Hicham El Guerrouj

Hicham El Guerrouj
El Guerrouj
nation	Morocco
birthday	September 14, 1974
place of birth	Berkane ,  Morocco
size	176 cm
Weight	58 kg
Career
discipline	Middle distance run
Best performance	1: 47.18 min ( 800 m ) 3: 26.00 min ( 1500 m ) 12: 50.24 min ( 5000 m )
status	resigned
End of career	2006
Medal table
Olympic games 2 × 1 × 0 × World championships 5 × 2 × 0 × Indoor World Cup 3 × 0 × 0 × Junior World Championship 0 × 0 × 1 ×
Olympic games silver Sydney 2000 1500 m gold Athens 2004 1500 m gold Athens 2004 5000 m  World championships silver Gothenburg 1995 1500 m gold Athens 1997 1500 m gold Seville 1999 1500 m gold Edmonton 2001 1500 m gold Paris 2003 1500 m silver Paris 2003 5000 m  Indoor world championships gold Barcelona 1995 1500 m gold Paris 1997 1500 m gold Lisbon 2001 3000 m Marathon Relay World Championships gold 1994 Litochoro Marathon relay  Junior World Championships bronze Seoul 1992 1500 m

Hicham El Guerrouj ( Arabic هشام الكروج; * September 14, 1974 in Berkane ) is a former Moroccan middle and long distance runner . In 2004 he became double olympic champion with victories over 1500 and 5000 meters .

Career

El Guerrouj won the first international medal at the Junior World Championships in Seoul in 1992 . He won bronze over 5000 meters. With a time of 13: 46.79 min he was separated from the winner Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), who also won the 10,000 meters , by ten seconds.

In 1994 El Guerrouj ran its first international races in the adult class. He became known worldwide for his good performances, his times were always very close to the world record. At the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg he won the silver medal over 1500 meters. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , however, he was only last due to a fall in the final.

El Guerrouj overcame this failure and became world champion over 1500 meters in Athens in 1997 and Seville in 1999 . On July 14, 1998, he broke the world record over 1500 meters (see World Athletics Records ) that had previously been held by Noureddine Morceli (ALG). His time of 3: 26.00 min has not been undercut until today (as of July 2019). In 2001 El Guerrouj came very close to his world record with 3: 26.12 minutes in Brussels.

Before the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , he was the biggest favorite to win the 1500 meters, but he was surprisingly beaten by the Kenyan Noah Ngeny .

The events were repeated: El Guerrouj was again two world champions over 1500 meters, 2001 in Edmonton and 2003 in Paris . This makes him the only 1,500-meter runner who has successfully defended his world title three times in a row. At the 2003 World Championships, he was also second in the 5000 meters.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he was finally able to fulfill his dream and became Olympic champion over 1500 meters, ahead of the Kenyan Bernard Lagat . A few days later, El Guerrouj became Olympic champion for the second time. In the 5000 meter run he won ahead of the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele . He became the first athlete since the Finn Paavo Nurmi in 1924 to win both courses in the same games.

One week before the start of the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 , Hicham El Guerrouj had to cancel his participation due to illness. After he was unable to take part in the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow due to a back injury , he announced his retirement from competitive sports on May 23, 2006. He had not competed since the 2004 Olympics.

Hicham El Guerrouj was 1.76 m tall and weighed 58 kg. He is married to Najwa and has a daughter with her. On November 5, 2006, he started the New York City Marathon as the "noble helper" of Lance Armstrong .

In 2014 he was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame .

Personal bests

• 800 m : 1: 47.18 min, June 2, 1995, Turin
• 1000 m : 2: 16.85 min, July 12, 1995, Nice
• 1500 m : 3: 26.00 min, July 14, 1998, Rome ( world record )
  • Hall: 3: 31.18 min, February 2, 1997, Stuttgart
• 1 mile : 3: 43.13 min, July 7, 1999, Rome ( world record )
  • Hall: 3: 48.45 min, February 12, 1997, Gent
• 2000 m : 4: 44.79 min, September 7, 1999, Berlin ( world record )
• 3000 m : 7: 23.09 min, September 3, 1999, Brussels
  • Hall: 7: 33.73 min, February 23, 2003, Liévin
  • 2 miles : 8: 06.61 min, February 23, 2003, Liévin
• 5000 m : 12: 50.24 min, June 12, 2003, Ostrava

Awards

• 2000: Grand Prix of the Sports Academy ( IOC )
• 2001: "Athlete of the Year" ( IAAF )
• 2004: international " Champion des champions " ( L'Équipe )
• 2005: nominated as World Sportsman of the Year

Web links

Commons : Hicham El Guerrouj  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Hicham El Guerrouj in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Hicham El Guerrouj in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Hicham El Guerrouj's training for the 1997 season