Hicham El Guerrouj
El Guerrouj
Hicham El Guerrouj (Arabic هشام الكروج; born September 14, 1974 in Berkane ) is a Moroccan former middle and long distance runners. In 2004 he was with the victories over 1500 and 5000 meters double Olympic champion.
Career
The first international medal fetched El Guerrouj at the Junior World Championships in 1992 in Seoul. About 5000 meters he took bronze. With a time of 13:46,79 minutes he was on the winner Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia ), who also won the 10,000 meters, distant about ten seconds.
El Guerrouj in 1994 was his first international race in the adult class. He became known worldwide for its good performance, his times were always very close to the world record. At the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, he won over 1500 meters already the silver medal. However, at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, he was only recently due to a fall in the final.
El Guerrouj overcame this failure and was founded in 1997 in Athens and 1999 in Seville world champion over 1,500 meters. On 14 July 1998, he broke the world record in the 1,500 meters (see IAAF World Records ), which had been previously considered Noureddine Morceli ( ALG). His time of 3:26,00 min was still not undercut (as of August 2013). In 2001, El Guerrouj came again in Brussels with 3:26,12 min his world record extremely close.
Prior to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he was considered the greatest favorite to win over 1500 meters, but he was struck by the surprising Kenyans Noah Ngeny.
The events repeated themselves: El Guerrouj was again twice world champion over 1500 meters, 2001 in Edmonton and 2003 in Paris. He is so far the only one 1500 - meter runner who could defend his title successfully three times in succession. In the 2003 World Cup, he was also second over 5000 meters.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he was finally able to fulfill his dream and became Olympic champion in the 1500 meters, before the Kenyan Bernard Lagat. A few days later El Guerrouj was the second time Olympic champion. In the 5000 - meter race he won in front of the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele. He thus became the first athlete since the Finn Paavo Nurmi in 1924, who won both routes at the same games.
A week before the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 due to illness had to cancel his participation Hicham El Guerrouj. After he could not participate in the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006 due to a back injury, he was on 23 May 2006 his retirement from competitive sport known. He had completed no more competition since the 2004 Olympics.
Hicham El Guerrouj had a competition weight of 58 kg at a height of 1.76 m. He is married to Najwa and the couple have a daughter. On November 5, 2006, he competed in the New York City Marathon as " noble helpers" by Lance Armstrong.
Awards
- 2000: Grand Prize of the Academy of Physical Education (IOC )
- 2001: " Athlete of the Year " ( IAAF)
- 2004: international " champion of champions" (L' Équipe )
- 2005: nominated as World Sportsman of the Year