Hicham El Guerrouj knew what was at stake Saturday. It was not only first place in a race, but a place among the immortals of his sport.
When he woke up from a nap and headed to Olympic Stadium for the final of the 5,000 meters, El Guerrouj said, “To leave your mark in history, to have people look at you like a legend, you have to win this race.”
The Moroccan had won the 1,500 Tuesday, exorcising eight years of Olympic demons in the metric mile. That was the event he had dominated since his first of four straight world titles, at Athens in 1997.
In the 5,000, an event he has run infrequently, El Guerrouj was the underdog to Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya.
Bekele had set a 5,000 world record of 12 minutes 37.35 seconds earlier this year. Kipchoge had beaten El Guerrouj in the final straightaway at last year’s world championships.
After the 1,500, a friend in France sent El Guerrouj a message saying: “Athens discovered a prince in 1997. It is going to pay homage to a king in 2004.”
El Guerrouj today reigns over Olympic middle-distance races as only one man ever has. He joined Finland’s Paavo Nurmi as a winner of both the 1,500 and 5,000 in the same Olympics.
Nurmi did that in Paris in 1924, when the competition came from a few European countries and the United States. The 15 runners in Saturday’s 5,000 final came from four continents, including 12 runners from five African nations that did not exist independently until the last 50 years.
“I can’t fathom what [El Guerrouj] did,” said Craig Masback, chief executive officer of USA Track and Field and a one-time elite miler. “For the guy to come back not only after victory in one event but the emotion of the victory is incredible.”
It helped El Guerrouj that the others played into his hands by not pushing the pace. He realized that when the time at 800 meters was a dawdling 2:24.
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“I said to myself then, `Hicham, you are going to win,”‘ he said. “They made a big error. Their strength is a fast rhythm. Mine is the finish.”
With 400 meters to go, El Guerrouj was slightly behind Bekele, who had won the 10,000 meters eight days ago, and Kipchoge. The Moroccan’s kick immediately disposed of the Kenyan.
With 50 meters to go in a final lap he ran in 52.73, El Guerrouj passed Bekele and went on to win in 13:14.39, a time that does not even rank among fastest 15 in Olympic history. The Olympic record is 13:05.49, set in 1984 by another Moroccan, Said Aouita.
Bekele was second in 13:14.59, Kipchoge third in 13:15.10 and Peoria’s Tim Broe 11th in 13:33.06.
“Of course I feared Bekele because he is young (22) and has great talent,” said El Guerrouj, two weeks from turning 30. “But I was very strong mentally, even after the big race I had in the 1,500.”
El Guerrouj, father of a young daughter, has little left to prove in the sport. But he already has set a new goal.
“My challenge this year was to win the double,” he said. “Next year it will be to break the 5,000 world record.”
And for 2008, at the Beijing Olympics?
“Maybe to run the 10,000 against Bekele,” he said, smiling.
Britain’s Kelly Holmes matched El Guerrouj as the only athletes to win two individual track events. Holmes, 34, also won with a big kick in the 1,500, where her time of 3:57.90 was a British record and the sixth fastest in Olympic history. She earlier had won the 800.
“For the last seven years, I have had loads of injuries and brought home only silvers and bronzes,” Holmes said. “Now I had an injury-free year, and look what has happened.”
Holmes matched the 800-1,500 double that had been done twice before, by Russians Svetlana Masterkova in 1996 and Tatyana Kazankina in 1976.
“The 800 was a total shock, and today has just blown me away,” Holmes said.