Assia El Hannouni (born 30 May 1981,"Assia El'Hannouni: Courir contre les ombres", Télé 7 Jours, 6 September 2008, p.54 in Dijon)"Le passe de quatre pour Assia El Hannouni" , Direction départementale de la jeunesse et des sports du Val-de-Marne"la femme du jour Assia El Hannouni", L'Humanité, 29 September 2004 is a French track and field athlete who specialises in the 800 metres Paralympic sprint. She has Retinitis pigmentosa which means that she is almost blind, with less than one tenth vision in her left eye, and zero in her right eye. She also runs against athletes without disabilities, in 800m sprint events."Assia El Hannouni, le sens de la course", L'Humanité, 27 June 2007"La Reine Assia", Fédération Française d'Athlétisme
Representing her country at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, she won four gold medals, winning the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m sprints, and breaking the world record in each event."La France vise une soixantaine de médailles", Radio France Internationale, 27 June 2008
She represented France again at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and was the country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony."La France vise une soixantaine de médailles", Radio France Internationale, 27 June 2008"Jeux Paralympiques Pékin 2008 : Assia El Hannouni, porte drapeau de la délégation française", RTL, 27 June 2008 She won silver in the 800m sprint (T13/12) with a time of 2’4’’96,"Paralympiques - Les Français en demi-teinte" , Le petit journal, 10 September 2008"Results - Tuesday 9 September", BBC before winning silver in the 1500m, and gold in both the 200m and 400m sprints.List of French medallists , official website of the 2008 Paralympics
In 2007, she set a new world record in the women's 800 metre sprint in her disability category, with a time of 2’6’’76. The same year, she competed against non-disabled athletes in the 800 metres at the French national indoors championships, finishing fifth."Assia El-Hannouni voit l'avenir en courant", Marianne, 24 February 2008
As of 2007, El Hannouni is studying journalism at the Institut national du sport et de l'éducation physique (National Institute of Sport and Physical Education).
In 2024 she was part of the Summer Paralympics opening ceremony, carrying the torch during its journey from Place de la Concorde to the Paralympics cauldron at the Tuileries Garden.
References
External links