Kim Gevaert and Hicham El Guerrouj on a street car named Memorial van Damme, 2007 version (© Ivo Hendrix)
Moroccan middle distance legend Hicham El Guerrouj was the guest of honour at today’s press conference for the Memorial Van Damme meeting, the Brussels leg of the IAAF Golden League 2007.
The retired double Olympic champion and World 1500m record holder has been designated as an ambassador for the meeting to be held on 14 September 2007. Coincidentally, the day is also El Guerrouj’s 33rd birthday!
“I will blow out two candles then”, said the Moroccan, “a big one for the 31st anniversary of the Brussels Golden League and a small one for my birthday.”
The ambassador of Belgian athletics and of Belgian sports was also present, double European outdoor sprint champion Kim Gevaert, who discussed her race schedule for the summer and her ambitions for 2007.
Close friendship, fond memories for the Memorial Van Damme
“I have two good reasons to promote the Brussels Golden League meeting”, said El Guerrouj.
“I competed 10 times here in Brussels and I won eight of those races. I have a lot of very good memories, not the least of them the audience that has always given me their massive support."
"Secondly, throughout the years I have developed a friendship with the organising committee and especially with (meeting director) Wilfried Meert. To me, the Brussels Golden League is the best meeting in the world and a big feast of sports."
El Guerrouj’s record at the Brussels meeting was highlighted by three breathtaking 1500m races. In 1997, the Moroccan won a duel against Venuste Nyongabo, with both finishing in under 3:30, and in 2003 when Frenchman Mehdi Baala followed in the slipstream of the Moroccan and was only beaten in a tough sprint finish, 3:28.40 to 3.28.98, a national record for Baala. But the 2001 duel between El Guerrouj and Bernard Lagat was a true piece of track history, one El Guerrouj remembers very well.
“We were running at World record pace and Lagat stayed on my shoulder all the time. When we entered the finishing straight, Lagat accelerated and tried to pass me. I absolutely did not want to lose this race and eventually lose my World record as well. I dug very deep and fortunately, I managed to win. I was so relieved that I did not push anymore in the final five metres of the race. When I saw the time of 3:26.12, I realised that I could have broken my World record in that thrilling race. Lagat ran 3:26.34 and those are still the second and the third best all-time 1500m performances.”
El Guerrouj won six 1500m races in Brussels, all of them finishing sub-3:30, right to the measure of the man who is the greatest 1500m runner in history. But the other memory that is still very much on his mind is his World record attempt at 3000m in 1999.
“I was inside Daniel Komen’s fabulous record until the last lap of the race. I completely cracked with 600m to go and in the ultimate 200m I dropped completely out of World record reach. But, looking back, I’m still proud that I ran 7:23.09, still the second best all-time 3000m performance.”
Youth, development and values are key objectives in post-competitive life
Life is easygoing now for El Guerrouj. After he quit competition in 2005, he took 18 months off to recover and to reflect on his plans for the future.
“I have a clear idea now of what I want to do,” he said. “I realised that I have two families: my own family and the family of athletics and sports. I want to share the emotions and the joy that athletics has given to me with the new generations of athletes. Sports is a means for development and a school of values. In Morocco, 60% of the population is younger than 30 - we have to build a future for them. When I was 14, I had a dream of becoming an athlete, I worked hard for it and I suffered a lot, but it was all worth it. I want to give back to the sports what sports has given to me”.
El Guerrouj is also a Board Member of the Academy of Sports in Qatar and he is a member of the Athletes Committee of the International Olympic Committee. “I want to dedicate more time and effort to these kinds of responsibilities in the future.”
No comeback announcement!
“You did not come to Brussels to announce your comeback to the track?”, a journalist asked.
El Guerrouj burst out laughing. “Since I retired from sports in 2005, I did not put one step on the track. I’m just training for fun now. To run a 10K in 45 minutes is already a hard enough effort for me now. But I have always loved to run and I still do. I’m in love with running and running is my life.” He said that he also plays football with friends, and occasionally hits the links for a game of golf. “I don’t want to gain weight, you know.”
Nor will he insist upon continuing in the sport vicariously through his young daughter, Hiba, who is now three.
“I will not push her into competitive running,” he said. “Every child has their talents and I would like Hiba to develop hers, whether it is a talent for sports, for culture or for any intellectual ambition. But she grows up in a sporting family and she is curious about her father’s career.”
Gevaert prepared for a cracking season
She looked bright and shining, the Belgian sprint queen Kim Gevaert, and said she is healthy and on schedule with her progress in training.
“Recent training camps in Stellenbosch (South Africa) and in Tenerife proved to be very productive,” said Gevaert. “Next Saturday I will run a national 400m race and my first World Athletics Tour competition will be in Hengelo on 26 May. My aim this year is to reach World Championship finals in the 100m, the 200m and in the sprint relay with the Belgian team. In the 200m, I want to do better than my 7th place in Helsinki in 2005.
“I feel stronger than I’ve ever been before,” Gevaert continued, “and I’m confident as well after winning European titles outdoors and indoors in 2006 and 2007. I look forward to going to Osaka. I’ve never visited Japan before and I hope that the World Championships will be exciting and successful for me.”
Brussels Public Transport strengthens partnership
The press conference was held in the Brussels Tramway Museum, and not without good reason.
“The Brussels Public Transport Company has strengthened its partnership with the Brussels Golden League”, said Meert. “Trams and buses will not only carry the meeting’s advertising, as they already did before.
Click below for 2006 story -
A street car named Memorial van Damme – IAAF Golden League
This year, all Brussels GL ticket holders can travel free on the Brussels public transport network to the King Baudouin stadium. We hope to reduce traffic jams in doing so.”
Ivo Hendrix for the IAAF