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Hicham El Guerrouj
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Hicham El Guerrouj (born September 14, 1974, Berkane) is a Moroccan former middle distance runner. He is the world record holder for the 1500 metres (3:26.00), the mile (3:43.13) and the outdoor 2000 metres (4:44.79), and a double Olympic gold medalist. He has been nicknamed "King of the Mile".
It is said that he became interested in racing as a child after being inspired by countryman Said Aouita's win in the 5000 meters during the 1984 Olympics.
His sporting career is marked by numerous recognitions such as the award to humanitarian effort from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which he received in 1996.
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Encyclopedia
Hicham El Guerrouj (born September 14, 1974, Berkane) is a Moroccan former middle distance runner. He is the world record holder for the 1500 metres (3:26.00), the mile (3:43.13) and the outdoor 2000 metres (4:44.79), and a double Olympic gold medalist. He has been nicknamed "King of the Mile".
It is said that he became interested in racing as a child after being inspired by countryman Said Aouita's win in the 5000 meters during the 1984 Olympics.
His sporting career is marked by numerous recognitions such as the award to humanitarian effort from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which he received in 1996. He is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. El Guerrouj was named best athlete of the year by the IAAF in 2001 and 2002 after remaining unbeaten in more than 20 races and thus becoming the first man to win athlete of the year titles in consecutive years. Also, in 2002, he was chosen, together with the British athlete Paula Radcliffe, best athlete of the year by the prestigious athletics journal Track and Field News. In 2003, he was also top of the world athletics list and was elected as a member of the IAAF Athletes Committee.
Having failed to win an Olympic title in 1996 and 2000, despite being one of the favourite on both occasions, EL Guerrouj became the first man in 80 years to win both the 1500m and 5000m at the 2004 Summer Olympics. On September 7, 2004, El Guerrouj was decorated with the "Cordon de Commandeur" by King Mohammed VI of Morocco. In the same year, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Awards.
He is a member of the International Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission.
History
Hicham El Guerrouj's first international triumph arrived in 1992, when he was 3rd (13:46.79) in the 5000 metres of the 1992 Junior World Championships in Seoul, while Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia won the race and the 10000m.
In 1994, he was a member of the Moroccan team in the 1994 IAAF World Road Relay Championships. He ran his 5000m leg in time of 13:43, and his Moroccan team won the race with the world record (1:57:56).
He rose to international prominence in the mid-1990s with near-record times in the 1500 metres and mile. At the age of only 20 he finished second over 1500 metres (3:35.28) at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg behind Noureddine Morceli(3:33.73). In 1996 July 8, after setting a new personal best over 1500 metres in 3:29.59 in Stockholm, he was considered one of the favourites for Olympic gold.
1996 Atlanta Olympics - 1999 Season
However, on August 3 at the 1996 Summer Olympics, El Guerrouj fell down on the track with 400m to go, finished 12th (3:40.75), and left the stadium with tear-filled eyes. In that race, El Guerrouj, at 22, had been tipped to challenge the Algerian Noureddine Morceli, the world record holder at that time and three-time (1991, 1993 and 1995) World champion. He moved out of the pack, glided past Spain’s Fermin Cacho, the 1500m winner of 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and onto leading Morceli’s shoulder. But as they approached the bell, El Guerrouj’s left foot knocked against Morceli’s right foot. The Algerian stumbled but survived, while El Guerrouj was sent tumbling. He picked himself up to finish, but came home last, shattered and devastated.
Just one month later, in 1996 September 7, El Guerrouj became the first runner to defeat Morceli over 1500m for four years when the two met at the Grand Prix final in Milan.
During his peak competitive years, El Guerrouj's training regimen closely mirrored a sprinter, almost at 98% anaerobic training due to his superior aerobic capacity built up over years of long runs.
In the following years, El Guerrouj became the only middle distance runner to win four consecutive world titles in 1997
, 1999
, 2001, and 2003
.
At an athletics meeting in Rome in 1998, El Guerrouj broke Morceli's 1500 m world record (3:27.37) with a new world record of 3:26.00.
In 1999 July 7, in Rome, El Guerrouj broke the world record in the mile set by Noureddine Morceli in 1993, recording a remarkable 3:43.13 and just edging out Noah Ngeny of Kenya, who also was under the old standard with a 3:43.40. In the September 1999 issue of Track & Field News magazine, Swedish statistician A. Lennart Julin said, "This is probably the all-time masterpiece of an even-paced mile," as El Guerrouj ran his two half-miles in 1:51.58 and 1:51.55. His 400 meter splits were 55.2, 56.0, 55.8, and 54.9. In what the magazine called "A Mile For the Ages", this remarkably deep race (15th place was a 3:53.64) was the first time in over 40 years that two men had broken the world record, dating back to 1958 when Australians Herb Elliott (3:54.5) and Merv Lincoln (3:55.9) both broke Derek Ibbotson's mark of 3:57.2.
Later in that season he set a new world record over 2000m in Berlin at 4:44.79, shattering the previous mark (set by Morceli) by more than three seconds. (This astonishing mark is the equivalent of a 3:49 for the mile plus another lap at 55 second pace.) He also ran the second fastest 3000 m ever when clocking 7:23.09 in Brussels in 1999.
2000 Sydney Olympics - 2003 Season
At the Sydney Olympics, El Guerrouj, the world record holder and two-time world champion at 1500m (in 1997 and 1999) finished second in the 1500 metres, being outkicked by Noah Ngeny. Ngeny was a Kenyan runner who ran as El Guerrouj's pacemaker when El Guerrouj made 1500m world record in Rome in 1998, and who set the current 1000m world record in 1999.
