This 23-year-old woman from Sidi Slimane endured several hardships before she could fulfill her dream of becoming a cyclist. Her biggest objective is to win a world championship. Listening to her telling the story of her journey shows that she really has «an incredible destiny», as the Brittany regional daily Le Télégramme recently titled. The story begun ten years ago, in Fatima Zahra El Hayani's hometown of Sidi Slimane (northwest Morocco), when she was on her way to school. Everyday, she used to grab her bike and ride the ten kilometers that separated the school from her home. One day, she had a flat tire and was forced to stop by a garage to have it repaired. «The mechanic didn't have time to repair my wheel so I had to do it on my own», she said. There she made a decisive first encounter: the young woman, now 23, met the son of the president of the Sidi Slimane cycling club in those premises. Impressed by her biking and mechanical skills, he asked her to join the club of this small town, located about sixty kilometers away from Kenitra. Without thinking twice about it, Fatima Zahra El Hayani seized the opportunity: «I was super happy!» Especially since her bike «was a gift from my father as a reward for my good grades at school. It was a normal bike, not meant for competing, but it allowed me to go to school». Decisive meetings This time, she trained in the club with a real racing bike, and ended up signing a contract. Her athleticism and physical condition enabled her to have her first victories - no less than nine medals for the Moroccan flag. All these wins made her one of the best African cyclists, on track and on road. But very quickly, Fatima Zahra El Hayani became disillusioned, as she discovered that the Royal Moroccan Cycling Federation paid little attention to female cyclists: «I never received the sums that went with the medals. I could not afford to continue riding and win nothing in return, at a time when my family was poor and needed me. Despite my title of African champion, the federation abandoned me. I didn't get recognition», she said. Her medals, which she keeps carefully, remind her of how much she had to fight to continue the adventure. The rest of the story takes place 200 km from Sidi Slimane, in Casablanca. One day, accompanied by her trainer, she met the president of the Royal Moroccan Cycling Federation there, a few days before an African championship. Above all, she made a second decisive meeting there with Yann Dejan, then national technical director within the Moroccan federation. «With hard work, nothing is impossible» He also saw her promising sporting abilities and offered to send her to France, to Morbihan (Brittany). With the agreement of her father, Fatima-Zahra El Hayani arrived in December 2018 in the commune of Baud, where Yann Dejan welcomed her into the family home. «He was the one who brought me here because he thought I had everything I needed to succeed in high performance sport. He taught me everything, gave me a chance. He opened all the doors for me to pursue my dream; I owe him a lot. Without him, I could not have continued cycling». Fatima Zahra El Hayani During our interview, Fatima Zahra El Hayani also wanted to acknowledge the support of Nada Tazi, a Moroccan woman who sends her a small sum of money each month to help her support herself. «My family doesn't have a lot of money so I can't ask them to send it to me. Nada Tazi is like a second mother to me. She is one of the good people I have met, who believed in me and trusted me». Since January 2020, the young woman has «gone pro». She signed a professional contract for one year and joined the professional club of Arkéa, where she trains with the women's team. For the moment, she does not yet know whether she will return to Morocco, but one thing is certain: «I want to represent my country in international competitions. I want to put the flag on my back and ride for Morocco. With hard work, nothing is impossible». Nothing impossible, indeed, not even becoming a world champion one day, as she hopes.
