# 1981 Arab Athletics Championships

The 1981 Arab Athletics Championships was the third edition of the international athletics competition between Arab countries. It took place in Tunis, Tunisia from 21 to 24 August. It was the first occasion that the tournament was hosted in Africa. A total of 39 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 16 for women. The men's 20 kilometres walk was held for the first time – being the first Arab walking championship race since the 1965 Pan Arab Games. The women's programme, following its debut in 1979 with ten events, was greatly expanded. Relays, hurdles, heptathlon and distance events were all opened up to women athletes.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Omar Ghizlat (MAR) | 10.59 | Rashid Al Jirbi (UAE) | 10.62 | Mohamed El Guinzi (MAR) | 10.74 |
| 200 metres | Hassan El Kashief (SUD) | 21.44 | Rashid Al Jirbi (UAE) | 21.66 | Hassen Ali Lafta (IRQ) | 21.89 |
| 400 metres | Hassan El Kashief (SUD) | 45.35 | Amar Brahmia (ALG) | 46.91 | Khalil Ibrahim Salem (UAE) | 47.49 |
| 800 metres | Omer Khalifa (SUD) | 1:48.44 | Amar Brahmia (ALG) | 1:48.97 | Faouzi Lahbi (MAR) | 1:49.25 |
| 1500 metres | Omer Khalifa (SUD) | 3:39.88 | Mehdi Aidet (ALG) | 3:40.02 | Saïd Aouita (MAR) | 3:59.28 |
| 5000 metres | Rachid Habchaoui (ALG) | 13:54.47 | Hassen Babassi (ALG) | 13:56.41 | Féthi Baccouche (TUN) | 13:57.70 |
| 10,000 metres | Rachid Habchaoui (ALG) | 28:56.8 | Ahmed Musa Jouda (SUD) | 28:59.0 | Abdelmajid Mada (ALG) | 29:31.9 |
| 110 metres hurdles | Riad Benhaddad (ALG) | 14.45 | Ahmed Chiboub (MAR) | 14.50 | Hassen Ali Hassen (IRQ) | 14.62 |
| 400 metres hurdles | Ahmed Hamada Jassim (BHR) | 51.83 | Jassem El Yakout (KUW) | 52.09 | Ahmed Chiboub (MAR) | 52.52 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase | Lahcene Babaci (ALG) | 8:32.32 | Féthi Baccouche (TUN) | 8:32.34 | Abderrazak Bounour (ALG) | 8:51.27 |
| 4 × 100 m relay | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 41.30 | Iraq (IRQ) | 41.46 | Qatar (QAT) | 41.59 |
| 4 × 400 m relay | Algeria (ALG) | 3:10.62 | Morocco (MAR) | 3:12.36 | Bahrain (BHR) | 3:15.45 |
| Marathon | Abderrahman Aedh (QAT) | 2:49:13 | Houcine Makni (TUN) | 2:50:52 | Ahmed Alawi (QAT) | 2:55:56 |
| 20 km walk | Benamar Kachkouche (ALG) | 1:41:32 | Abdelwahab Ferguène (ALG) | 1:41:40 | Mohamed El Bouichi Shehoub (LBA) | 2:08:06 |
| High jump | Habib Ali Raban (KSA) | 2.06 m | Hedi Kefah (IRQ) | 2.00 m | Ghazi Saleh Marzouk (KSA) | 2.00 m |
| Pole vault | Mohamed Bensaad (ALG) | 4.60 m | Abdelatif Chekir (TUN) | 4.50 m | Djamel Bouzerar (ALG) | 4.30 m |
| Long jump | Nassir Hassan (IRQ) | 7.25 m | Mehdi Khadum (IRQ) | 7.20 m | Aissa Abbes (KUW) | 6.94 m |
| Triple jump | Nasir Hussein Jassim (IRQ) | 15.61 m | Mehdi Khadum (IRQ) | 15.55 m |
| Shot put | Mohammed Al-Zinkawi (KUW) | 17.25 m | Mohamed Fatihi (MAR) | 16.52 m | Shokr Mahmoud (IRQ) | 16.41 m |
| Discus throw | Abderrazak Ben Hassine (TUN) | 51.46 m | Adnan Houry (SYR) | 49.08 m | Shawki Hajji (IRQ) | 47.40 m |
| Hammer throw | Hakim Toumi (ALG) | 52.43 m | Abdellah Boubekeur (ALG) | 45.44 m | Youssef Ben Abid (TUN) | 52.43 m |
| Javelin throw | Tarek Chaabani (TUN) | 71.50 m | Hany Abd Walid (IRQ) | 71.46 m | Ali Memmi (TUN) | 66.66 m |
| Decathlon | Ahmed Mahour Bacha (ALG) | 7495 pts | Mohamed Bensaad (ALG) | 7366 pts | Abdessatar Mouelhi (TUN) | 6882 pts |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Nawal El Moutawakel (MAR) | 11.86 | Lamia Benkhraba (MAR) | 12.27 | Anouar Abdelmohsen (IRQ) | 12.70 |
| 200 metres | Nawal El Moutawakel (MAR) | 24.30 | Lamia Benkhraba (MAR) | 25.26 | Anouar Abdelmohsen (IRQ) | 25.90 |
| 400 metres | Dalila Baouche (ALG) | 59.12 | Sarra Touibi (TUN) | 59.32 | Samira Letaief (TUN) | 1:01.11 |
| 800 metres | Leïla M'Hamdi (MAR) | 2:10.80 | Rachida Oueslati (TUN) | 2:11.27 | Halima Hidri (TUN) | 2:13.80 |
| 1500 metres | Hassania Darami (MAR) | 4:26.95 | Rachida Oueslati (TUN) | 4:32.71 | Dalila Méhira (ALG) | 4:33.54 |
| 3000 metres | Hassania Darami (MAR) | 9:33.71 | Latifa Dérouiche (TUN) | 10:04.22 | Dalila Méhira (ALG) | 10:09.72 |
| 100 metres hurdles | Chérifa Meskaoui (MAR) | 15.07 | Zahra Azaiez (TUN) | 16.08 | Kawther Akrémi (TUN) | 16.41 |
| 400 metres hurdles | Basma Gharbi (TUN) | 1:04.95 | Sihem Abbès (TUN) | 1:06.39 | Only two finishers | Only two finishers |
| 4 × 100 m relay | Morocco (MAR) | 47.89 | Tunisia (TUN) | 49.81 | Jordan (JOR) | 56.54 |
| 4 × 400 m relay | Morocco (MAR) | 3:51.28 | Tunisia (TUN) | 3:55.83 | Only two finishers | Only two finishers |
| High jump | Kawther Akrémi (TUN) | 1.74 m | Habiba Mosleh (MAR) | 1.66 m | Raya Tatunji (SYR) | 1.63 m |
| Long jump | Dalila Tayebi (ALG) | 5.82 m | Zahra Azaiez (TUN) | 5.75 m | Basma Gharbi (TUN) | 5.37 m |
| Shot put | Chérifa Meskaoui (MAR) | 12.21 m | Souad Malloussi (MAR) | 12.11 m | Fatiha Larab (ALG) | 11.57 m |
| Discus throw | Zoubida Laayouni (MAR) | 49.88 m | Fathia Jerbi (TUN) | 47.70 m | Djamila Aït Dib (ALG) | 44.42 m |
| Javelin throw | Fatiha Belamghar (MAR) | 47.18 m | Nouria Kédideh (ALG) | 44.02 m | Samia Djémaa (ALG) | 42.88 m |
| Heptathlon | Dalila Tayebi (ALG) | 5128 pts | Chérifa Meskaoui (MAR) | 5125 pts | Zahra Azaiez (TUN) | 4675 pts |
* $^{nb}$ A third team, from South Yemen, was disqualified in the women's race 4 × 400 m relay.

