Beatrice Chebet, Soufiane El Bekkali, Femke Bol, Masalela: inaugurate The Rabat Olympic Stadium: A showcase of excellence for high-level athletic performances 8020
The core of the profession in sports is undoubtedly the gesture, the exercise, or the action performed by an athlete or a group of athletes. This achievement is extremely complex due to the numerous factors involved and their relative importance.
The gesture begins with an image the athlete forms of themselves performing it. For this, they need energy, meaning physiological stimulation. They execute a precise movement engaging part or all of their body, which constitutes mechanical solicitation. To perform this gesture, the athlete thinks and exerts mental effort: this is a psychological dimension and stimulation.
Once this process is initiated, the athlete obtains a final image which they evaluate by comparing it to the initial image they had formed of their gesture. This feedback allows them to be satisfied, to question themselves, and to improve their performance.
The gesture is never isolated: it takes place before an audience that appreciates the performance, the achievement, and the result.
While sports regulations impose, besides ethical behavior, dimensions and specificities of playing areas, that is, rules common to all without discrimination. These rules and other standards condition the technical performances of athletes. However, the environment and context: stadium, hall, or competition venue bring other influencing factors on the performance and thus on the outcome.
Among these factors are:
• The type of surface;
• The comfort, visibility, and proximity of spectators;
• Aerodynamic conditions, such as wind exposure;
• Lighting and illumination;
• Acoustics, including sound treatment and crowd noise;
• Visual and material markers on the field for athletes and the audience;
• External climatic factors, depending on whether the infrastructure is enclosed or open;
• Internal climate, depending on ventilation or air conditioning; and so on.
All these elements impact the aforementioned psychological dimension, which in turn influences the physiological and mechanical dimensions, directly affecting the athlete’s performance.
But that’s not all: the type and configuration of a sports facility also generate a particular sociological relationship. The atmospheres vary from one stadium to another. The layout, amenities, and comfort offered influence spectator behavior, and by extension, that of the entire audience. This behavior fosters a specific way of appreciating the athlete’s performance. For example, the proximity between the audience and players plays an important role: close supporters with unobstructed visibility are more empathetic than distant spectators. The nearby supporter better appreciates the effort and becomes more tolerant toward the athlete.
Thus, the employment programs and architecture of a sports facility become an influencing factor on athletes’ performance. A well-studied final configuration is a factor that promotes performance, highlighting the importance of considering these data before any study or proposal for the construction of a sports facility.
These facts were probably taken into account during the design and construction of the Athletics Stadium, known as the Olympic Stadium, built in only 8 months at the Prince Moulay Abdallah Sports Complex, replacing the National Institute of Athletics, erected in the early 1990s, where nearly all of Morocco’s great athletics talents emerged.
This explains the exceptional results achieved during the latest edition of the Mohammed VI Diamond League Meeting in Rabat: three world-leading performances and five meeting records, a remarkable feat.
The 8 minutes 11.49 seconds by Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, the second-best global performance ever in the 3000m, perfectly illustrate the symbiosis between the athlete’s potential and the conditions offered for her to express it. She made history in world athletics. The same applies to the performance of Moroccan champion Soufiane El Bekkali in the 3000m steeplechase, in front of his home crowd and on a track whose qualities he praised. He had never achieved such a performance so early in the season: 8 minutes 00.47 seconds, a very strong time for May, pulling along German Frederick Ruppert, who will never forget his race in Rabat, smashing his country’s record and posting the third-best European performance of all time. He is now a serious contender for a medal at the World Championships planned in Tokyo. The performance of Femke Bol in the women's 400m hurdles is also noteworthy: 52.46 seconds, a heavy-hitting time.
Another notable performance was by Tshesipo Masalela from Botswana, who clocked 1 minute 42.70 seconds. These are just some examples among many outstanding performances achieved for the inauguration of this Moroccan Olympic stadium.
In short, Morocco can be proud of such an accomplishment, which will surely enter the Guinness records, as never before has a sports facility of such scale been completed in so little time, while respecting the required standards and quality.
The President of the African Athletics Confederation and CASOL, the very recent Association of African Olympic Sports Confederations, did not hide his pride, framing this achievement as part of Morocco’s support for the African sports movement in general, and athletics in particular. He recalled that the Kingdom is the only African country to host a Diamond League athletics stage. Naturally, he hopes to see the African Athletics Championships held there soon.
