My Sportsman Choice: Hicham El Guerrouj

By Richard O'Brien

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How much can one race mean?

The look on Hicham El Guerrouj's face as he crossed the finish line of the Olympic 1,500 meter final in Athens provided a glorious answer to that question: One race can mean everything. The 29-year-old El Guerrouj, a national hero in his native Morocco, already owned one of the most glittering résumés in track and field -- with four world championships and world records in the 1,500 and the mile, El G (his sport's answer to J-Lo and A-Rod) was widely acknowledged as the greatest miler of all time. Yet twice before he had gone to the line in the Olympics and twice before, when seemingly poised for victory, he had come up short.

At the start of the last lap of the 1,500 in Atlanta, El Guerrouj, just 21 but already heir apparent to world record holder Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, was poised to pass Morceli for the lead when their legs tangled and El Guerrouj tumbled to the track. Morceli went on to win; El Guerrouj finished dead last. Sobbing in a tunnel under the stadium, he took a cell phone call from King Hassan II. "For the Moroccan people, you are the Olympic champion," the king told El Guerrouj. "Do not feel under pressure. Forget about this."

Right. For the next four years El Guerrouj kept a framed, full-page newspaper photograph of his Atlanta finish in his bedroom, even as he racked up world titles and world records.

Then came Sydney. Crushed by the weight of expectations ("When I arrived here today, I was crying and my coach had to calm me down," he would reveal), El G ran a poor tactical race, losing by .25 seconds to Kenya's Noah Ngeny, a man he had beaten in all 12 of their previous encounters. Again reduced to tears, El Guerrouj said, "I have lived with this dream for four years and it lies in tatters at my feet."

Though he soon got those feet moving again -- winning the 1,500 at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships -- he almost didn't make it to Athens. Allergy-induced asthma interfered with his training in the spring, and in his first race of the summer he finished eighth in a meet in Rome.

In the end he fought himself into shape and there he was, sprinting down the final straightaway of the 1,500, shoulder-to-shoulder with another Kenyan, Bernard Lagat, a man who had edged him in a close race in Zurich just before the Games. Lagat inched ahead with 40 meters left, but with a supreme final effort El Guerrouj regained the lead and held off Lagat at the wire. And there was the look, a wide-eyed mix of relief and joy and a kind of wonder. Burying his face in his hands and sobbing, he fell to his knees on the track, where he was embraced by Lagat.

"He was only missing one thing: Olympic gold," said Lagat. "I was really happy for him. You know he's deserving and he got it today."

And, then, after a decade spent chasing his first gold, El G waited barely five days before seizing his second. With a blistering kick, he outran world record holder Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and reigning world champ Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya to win the 5,000 meters -- becoming the first runner since the legendary Paavo Nurmi in 1924 to take a 1,500-5,000 Olympic double.

When asked what's next for history's greatest middle-distance runner (Did anyone ask Shakespeare "What's next?" after he finished Hamlet), El G replied, "I can't decide now. Always I find great pleasure in running. I never gave up, even with the difficulties. Maybe next year I will defend my [world] title, if God wants it, and I also have the 5,000 meter world record to beat."

Whatever comes next year or beyond for this most humble and human of great champions, the award of Sportsman of the Year would be a most fitting cap to this one.

Sports Illustrated will announce the 2004 Sportsman of the Year winner on FOX on November 28. Check back every weekday until then to read more Sportsman picks from SI writers.