Amine Laâlou (born 13 May 1982) is a Moroccan track and field athlete, who specializes in middle-distance running. He has represented his country at the Summer Olympics on two occasions; in 2004 and 2008. He began his career as an 800 metres specialist and made his global debut at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. He won medals at smaller international competitions, including the 2004 Pan Arab Games and 2005 Mediterranean Games. He reached his first global final at the 2007 World Championships, taking sixth, and was a semi-finalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He began competing in the 1500 metres and was a double finalist at the 2009 World Championships. He also won gold medals at the 2009 Mediterranean Games and 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie that year. In 2010 he won silver at the 2010 African Championships and was the 1500 m champion at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup. His personal best over the 800 m is 1:43.25, which is the Moroccan record for the event. Career Born in Salé, Laâlou started his international track career competing at the younger levels, running over 800 m at the inaugural World Youth Championships in 1999 and reaching the semi-finals at the 2000 World Junior Championships. He won the silver medal at the 2001 African Junior Championships and made the 800 m semi-finals of the senior event at the 2002 African Championships. He made his senior debut on the global stage at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, although he did not progress beyond the heats stage. He came close to winning a medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championships but he missed out after coming fourth in the 800 m behind Brazil's Osmar dos Santos. He improved his personal best to 1:43.68 at the Weltklasse Zürich meeting prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics. He did not build on this form on his Olympic debut, however, as he was eliminated in his semi-final and finished in seventh place. Laâlou qualified for the 2004 IAAF World Athletics Final but again finished in seventh place. He closed his season on a high note as he reached the podium twice at the 2004 Pan Arab Games a month later, winning the bronze medal over 800 m and anchoring home the Moroccan 4×400 metres relay team to the silver medal behind Saudi Arabia. The buildup to his 2005 outdoor season began with a gold medal