Mixed emotions on day’s eight and nine of the Rio Olympics, with Taoufik Makhloufi being the main figure, as he makes the final of the men’s 800 metres.

Rowing:

On day eight, our rowers Sid Boudina and Amina Rouba were the first to compete in their respective events in the finals of the single sculls. Sid Boudina came 5th in the finals with a time of 7:06.64. Amina Rouba finishes 3rd in the women’s single sculls rowing, with a time of 7:46.55. We congratulate them for their great participation in the olympics.

Athletics:

The men’s 800 metres semi-finals was a late event for many in Europe and Algeria, with Taoufik Makhloufi being the first to race at 2:08 AM. Alegria’s man of the moment, Makhloufi ran a time of 1:43.85, which means he will be in the race for the medals on the 16th of August.

Yassine Hathat came very close to making the final, unfortunately, he narrowly missed out as his time of 1:44.81 was the 10th fastest and he needed to be in the top 8 to proceed.

Great effort from Amine Belferar, who made it into the semi-finals, but unfortunately he could not finish in the top three and went out of the 800m.

Souad Ait Salem and Kenza Dahmani were competing for gold in the women’s marathon. Well done to both for taking part especially Kenza Dahmani who finished 50th out of 157 with a time of 2:38:37 [133 finished the race]. Souad Aït Salem could not finish the race, but the participation is what counts.

Amina Bettiche finished 18th in heat 2 of the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase with a  time of 10:26.91.

Weightlifting:

Fatima-Zohra Bouchra, only 15 years old, came 7th in the 75kg Group B contest, having lifted 192kg.

Boxing:

Our flag bearer in London 2012, Adelhafid Benchabla, was up against Great Britain’s Joshua Buatsi. Either of the boxers would have been guaranteed at least a bronze medal, depending on who came out on top. But it wasn’t to be for the experience Algerian boxer, ranked sixth, as the young Buatsi won 30-26 on a unanimous decision.