TNT Sports
El Guerrouj retires
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Published 22/05/2006 at 17:13 GMT+1
Hicham El Guerrouj bid farewell to the world of athletics on Monday, after announcing his retirement from top level sport. The three-time world champion and double Olympic gold medallist has called a press conference in Casablanca where he is expected to
Eurosport
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The Moroccan has achieved every goal he had set himself when he decided to become professional athlete.
As a child he was in awe in front of 1500m legend Nourredine Morcelli, and quickly decided he wanted to follow the trail of the Algerian marvel.
After finishing third in the 5000m Junior World Championships in 1992, El Guerrouj opted for a shorter distance, the 1500m, which was far more suited to his ability to accelerate devastatingly away from the field.
He won the 1995 Indoor World Championships in Barcelona before coming runner-up in the Gothenburg World Championships that same year.
The following year was meant to be the year of his Olympic crowning in Atlanta.
Things had started well as the Moroccan was in the lead until the final lap of the final. Unfortunately, he fell and let his hero Morcelli cross the finish line in front once again. El Guerrouj finished 12th and was inconsolable.
But he got back to work straight away and from then on, did not relinquish his stranglehold on global middle-distance racing.
Between 1997 and 2003, he grabbed four world championship golds and in 1998, beat Morcelli's 1500m world record, crossing the line in a scintillating 3:26:00, a mark which remains unbeaten to this day.
In 2000 in Sydney, El Guerrouj again saw his 1500m Olympic dream crash to the floor, as Kenyan Noah Ngeny out-kicked him in the final straight to snatch gold.
He had to wait for the 2004 Athens Games to finally achieve his goal, claiming gold in the 1500m but also in the 5000m to complete a historic double. Later that year, he was appointed a member of the IOC.
El Guerrouj "relieved" at retirement
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