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. He did not build on this form on his Olympic debut, however, as he was eliminated in his semi-final and finished in seventh place. Laâlou qualified for the

2004 IAAF World Athletics Final The 2nd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 18, and September 19, 2004. The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary a week previous as the Monaco sta ...

but again finished in seventh place. He closed his season on a high note as he reached the podium twice at the

a month later, winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

over 800 m and anchoring home the Moroccan

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

team to the silver medal behind Saudi Arabia. The buildup to his 2005 outdoor season began with a

at the

Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games ( ar, ألعاب التضامن الإسلامي) is a multinational, multi-sport event. The Games involve the elite athletes of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation who compete in a variety of sports. The Solidari ...

and he followed this with a regional bronze behind the Spanish contingent at the

.Amine Laalou
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-09-20. He competed at the 2005 World Championships and was fifth in his semi-final. There were no major competitions for the Moroccan in 2006 but his year was highlighted by a win at the Golden Gala where he improved his 800 m best to 1:43.25, which made him the second fastest athlete of the season after

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi Mbulaeni Tongai Mulaudzi (8 September 1980 – 24 October 2014) was a South African middle distance runner, and the 2009 world champion in the men's 800 metres. His first global medal was a silver at the 2000 African Championships in Athletics ...

. He also finished sixth at the 2006 World Athletics Final. He reached his first global final the following season, finishing sixth in the 800 m at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. He was just short of the medals at the 2007 World Athletics Final with a fourth-place finish. He performed poorly at the 2008 World Indoor Championships and failed to make it out of the 800 m heats. Competing in the

2008 IAAF Golden League The 2008 Golden League was the 11th edition of the IAAF's annual series of six athletics meets, held across Europe, with athletes having the chance to win the Golden League Jackpot of $1 million. Programme Results Men Women External lin ...

circuit, he continued his rich vein of form at the Golden Gala with a win in 1:44.27. Taking part in his second Olympics, he was a semi-finalist in the 800 m at the 2008 Beijing Games. He began to add the

to his oeuvre in the 2009 season and he reached both the 800 m and 1500 m finals at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. He was tenth in the 1500 m but managed fifth place at his preferred 800 m event. He also became the regional 800 m champion with a win at the

and an 800/1500 m double at the 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie. In 2010 he improved his 1500 m best to 3:29.53 and his best in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

to 3:50.22. That year he was fifth over 1500 m at the 2010 World Indoor Championships, took the silver medal outdoors at the 2010 African Championships, and was selected for the Africa team at the

, where he won the 1500 m

. He took part in the

Fifth Avenue Mile The Fifth Avenue Mile is an annual road race on Fifth Avenue in New York City, United States. The race begins at 80th Street and heads twenty blocks south to 60th Street. First held on September 26, 1981, the race is currently organized by N ...

for the first time that September and beat

Bernard Lagat Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner. Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya. Prior to his change of domicile to the US, Lagat had an extensive competitive career representing his ...

to win the road race in a time of 3:52.83.

Doping ban

It was reported on August 3, 2012 that Laalou has been banned from the 2012 Olympics after testing positive for

furosemide Furosemide is a loop diuretic medication used to treat fluid build-up due to heart failure, liver scarring, or kidney disease. It may also be used for the treatment of high blood pressure. It can be taken by injection into a vein or by mouth ...

, a

diuretic A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics in ...

used to hide the presence of performance-enhancing drugs. A two-year ban from competition was subsequently confirmed by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. In April 2016 he tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test and was handed an 8-year ban set to end on 10 May 2024.

International competition record

Personal bests

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

- 47.57 s (2005) *

- 1:43.25 min (2006) *

- 3:29.53 min (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laalou, Amine 1982 births Living people Moroccan male middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Morocco Moroccan sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Morocco Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Morocco Athletes (track and field) at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics IAAF Continental Cup winners Islamic Solidarity Games competitors for Morocco