Darouèche's debut at an international athletics competition was at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where he competed in the 400 metres hurdles. He was drawn in heat four, a heat containing eventual bronze medalist Javier Culson. Darouèche ran a time of 53.49 seconds and finished last in his heat. Darouèche ran the slowest time of any athlete in the heat round, although Lankantien Lamboni, Akihiko Nakamura and Takayuki Kishimoto were disqualified. Darouèche was 3.36 seconds slower than the slowest athlete to progress to the semi-final round and, therefore, he was eliminated.