Moroccan Athletics Federation sacks Aouita

Moroccan Royal Athletics Federation (FRMA) dismisses former 5000m Olympic champion Said Aouita as its technical director just seven months after signing a four-year contract.

FRMA Vice-President Abdennebi Selighane said: "Aouita breached his commitments to the organisation due to recent media outbursts in which he criticised the national athletics authority.

"He expressed a desire to leave the management body and not accompany the Moroccan team to the World Cross Country Championships in Jordan."

Aouita told Magharebia.com he had not expected the FRMA's reaction when he merely expressed his opinion regarding the obstacles impeding his work as technical director.

He alluded to his working environment and said that he had refused to allow his work to be interfered with. The Moroccan athletics legend recently claimed that his work for the Moroccan Athletics Federation was being affected by a "strained" working climate and clashes with some senior officials.

"On Wednesday, I was planning to travel to Ifrane to help our athletes prepare for the World Cross Country Championships in Amman scheduled for March 28th, but then I was summoned to a meeting and told that my contract was being cut short," Aouita commented.

He noted that the Federation had not taken kindly to his recent statements, which he claimed were an accurate reflection of the situation.

Aouita also said he wanted to set the record straight. In his view, the creation of the Training Directorate, a new management body within the Federation, had undermined his powers as chief technical director.

"By the end I was merely a symbolic technical director," he added.