Hicham El Guerrouj

Hicham El Guerrouj (born September 14, 1974, Berkane, Morocco) is a world record setting middle distance athlete and credited by some as the greatest middle-distance runner of all time as well as the "King of the Mile". He has now moved up to compete in long distance events. In the next athletics season in 2005, he plans to better Kenenisa Bekele's world record of 12min.37sec in the 5000m.

Winning the Olympics double

For the past decade, Hicham El Guerrouj had been seeking an Olympic gold medal. He collided with Algeria's Nourredine Morceli, who went to win the gold medal, at the last lap in Atlanta's 1500m final before finishing 12th. Between Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, he lost only one race before he was outsprinted by Noah Ngeny of Kenya.

Related Topics:
Olympic gold medal - Algeria's - Nourredine Morceli - Atlanta's - Sydney 2000 - Noah Ngeny - Kenya

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Justice for El Guerrouj had to be made 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.

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After winning the 1,500 metres medal, he said:

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• "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 after Paavo Nurmi of Finland did the same in 1924, he said:

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• "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 I can I express it? There are no words."
• "Maybe I will defend my title at the World champonships 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 5000m world record. Who knows? Maybe I will be there in 2008 after all, racing against Bekele again at 10,000m."