Seltana Aït Hammou (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: سلطانة آيت حمو; born 21 May 1980) is a Moroccan

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than 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 classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

who specialises in the

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 ...

. She represented her country at 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), ...

and has also competed at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

and the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

. She has also been the gold medallist at number of major events including the

2001 Mediterranean Games The XIV Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 2001), commonly known as the 2001 Mediterranean Games, were the 14th Mediterranean Games held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 2-15 September 2001, where 2,991 athletes ( ...

, the 2003 Military World Games, the

2007 Pan Arab Games The 11th Pan Arab Games took place in Cairo, Egypt from 11 – 26 November 2007. A total of 22 countries participated in 32 events. These games were the largest in the games' history; seven new events were introduced and 2000 more athletes partici ...

and the

2009 Jeux de la Francophonie The 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie (''6th Francophone Games''), was an international multi-sport event held from 27 September to 6 October in Beirut, Lebanon. Organization The organization of the Jeux de la Francophonie is entrusted by the local a ...

. She received a one-year ban from the sport of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

in 2008 for missing three doping tests. She is the sister of Mina Aït Hammou, another successful Moroccan middle-distance athlete.

Career

Born in

Kenitra Kenitra ( ar, القُنَيْطَرَة, , , ; ber, ⵇⵏⵉⵟⵔⴰ, Qniṭra; french: Kénitra) is a city in north western Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey from 1932 to 1956. It is a port on the Sebou River, Sebou river, has a popul ...

, she made her first international appearance for Morocco at the

1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 21/22, 1998. The races were held at the Menara district in Marrakech, Morocco. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAAF. ...

, where she was sixtieth in the long race. She was twelfth in the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

at the

1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 1998 edition of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Annecy, France from July 28 to August 2. Results Men 1 Ahmed Baday of Morocco originally won the bronze medal ...

and competed in the junior race at the

1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on 27 and 28 March 1999. The races were held at the Barnett Demesne/ Queen's University Playing Fields in Belfast, United Kingdom. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Tim ...

.Aït Hammou Seltana

IAAF 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 ...

. Retrieved on 2010-07-26. He first junior honours came at the

1999 African Junior Athletics Championships The 1999 African Junior Athletics Championships was the fourth edition of the biennial, continental athletics tournament for African athletes aged 19 years or younger. It was held in Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note ...

, at which she won 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 ...

silver behind

Jeruto Kiptum Jeruto Kiptum Kiptubi (born 12 December 1981) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She was born in 1981 in Metkei, Keiyo District. She studied at the Singore Girls Secondary School in Iten, like ...

. She convinced her older sister Mina Aït Hammou to switch from

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

to athletics, which led to much success for the pair. The younger Seltana was the first to win international medals as she became the 800 m champion at the

. The following year she took fifth place at the

2002 African Championships in Athletics The 13th African Championships in Athletics were held in Tunis and Radès, Tunisia in August, 2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her d ...

and won the 800 m gold and

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 ...

silver medal at the 2002

Africa Military Games The Africa Military Games (french: Jeux Africains Militaires) was a multi-sport event for military athletes in Africa. The one-off event was held under the auspices of the International Military Sports Council (CISM) and, its sister group, the Org ...

. Aït Hammou competed on the world track stage for the first time 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 ...

, and she came close to reaching the 800 m final, finishing third in her semi-final (in which her sister won and went on to take fourth in the final). She closed the year at the 2003 Military World Games and became the 800 m gold medallist at the event. Her first major indoor competition came in the form of the

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were re ...

and she reached the semi-finals, finishing fifth. Her first Olympics also came that year at the

2004 Athens 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), ...

and she again reached the global level semi-finals, but she and her sister suffered the same fate of being eliminated at that stage. Her other large competition that year was 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 ...

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, where she 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 ...

. She ran at the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

, failing to make it past the heats, but she scored an 800/1500 m double at the

2005 Jeux de la Francophonie The 2005 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''Ves Jeux de la Francophonie'', ( French for ''Francophone Games'') were held from December 7–17, 2005 in Niamey, Niger. Events Sports Cultural Medal count Total Participation There were a ...

at the end of the year. Aït Hammou won the 1500 m

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 ...

at the

, and also joined her sister in the Moroccan team to win the silver in the 4×400 metres relay. After being eliminated in the semi-finals at the

2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008. Bid Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, R ...

she was preparing to compete 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 ...

. This was not to be, however, as both she and her sister were banned from competition by the

for missing three out of competition doping tests between June 2007 and May 2008, resulting in a year-long ban from the sport. She returned at the end of the 2009 season and competed at the

. She won the 800 m gold and also took 1500 m bronze in a closely run Moroccan sweep of the event, with Btissam Lakhouad and

Siham Hilali Siham Hilali (born 2 May 1986 in Khouribga) is a female middle distance runner Morocco who specializes in the 1500 metres. Achievements Personal bests Outdoor * 800 metres – 2:02.04 min (2011) * 1500 metres – 4:01.33 min (2011) * 3000 metr ...

the other medallists.Livre de résultats – Athlétisme
.

(2009). Retrieved on 2010-07-26.

Personal bests

* All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ait Hammou, Seltana 1980 births Living people Moroccan female middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Morocco Moroccan sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics People from Kenitra World Athletics Championships athletes for Morocco Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Morocco Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2001 Mediterranean Games 20th-century Moroccan women 20th-century Moroccan people 21st-century Moroccan women 21st-century Moroccan people

Career

Personal bests

See also

References

External links