Oregon daily emerald., May 24, 2002, Page 5C, Image 25

Jonathan House Emerald
World record holder Hicham El Guerrouj crosses the finish line at the 2001 Pre Classic, where he became the first man to run a sub-3:5G
mile on U.S. soil. At this year’s Pre, he said his would like to break his own world record of 3:43.13, which he set in 1999.
‘El G’
promises more
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Hicham El Guerrouj.
Learn the name. Remem
ber the name. Cherish
the name.
If that’s too difficult, just go
watch him run. You’ll surely re
member his name then.
As a encore to the fastest mile
ever run in the United States, El
Guerrouj — a native of Morocco
who has been called the greatest
middle-distance runner ever —
returns to the Prefontaine Classic
on Sunday looking to break the
record he set in the 2001 Pre
Classic.
“I’d like to promise the crowd
that I’ll be back next year to break
the world record,” El Guerrouj
said after last year’s event at Hay
ward Field, where he ran the first
sub-3:50 mile on American soil.
He finished the Bowerman Mile
in 3:49.92.
During his first trip to Eugene —
just his second race in the United
States — “El G” said he was sur
prised by the attention and affec
tion he received. While visiting the
Nike store downtown, he was ap
proached by a young girl who had
a scrapbook of newspaper clipping
from his races. El Guerrouj said he
was touched that the kiss he gave
the girl brought tears to her eyes.
“All the people that come and
see me are so passionate that it
makes me want to be at my best,”
he wrote in his diary on the Inter
national Association of Athletic
Federation Web site.
“It is with great pleasure that I
am coming back to Hayward
Field,” he said. “I have to admit
that I was not sure last year when I
decided to make the trip to Eu
gene, but I was very surprised with
the track and field knowledge of
the crowd there.”
Tom Jordan, director of the Pre
Classic, said El Guerrouj agreed
to participate in the 2001 IAAF
Grand Prix event because Nike, El
Guerrouj’s sponsor, asked him
to come.
“It is with great pleasure
that I am coming back to
Hayward Field.... I was
very surprised with the
track and field knowledge
of the crowd there.”
Hicham El Guerrouj
‘King of the Mile’
“Nike really wanted him to
come, and he was doing it as a fa
vor to them,” Jordan said. “Now,
he really wants to come back.”
El Guerrouj, 27, holds the world
record in the mile with a time of
3:43.13, which he set in Italy in
1999 soon after having hemorrhoid
surgery. He holds the world record
in the 1,500 (3:26) and the 2,000
(4:44.79), was a silver medalist in
the 2000 Olympics, and has won
six world championships in in
door and outdoor events.
“I want to be the strongest in the
Turn to El Guerrouj, page 9C
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