The death of Mustapha Zekri at the age of 87, after a fight with a serious illness, is a great loss for the Mediterranean sports family but also for the Moroccan sports movement.

Colonel Major Mustapha Zekri was Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee of Morocco, former President of the Royal Moroccan Gymnastics Federation and former member of the ICMG Executive Committee, leaving a great legacy in every position in which he served sports.

He played an important role in the development of gymnastics and sports in Morocco, while his contribution to the cultivation of sports in the Mediterranean basin through the International Committee of Mediterranean Games was particularly important and this was the reason why in 2015 he was awarded with the Order of Merit – the highest ICMG’s distinction to sports personalities – by the former ICMG President Amar Addadi.

Colonel Major Mustapha Zekri, who was a gymnastics champion, among others served as:

• President of the Royal Moroccan Gymnastics Federation for 37 years, from 1975 to 2012.
• Honorary President of the Royal Moroccan Gymnastics Federation since 2016.
• Treasurer, Secretary General and Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Morocco.
• Head of the Moroccan Delegation to the Olympic Games of Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.
• Secretary General of the Moroccan Delegation to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and Vice President of the Moroccan Delegation to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

ICMG President Davide Tizzano and Secretary General Iakovos Filippousis, representing the entire Mediterranean sports family, expressed their condolences in a letter to the National Olympic Committee of Morocco,