## Medal table
### Overall

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Morocco (MAR) | 12 | 9 | 4 | 25 |
| 2 | Algeria (ALG) | 12 | 8 | 8 | 28 |
| 3 | Tunisia (TUN) | 4 | 13 | 10 | 27 |
| 4 | Sudan (SUD) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | Iraq (IRQ) | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 6 | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Kuwait (KUW) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Qatar (QAT) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | Bahrain (BHR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 11 | Jordan (JOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Libya (LBA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Syria (SYR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Lebanon (LIB) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Palestine (PLE) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | South Yemen (YMD) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals (16 entries) | Totals (16 entries) | 39 | 39 | 37 | 115 |

### Men

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Algeria (ALG) | 9 | 7 | 3 | 19 |
| 2 | Sudan (SUD) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | Iraq (IRQ) | 2 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | Tunisia (TUN) | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Morocco (MAR) | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 7 | Kuwait (KUW) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Qatar (QAT) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | Bahrain (BHR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 11 | Libya (LBA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Jordan (JOR) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Lebanon (LIB) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Palestine (PLE) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | South Yemen (YMD) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Syria (SYR) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals (16 entries) | Totals (16 entries) | 23 | 23 | 23 | 69 |

### Women

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Morocco (MAR) | 11 | 5 | 0 | 16 |
| 2 | Algeria (ALG) | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | Tunisia (TUN) | 2 | 10 | 5 | 17 |
| 4 | Iraq (IRQ) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Jordan (JOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Syria (SYR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | South Yemen (YMD) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals (7 entries) | Totals (7 entries) | 16 | 16 | 14 | 46 |