Hasna Benhassi

Hasna Benhassi

180px Hasna Benhassi (on the left) in Osaka 2007 with Janeth Jepkosgei and Mayte Martínez.
Medal record
Women's Athletics
Representing Morocco
Olympic Games
	2004 Athens	800 m
	2008 Beijing	800 m
World Championships
	2005 Helsinki	800 m
	2007 Osaka	800 m
World Indoor Championships
	2001 Lisbon	1,500 m
Mediterranean Games
	1997 Bari	800 m

Hasna Benhassi (Arabic: حسنة بنحسي‎‎; born June 1, 1978 in Marrakesh) is a Moroccan middle-distance runner.

She first came to international prominence at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, winning a surprise silver medal behind Kelly Holmes. She repeated this feat by winning silver at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland. At the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka she cemented her place as a perennial bridesmaid with another silver medal. She added another Olympic medal to her impressive resume with a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Benhassi is most noted for her strong finishing kick. She tends to sit back in the pack in the early stages of a race, and begin making her move only midway through the final lap. Often she successfully comes over the top of runners down the stretch, passing rivals to earn important medals. It is also her possible weakness as she often leaves herself just too much ground to make up to catch the gold medal.

In 2005, Benhassi was selected as the best sportsperson in Morocco by a survey conducted by the Moroccan Radio among 43 press institutions.

References

• Hasna Benhassi profile at IAAF
• Profile at the official 2008 Beijing Olympics website