Morhad Amdouni was born 21 June 1988 in Porto Vecchio, Corsica, the French Island to the west of Sardinia. As a youngster in Morhad played soccer at a high level as a midfielder and his job was to guard against the opposing number 10 player, which he did very well - so well in fact that most matches ended in fights, bloody noses, broken teeth, etc:
He started running age 13 after following a cousin to the local running club. He progressed rapidly, and won the French cross country champs enabling him to run in Euro Champs where he won the Euro Junior Cross in 2007 followed by the Euro 5000 in 2007.
He then received his training to become a certified plumber after leaving school, Plumbers in France can receive a good salary - up to 2000 euros per month:
He moved to Paris a few years later, training at the National Training Center (INSEP). **Then started a cycle of injuries which blighted his career for several years. He had run 7,37,50 back in 2009 in a top class 3000 in Paris, beating slellar runners like Leonard Komon and Chris Solinsky.
During the injury blighted years, he found a job as a school activities coordinator.
Many were surprised by his winning the Euro 10,000 in Berlin last year, and 3rd in the 5000 - but the advantage of Morhad Amdouni is that he is able to obtain top form with just a few months of running:
Personal bests - 1.47.20(2015), 3.34.05 (2015), 7.37.50(2009), 13.11.18 (2017) (indoors), 13.14.19 (2009) (outdoors), 27.36.80 (2018),
20km road - 59.19
Ghost in China