It’s the small gestures that often give you insight into people. People like Taoufik Makhloufi, who, fresh from his 1500 meter Olympic gold in London, smilingly pointed to the name of his country on his T-shirt, lightly kissing it. Or again, one time he was interviewed by a US TV channel as he’d just run a race and was still by the side of the track – a competing runner suddenly doubled up behind him, out of breath, and the Algerian excused himself, interrupted the interview and checked on the guy.
In Rio 2016, his double silver for Algeria (800 and 1500) has already made history – also because Taoufik’s time for the former, 1:42.61, made Algeria’s national record (on top of another NR Taoufik scored on July 1st last year, at the Stanislas Meeting in France: 2:13.08 in the 1000m). This 28-year-old with the dazzling, endearing smile is a national hero in his home country: darling of the local media, Algerians love his outspoken simplicity. Taoufik is “un fils de Souk Ahras” who’s able to run against the tide, keep away from power and call a spade a spade. We’ve known him for years and have become very fond of him.
When we asked Mario Scerri, Human Tecar founder and CEO, to tell us more about Taoufik, he gave us some precious behind-the-scenes tidbits: “The first time I met Taoufik was at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, in 2009, exactly 7 years before Rio. It was August then, too. Taoufik had turned 21 shortly before, he’d barely started his career. That’s when he got to know us, and has never abandoned the Human Tecar MO since. I remember at the time, he was hardly more than a kid and had not yet won any medal. I can still see him at the Nike athletes’ service hub, our therapists were treating all these gold and silver medalists and Taoufik looked so shy and disoriented. When his turn for treatment came, he seemed surprised at being treated exactly like the A-listers.
Over the years, a truly great relationship has developed between him and Human Tecar. Beyond and above his numerous personal and professional qualities, he possesses a rare virtue: an exceptional awareness of his tool, i.e. his body. No tiny detail of our treatment and its effect on his physical condition is lost on Taoufik. For sure, this athlete reaped the benefits of the Human Tecar MO thanks to Human Tecar – yet conversely, the MO worked that much better thanks to Taoufik. The fact is, he works closely with the physiotherapists, allowing them to attune treatment to his exact physical condition at any given point in time.
Human Tecar is not a method you apply indiscriminately: every protocol is tailored to a given athlete at a given moment, and the athlete’s feedback is extremely useful as it allows us to personalize muscular recovery sessions to the max – ultimately, rendering treatment as effective as possible. In Taoufik’s case in Rio, there was a lot of pressure on him: one evening, he completed his 800m race and had to qualify for the 1500m the morning after. When he got his medals, he came to us before anyone else and shared his joy and gratitude. I can sincerely say we were truly very happy both for Taoufik and his country, whose friendship with Italy is an extra bonus to us. We’re going to continue to support him and wish him many more years of great results. He deserves them.”
