Word: guerrouj
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...much what he does to the clock that defines El Guerrouj. It is the apparent ease with which he turbines energy down through his heart, lungs and legs onto the track. Like a Menuhin or a Matisse, El Guerrouj is the consummate artist who makes the end product look as simple as a tune-up or a rough draft. That was certainly the impression he left with those of us lucky enough to see him run the 1,500 m at the world championships in Seville last year. He crossed the line slowing down to a 3:27.65 clocking, blowing...
...country of Lilliputians," says one of them, Brahim Boulami, a 3,000-m steeplechaser. "Hicham for us is like NASA and Boeing are for the U.S. It is good to be first in the world at something." The Gulliver he is talking about is Hicham El Guerrouj, the man who is first in the world at one of the toughest of all human challenges: running the mile and its Olympic counterpart...
...Moroccans' view of their world-record holder over both distances may be suffused with national pride, but the outstanding middle-distance athletes who have gone before El Guerrouj don't dispute the praise. "He's the best I've seen by a long way," says Sebastian Coe, now Lord Coe, who along with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram traded the mile record between 1979 and 1985. Their reign fell to Africa in 1993, when Algeria's Noureddine Morceli sheared almost 2 sec. from Cram's eight-year-old record...
Then in Rome last year El Guerrouj made that staggering run pale when he peeled the mythical mark down to 3 min. 43.13 sec., almost 1 1/2 sec. faster than Morceli's time. El Guerrouj would have finished roughly 110 m ahead of Roger Bannister, had the first man to break the 4-min.-mile barrier been time-transported to Rome from chilly 1954 England...
Another man who should know said of El Guerrouj last month, "The main thought I have about Hicham is his economy of movement, the way in which he is able to move his legs without any hint of strain or overstriding." The expert in question is Bannister, now 71. A meeting with him was one of the enticements for El Guerrouj to run at a meet in London. (Yes, of course he won. He hasn't been beaten over the 1,500 m or the mile since...