The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA sprinter has Olympic hopes
Moroccan native Hossam Hatib is close to qualifying in the 400.
In high school in Morocco, University of Georgia sprinter Hossam Hatib competed in mixed martial arts. He has scars on the bridge of his nose and four fake teeth, permanent marks from that passion. But when he ran an impressive time in the 80-meter dash in gym class, a teacher pointed him in a different direction.
Now, Hatib aims to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games — in only his fourth year of competitive running.
He could become one of the few Olympic sprinters to represent Morocco. He set Morocco’s national 400-meter indoor record in February with a time of 46.44 seconds.
Sprinters must run faster than 45 seconds in the 400 to be eligible for the Paris Olympics. His fastest time this outdoor season is 45.74.
“I think that’s the easiest part,” Hatib said of meeting the Olympic standard, “because I know I’m in the best 400 program in the country.”
His next chance comes at the SEC outdoor championships, which start today in Gainesville, Florida. The NCAA outdoors are June 5-8.
At UGA, Hatib trains alongside Christopher Morales Williams, a sophomore from Canada who set a world-indoor best in the 400 in February, running 44.49 at the SEC Indoor finals
“We have the same mindset when we’re training: We’re running through the line,” Morales Williams said. “It’s good to have someone to push me when I get tired, and I push him when he gets tired.”
Beginning in 2020, Hatib would travel 45 minutes to the track and practice with the Achbal Marrakech track club in Marrakesh. In a country whose running tradition is rooted in distance events, he had only two teammates. Of 38 Moroccan runners who competed at the past two Olympics, just one competed in a sprinting
event.
“Morocco is not a sprinter country,” Hatib said he was told when he first started training in the 400. “I was like, ‘No, that’s the event that I want, and it’s the event that I’m going to achieve my dreams in.’”
Hatib connected with fellow Moroccan runner Mehdi Yanouri on Instagram, sending Yanouri his times through direct messages. Yanouri, then a distance runner for South Plains College, a junior college in Levelland, Texas, spoke with assistant coach Wes Miller after seeing Hatib’s strong times.
South Plains offered Hatib an athletic scholarship. He committed and ran with Yanouri for a year, and the two bonded over their Arabic culture.
“I was translating for Hossam in Arabic because his first couple days, he didn’t understand some of the workouts and had to get adjusted to everything. But he’s a quick learner, so in a week or two, he was already catching on,” Yanouri said.
Knowing someone who spoke Arabic made everything easier for Hatib because he did not start studying English until he arrived at South Plains. English is the fourth language in Morocco, after Moroccan Arabic, French and Berber.
Yanouri transferred to Oklahoma State for the 2023 indoor season, and Hatib transferred to Georgia a year later.
While at South Plains, Hatib helped lead the school to the 2023 NJCAA outdoor championship, their eighth title in 10 seasons. He won the 600-meter race and was part of the winning 4x400-meter relay team.
Hatib had offers from LSU, Texas and Alabama, and had not considered running for the Bulldogs until a friend pitched it to him. When he looked for a contact, he noticed the name of an assistant coach was Arabic. This intrigued Hatib and he reached out to sprints coach Karim Abdel Wahab.
“He gave me his number, we’d been talking,” Hatib said. “After a week, I was like, ‘That’s my place.’”
Similar to his relationship with Yanouri at South Plains, it helped to know someone who spoke Arabic in an athletic setting. Hatib had developed his English skills for four semesters at South Plains, and Wahab helps Hatib communicate and feel comfortable.
“I shared with him how we treat people in Georgia, that everybody is a first-class citizen here. There is no difference between anybody, and he will be supported and developed at the highest level and we’ll help him get his degree,” Wahab said.
Hatib sees the possibility of the Olympics on the horizon. When he set the Moroccan national record, he surpassed the previous record of 46.81, set in 1993 by Benyounes Lahlou. Lahlou finished eighth in the 800 at the 1996 Olympics.