Despite his Sydney defeat, Hicham El Guerrouj continued to defend his 1500m title in the 2001 and 2003 World Championships.
Hicham El Guerrouj came close to breaking his own 1500 m record in Brussels in 2001 with a time of 3:26.12. He also won 3 consecutive IAAF Golden League prizes in 2001, 2002 and 2003. He was the only middle distance athlete to achieve the win streak necessary to be entitled for a share of the jackpot of 50 kilograms (1,608 troy ounces) of gold (2000–2002) or USD 1 million (1998–1999, 2003–present). Indeed, he is the only athlete to have won it three times in a row.
In 2003, El Guerrouj added the 5000 to his competitive efforts as he recorded a personal best of 12:50.24 in Ostrava, finishing second to Stephen Cherono of Kenya. Later in the year, at the World Track & Field Championships, he finished a close second to Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge in the 5000 meters, adding a silver to the gold he had previously won in the 1,500 meters.
2004 Athens Olympics
After a rough start to the season that included slow times and a badly beaten 8th place finish in a 1500 meter race in Rome on July 2nd, El Guerrouj ended up winning the gold medal in both the 1500 metres and 5000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Only 20 days before the Olympic final, 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Bernard Lagat ran the fastest (3:27.40) 1500m in 2004, narrowly defeating El Guerrouj(3.27.64) at the Weltklasse Zürich meet on August 6. This put an end to El Guerrouj's seven times winning streak in Zurich between 1996 and 2003 (including the meet record of 3:26.45 in 1998).
However, on August 24th, in the Olympic 1500m final in Athens, El Guerrouj managed to hold off the hard charging Lagat, winning the gold medal (3:34.18) by running a stunning 1:46.7 last 800 meters. His last lap was a scintillating 51.9, which just managed to outkick Lagat by 0.12 seconds (3:34.30).
Four days later, on 2004 August 28, the 1500m winner El Guerrouj and the 10000m winner Kenenisa Bekele met in the 5,000m final. El Guerrouj waited behind Bekele until the home straightaway where he sprinted away for a 13:14.39 win thwarting the challenges of Bekele (2nd, 13:14.59) and Eliud Kipchoge (3rd, 13:15.10), and prevented Bekele from achieving the 5000m/10000m distance double, last achieved by Ethiopian Miruts Yifter in 1980 Moscow Olympics.
With this victory, El Guerrouj became then the first man in 80 years to win both 1500m and 5000m races in the same Olympics, after the "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi in 1924.
Having turned 30, finally achieving the 1500m Olympic gold, and finding motivation to continue competing lacking, his long eight year reign over 1500m came to an end. During the peak of his career, it is noteworthy that other Moroccan runners, like Adil Kaouch or Youssef Baba had helped him to consolidate his achievements by running as his pacemakers.
After the Olympics, he never again competed internationally, watching the 2005 World Championships from the stands in Helsinki as his 1500 meter World Champion title passed to Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain.
On May 22, 2006, El Guerrouj officially announced his retirement.
Winning the Olympics double
For the decade prior to 2004, Hicham El Guerrouj had been seeking an Olympic gold medal. He collided with Algeria's Noureddine Morceli, who went to win the gold medal, at the last lap in Atlanta's 1500 m final before finishing 12th. Between Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, he lost only one race before he was outsprinted by Noah Ngeny of Kenya.
El Guerrouj's last chance for an Olympic gold came in Athens 2004. He ended eight years of agony as he won the elusive Olympic men's 1,500 and 5,000 metres gold medals. The 1500 race was especially remarkable in that El Guerrouj was caught and passed in the final straightaway, something that runners almost never recover from, but he was able to summon up an extra reserve and re-pass for the victory.
After winning the 1,500 metres medal, he said:
- "Its amazing to think that in Sydney I was crying tears of sadness and here I am crying tears of joy. I'm like a five year-old with a toy."
- "I felt Lagat coming again and again. At one point I thought this was Sydney all over again. He kept coming back at me like an avalanche but when Lagat closed on me for the last time I just found that extra energy."
After winning the 5,000 metres medal, making history as Paavo Nurmi of Finland had done in 1924, he said:
- "Paavo Nurmi is a great legend. He is one of the athletes who marked history. He left his name at his point in time. Now, I’m able to put my name with his. He is from another time, a time when my grandfather was watching him. To stand alongside him now, how can I express it? There are no words."
- "Maybe I will defend my title at the World championships next year. This year my objective was to win both races at the Olympics in Athens, which is the birthplace of the sport and my ‘birthplace’ as an athlete. Next year I will move onto the next stage and try to break the 5000 m world record. Who knows? Maybe I will be there in 2008 after all, racing against Bekele again at the marathon."
Personal bests
| Distance | Mark | Date | Location |
|---|
| 800m | 1:42.70 | | | 1000m | 2:16.85 | 1999-07-12 | Nice | | 1500m | 3:26.00 | 1998-07-14 | Rome | | Mile | 3:43.13 | 1999-07-07 | Rome | | 2000m | 4:44.79 | 1999-09-07 | Berlin | | 3000m | 7:23.09 | 1999-09-03 | Brussels | | 5000m | 12:50.24 | 2003-03-12 | Ostrava |
- El Guerrouj also ran an unofficial 1:42.70 for the 800 m in a time trial
- In the 2004 Olympics 1500, El Guerrouj's closing 800 meters were run in 1:46.7
Titles
1500 m
See also
External links
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