View source for Khalid Skah

{{short description|Moroccan long-distance runner}}
{{MedalTableTop
|image=KhaledskahLondres2012.png
|imagesize=200
|caption=Skah in London in 2012
|sport=Men's [[Athletics (sport)|Athletics]]|country_code=MAR|medals=
{{Medal|Competition|[[Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Barcelona]]|[[Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 m]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[IAAF World Championships in Athletics|World Championships]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|[[1995 World Championships in Athletics|1995 Gothenburg]]|[[1995 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 m]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[1991 World Championships in Athletics|1991 Tokyo]]|[[1991 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 m]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Mediterranean Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1993 Mediterranean Games|1993 Narbonne]] | 10,000 m}}
}}

'''Khalid Skah''' ({{langx|ar|خالد سكاح}}) (born 29 January 1967) is a [[Morocco|Moroccan]] [[track and field]] athlete, winner of the [[Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 metres at the 1992 Summer Olympics]].

Born in [[Midelt]], Morocco, Skah established himself first as a good [[cross country runner]] by winning the [[IAAF World Cross Country Championships]] in 1990 and 1991.

==Racing career==
===1991 World Championships===
His first major tournament on track was the [[1991 World Championships in Athletics|1991 World Championships]] where he first won a bronze in 10,000 m and then finished sixth at the 5000 m run. This was a disappointing outcome for Skah as, earlier in the season, he had won the 10000 m race in Oslo against a very strong field and had emerged as one of the favourites for the finals in Tokyo. However, for the 10 000 m final [[Richard Chelimo]] and the eventual world champion, [[Moses Tanui]] (both of Kenya), employed some very elaborate tactics and worked as a team.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/aug/29/guardianobituaries.athletics |title=Richard Chelimo: Athlete who narrowly missed out on Olympic gold |first=Pete |last=Nichols |date=29 August 2001 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> By the time of the 5000 m final Skah was probably tired. [[Yobes Ondieki]] of Kenya, who won the gold medal in the 5000 m, had expected Skah to be his major rival.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

===1992 Olympics===
The following year, at the [[1992 Summer Olympics|Barcelona Olympics]], Skah met Chelimo again.  With three laps remaining in the 10,000 m final, the two athletes were clear and battling for the gold medal.  At this point the pair came to lap another Moroccan athlete, [[Hammou Boutayeb]], who stayed with the leaders even after being lapped. The rules state that a lapped runner cannot "assist" another runner but, although Boutayeb's actions were interpreted as unsportsmanlike by the crowd, it was not certain that there was  collusion. Nevertheless Skah gained advantage, Chelimo was disadvantaged. These events incensed the [[Spaniards|Spanish]] crowd, and the [[Swedes|Swedish]] track judge Carl-Gustav Tollemar attempted to stop Boutayeb.<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="independent">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics--barcelona-1992-athletics-kenyan-outcry-over-skahs-reinstatement-1538331.html |title=Kenyan outcry over Skah's reinstatement |first=Mike |last=Rowbottom |work=The Independent |date=5 August 1992}}</ref>

Skah sprinted ahead of Chelimo in the final 150 m to claim victory, but was immediately disqualified, prompting cheers from the crowd. For about 14 hours, Chelimo was the Olympic champion. However, the Moroccan team appealed, and by the next morning, Skah was reinstated. The jury of appeal ruled that rule 143.2, which prohibited assistance, lacked a defined penalty, which rendered it effectively unenforceable. At the medal ceremony, Skah was met with boos, while the crowd reserved their applause for Chelimo.<ref name="independent2">{{Cite news |date=1992-08-05 |title=OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Athletics: Kenyan outcry over Skah's reinstatement |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics--barcelona-1992-athletics-kenyan-outcry-over-skahs-reinstatement-1538331.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925225313/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics--barcelona-1992-athletics-kenyan-outcry-over-skahs-reinstatement-1538331.html |archive-date=2015-09-25 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="guardian2">{{Cite web |date=29 August 2001 |title=Obituary: Richard Chelimo |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/aug/29/guardianobituaries.athletics |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

===Other races===
In 1993 Skah won the 5000 m race at [[Weltklasse Zürich]]. However, he finished fifth in 5000 m at the [[1993 World Championships in Athletics|1993 World Championships]]. He ran his only [[world record]] in [[two miles|2 miles]] (8:12.17) in the same season. He won the [[1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships|1994 World Semi-Marathon Championships]] and finished second in 10,000 m at the [[1995 World Championships in Athletics|1995 World Championships]].

Skah's last major international meet was the [[1996 Summer Olympics]], where he [[Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|finished seventh in the 10 000 m]]. In 1995, Skah was given Norwegian citizenship, where he lived and trained with athletes club [[IL i BUL|B.U.L]]. After that, the Moroccan Athletics Association banned him from international competitions. Skah was reinstated in 2001, after which he tried a comeback to re-establish himself as one of the world's best [[long-distance runner]]s, finishing tenth in the [[2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships|World Half Marathon Championships that year]].

== Personal life ==
In June 2013, Skah was arrested at Orly Airport in Paris following an [[extradition]] request from [[Norway]], where he was sought for alleged child abduction. Skah had been engaged in a long-running [[Child custody|custody dispute]] with his Norwegian ex-wife, Anne Cecilie Hopstock, over their two children, Tarik and Selma. The case escalated into a diplomatic controversy after Norway admitted to assisting the children in leaving Morocco. In 2009, the teenagers reportedly fled their father’s home, seeking help from the Norwegian embassy in Rabat. They were sheltered at the ambassador’s residence before being smuggled out of the country on a yacht to Spain. While Norway confirmed that one of its diplomats had hidden the children, it denied official involvement in their escape, stating that two special forces members who aided them were off duty at the time. Morocco accused Norwegian officials of violating the [[Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations]] and called for legal action. Meanwhile, both Skah and Hopstock had been granted custody in their respective countries, though by 2013, the children were legal adults.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-06-20 |title=France holds Olympic champion Khalid Skah in custody row |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22985402 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat|Khalid Skah}}
{{World Athletics}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box|before=[[Saïd Aouita]]|title=[[3000 metres#Men.27s Seasons Best|Men's 3,000 m Best Year Performance]]|years=1990|after=[[Dieter Baumann]]}}
{{succession box|title=[[Zevenheuvelenloop|Men's Zevenheuvelenloop Winner (15 km)]]|before=[[Carl Thackery]]|after=[[Haile Gebrselassie]]|years=1993}}
{{s-end}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 10000 m Men}}
{{Footer Mediterranean Champions 10000m Men}}
{{Footer IAAF World Cup Champions 10000m Men}}
{{Footer IAAF World Cross Champions Men}}
{{Footer World Half Marathon Champions Men}}
{{Footer African Champions men's 10,000 metres}}
{{Footer WBYP 3000m Men}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skah, Khalid}}
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:People from Midelt]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Drâa-Tafilalet]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Moroccan men long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Moroccan men marathon runners]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for Morocco]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Morocco]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for Morocco]]
[[Category:World Athletics Championships medalists]]
[[Category:Fugitives wanted on kidnapping charges]]
[[Category:Fugitives wanted by Norway]]
[[Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in France]]
[[Category:Moroccan people imprisoned abroad]]
[[Category:World Athletics Cross Country Championships winners]]
[[Category:World Athletics Half Marathon Championships winners]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Morocco]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1993 Mediterranean Games]]
[[Category:Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:20th-century Moroccan sportsmen]]
[[Category:21st-century Moroccan people]]