'Dunaway's Worlds'

29 August 2003How good is Hicham El Guerrouj? That's the question on the lips and the lap top of Jim Dunaway, as he presents his daily commentary about events in and around the Stade.

Before the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, I co-wrote an Internet article with Martin Liquori, a 3:52.2 miler who was ranked #1 in the world at 1500m/mile in 1971. Our assignment was to decide who was the top 1500/mile runner of all time.

We decided to limit our choices to the last 50 years of the twentieth century. It's really impossible to compare the John Paul Joneses, Paavo Nurmis, Jack Lovelocks, Glenn Cunninghams and Gunder Haeggs of 1900 to 1950 with more recent runners, because so many things have changed since World War II - shoes, nutrition, money, running tracks and training methods, to name a few.

Some - but not all -- of the runners we considered were (alphabetically): Said Aouita, Seb Coe, Steve Cram, Hicham El Guerrouj, Herb Elliott, Noureddine Morceli, Steve Ovett, Jim Ryun, Peter Snell and John Walker, We based our comparisons on stats, world rankings, world records and major titles won, and tried to factor in the effects of the longer careers possible in the years of professionalism and the fact that the presence of the World Championships has tripled the number of major championships a runner can win.

I don't recall the entire 1-10 in our list of the greatest 1500/mile runners, but I do remember the top two: Herb Elliott and Hicham El Guerrouj. Elliott was picked because of his dominance: he lowered the world records for both distances by more than 2 1/2 seconds, won the 1960 Olympic 1500 in world record time, and was never beaten at the two distances. He may have picked up $10-$20,000 dollars in under-the-table payments over his three-year career, but if he had been running today his career might have lasted a decade, and he'd be a multimillionaire.

We very nearly chose El Guerrouj as Number One - two 1500 metres World Championships (he's won four now), holder of both 1500 and mile records, winner of many more fast races than Elliott ever ran and loser of very few. But we finally decided in favour of Elliott because El Guerrouj had never won an Olympic gold medal - he had tripped in the Atlanta 1,500 final -- but added that if he won in Sydney it would be hard to deny him the top ranking of all time.

But when El Guerrouj didn't win in Sydney, people began to say he had to have a rabbit, which he has had in virtually all his Grand Prix and Golden League races - and that he couldn't win an "honest" race, i.e., one without a pacer to help him. In fact, my next-seat neighbour in the press box here, an Australian who has covered major meets for more than 15 years, was saying exactly that as El G. was running in his 5000m heat this evening a mere day after winning his fourth World 1500m gold medal in convincing fashion, and in the face of a crowd desperate for Mehdi Baala to beat him.

A few hours later, I was having dinner with a well-known former middle-distance runner who himself was a World Championships medallist a few years ago. He said, "El Guerrouj's race last night convinced me. He proved himself the greatest miler who ever lived. Running in front for almost the entire race in a major race and winning it is the toughest thing you can do in 1500 or a mile."

Of course, if El Guerrouj can beat Kenenisa Bekele and two other Ethiopians, plus defending champion Richard Limo and three other Kenyans in the 5000 final on Sunday, he'll strengthen his case to be considered as one of the greatest all-around runners in history.

And if he wins the Olympic 1,500 in Athens next year, he'll have to be ranked as unquestionably the greatest miler of all time.