Mourad Laachraoui
Medal record
Men's taekwondo
Representing  Belgium
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2016 Montreux -54 kg

Mourad Laachraoui (born 31 March 1995) is a Belgian taekwondo practitioner. He won a gold medal at the 2016 European Taekwondo Championships.

Career

Laachraoui won bronze medals at the Dutch and Belgian Open events in 2013.[1]

In 2015 Laachraoui won a silver medal in the finweight class at the Summer Universiade games after losing to Iran's Armin Hadipour Seighalani in the final.[1][2] He finished fifth in the men's finweight at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships.[2] He also won gold medals at the Israel, Fujairah and Alexandria Open tournaments and bronze medals at the Bosnia, Luxor and Swiss Opens.[1]

He won a gold medal in the 2016 European Taekwondo Championships held in Montreux, Switzerland. In the final of the −54 kg division he defeated 18-year-old Spanish fighter Jesús Tortosa 6–3 to win the tournament.[3] After his victory the Flemish taekwondo federation dubbed him "Europe's king of the lightweights".[4]

Laachraoui may be selected to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil[5] but he wasn't. The quota place for Belgian team in the men's 58 kg was originally earned by Si Mohamed Ketbi via his world ranking position. However, Ketbi has struggled to maintain his weight and was unable to compete at the European Championships.[6][7] The Belgian Taewkondo Federation is yet to decide between the three candidates that met the standard of being in the top 20 of the global Olympic 58 kg rankings; Laachraoui, ranked 15th, Ketbi, ranked 6th, and Salaheddine Bensaleh, ranked 18, are all eligible[8] but Ketbi went in the end.

Personal life

Laachraoui was born on 31 March 1995.[2] His brother Najim Laachraoui was a terrorist confirmed to be one of the two suicide bombers at the Brussels Airport in the 2016 Brussels bombings.[9] At a press conference following the bombings Mourad Laachraoui said that he was "scared and saddened" by what his brother had done and that "you don't choose your family."[3] He did not have contact with his brother for years before the attack.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Laachraoui, Mourad". Taekwondo Data. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mourad Laachraoui". Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Mourad Laachraoui: Suicide bomber's brother wins European gold". BBC Sport. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  4. ↑ Blenkinsop, Philip (21 May 2016). "Brother of Brussels suicide bomber set for Rio Olympics". Reuters. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Brother of Brussels bomber wins European taekwondo title". Yahoo Sports. AFP. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Vande Weyer, Philippe (16 January 2016). "Ketbi or not Ketbi ? Le taekwondo belge est divisé". Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "Brengt gewicht olympische medaillekandidaat Ketbi in de problemen?". Sporza (in Dutch). 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Zaccardi, Nick (21 May 2016). "Brussels bomber's brother could compete in Olympics". NBC Sports. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Lilia Blaise; Aurelien Breeden (25 March 2016). "Najim Laachraoui, 24, Bomb Maker for Paris and Brussels Attacks". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
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