Hicham El Guerrouj on his way to a world 1500m record in Rome in 1998 (© Allsport / Getty Images)
Looking back now, a quarter of a century on, it has every appearance of a performance for the ages.
Hicham El Guerrouj’s 1500m run at the 1998 Golden Gala in Rome had Steve Ovett in a state of animation in the commentary box in the Stadio Olimpico.
“Well, the world record has stood for three years, almost, to [Noureddine] Morceli and he is really driving at it,” said the great Briton – who knew a thing or two about chasing, and breaking, global middle distance marks – as El Guerrouj pulled inexorably clear of his second pacemaker, the youthful Noah Ngeny, down the back straight on the final lap.
“Has he got enough in his legs, this young Moroccan, Hicham El Guerrouj, to pull it off?
“Look at the gap between him and the rest of the world! And they are no mean runners following in his wake.”
As El Guerrouj rounded into the home straight, his form still supremely smooth and majestic, the Kenyan trio of Laban Rotich, John Kibowen and Daniel Komen trailed some 30m behind.
Rotich had finished fourth in the Olympic 1500m final in Atlanta two years previously. Kibowen had become the first ever world cross country short race champion four months earlier, in March 1998. In the preceding two years, Komen had become the first man to run back-to-back sub-four-minute miles, clocked a 7:58.61 world best for two miles, set a 3000m world record of 7:20.67, and won the 5000m world title.
“He really is stretching it out,” continued Ovett. “He’s getting faster and faster down the home straight.
“The world record is 3:27:37. He’s going to blitz it, I am sure. He has…3:26:00!
“My word, what a performance here! We have seen a remarkable run. History has been set.”
History indeed.
Hicham El Guerrouj celebrates next to his world 1500m record figures in Rome in 1998 (© Allsport / Getty Images)
Morceli’s 1500m world record had lasted for two days shy of three years. Ovett’s three world records at the distance stood for six weeks, for three years and a day, and for two years 10 months.
El Guerrouj’s has stood the test of time. And then some. Today, Friday 14 July 2023, marks its 25th anniversary.
In the historical context of men’s middle distance running – in the traditional events of 800m, 1500m and the mile – that is wholly uncharted territory.
The previous longest-surviving men’s 1500m world record was also set by a Moroccan. The 3:29.46 clocked by Said Aouita in Berlin in August 1985 remained intact for seven years and 13 days.
The most enduring men’s 800m record was set by Ovett’s great rival and fellow Briton Sebastian Coe. The two-time Olympic 1500m champion’s epic 1:41.73 in Florence in June 1981 remained intact for 16 years.
At the blue riband distance of the mile, only one man has held the record for a double figure number of years. That is El Guerrouj himself.
Hicham El Guerrouj breaks the world 1500m record in Rome in 1998 (© Allsport / Getty Images)
Jakob Ingebrigtsen and the rest of the latter-day young pretenders have until 7 July next year to prevent the old Moroccan master from savouring another 25-year anniversary celebration.
A year after claiming his first outdoor world record with the 1500m in Rome, El Guerrouj returned to the Stadio Olimipico in 1999 to break Morceli’s near six-year-old mile record of 3:44.39 with a time of 3:43.13.
On that occasion, he was pushed to the line by the rapidly-maturing Ngeny, whose 3:43.40 as runner-up still stands at number two on the world all-time list. The fastest man since that day, El Guerrouj himself aside, is Ingebrigtsen - though the young Norwegian still has to improve a further 3.34 seconds to eclipse that particular mark.
All of which underlines El Guerrouj’s place in the pantheon of middle distance greats.
“You must persevere”
He was born and raised in Berkane in the north-east corner of Morocco, close to the Mediterranean and the Algerian border. “I was lucky,” he said. “I lived close to the sports stadium. I could watch a good level of sport and it fed my dreams.”
Those dreams started to come true in 1992. Five days past his 18th birthday, El Guerrouj made the podium as a 5000m runner at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Seoul, taking bronze behind an Ethiopian by the name of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenya’s Ismael Kirui.
He was only 20 when he graduated to global champion at senior level, winning the world indoor 1500m title in Barcelona in 1995, and following up that year with a 1500m silver medal behind Morceli at the outdoor world championships in Gothenburg.
El Guerrouj’s hopes of beating the Algerian to Olympic gold in Atlanta came crashing down when he fell to the track just before the bell in the 1500m final.
Hicham El Guerrouj falls in the 1996 Olympic 1500m final in Atlanta (© Getty Images)
As he wept uncontrollably in the stadium tunnel, someone handed him a mobile phone. King Hassan II was on the line. "Do not cry," the monarch told him. "You are a champion in the eyes of Moroccan people. Forget about this. You must persevere.”
And persevere he did. El Guerrouj obtained a framed picture of him crying in Atlanta and hung it on his bedroom wall. Over the next four years, he lost just once.
“After the call from His Majesty, it was another El Guerrouj who was born,” he reflected in later years. “There was no similarity to the El Guerrouj before that call and the one after.”
Indeed. The tall, willowy Moroccan proceeded to win four successive world outdoor 1500m titles: in Athens in 1997, in Seville in 1999, in Edmonton in 2001 and in Paris in 2003.
Hicham El Guerrouj wins his first World Championships gold medal in Athens 1997 (© Getty Images)
He also retained his world indoor 1500m title in Paris in 1997, won world indoor 3000m gold in Lisbon in 2003 and took world outdoor 5000m silver in an epic three-way tussle with the victorious 18-year-old Eliud Kipchoge and the third-placed Kenenisa Bekele in 2003.
“I was thinking of Paavo Nurmi”
His crowning glory came at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Having fallen in Atlanta in 1996 and been agonisingly overhauled by the fast-finishing Ngeny in Sydney in 2000, El Guerrouj was a man very much on a mission in the ancient cradle of the Games.
Six weeks short of his 30th birthday, he was caught by Bernard Lagat 50m from the finish in the 1500m final but managed to dig deep, draw level and summon a Midas touch in the Olympic arena. He edged home by 0.12.
Cue scenes of unbridled joy.
El Guerrouj dropped to the ground and kissed the track, then clasped his hands to his face and wept tears of redemption. He kissed Lagat and kissed his coach, Abdelkader Kada.
Hicham El Guerrouj and Bernard Lagat celebrate winning gold and silver in Athens (© Getty Images)
Then he made for the front row of the stands and plucked his daughter from the crowd. Hiba – "gift of God" – was three months old. She was smothered in kisses by her delirious father.
The sound of Zorba's Dance blasted over the public address system. El Guerrouj jigged to the quickening bouzouki beat.
"I am finally complete," he said, still swathed in his country's flag in the bowels of the stadium. "This is the greatest day of my life. I feel like a baby.
"When Lagat came past, I simply did not want to lose. In Sydney I trained too hard and ran out of gas. This time I had something extra. Now I will go for more glory in the 5000m."
Four days later, El Guerrouj sprinted past Bekele off the final bend to take gold in the 5000m to secure a place in the record books alongside Paavo Nurmi. Only the finest of all the "Flying Finns" had previously completed the Olympic 1500m and 5000m double - on the Stade Colombes track in Paris in 1924.
"When I came to the stadium, I was thinking of Paavo Nurmi,” El Guerrouj confided. “He was a great legend. He made history in his time.
"I was telling myself: 'This is a great day for you. If you want to get this medal, do it.' I have always dreamed of being an Olympic champion and now I have done it twice.”
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage
