Hicham
El Guerrouj heads Moroccan team for Lisbon
Mohammed Benchrif (MAP)
28 February 2001 - 1500m World champion and world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj will head the Moroccan team which has been selected to compete in next week’s World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal (9-11 March).
El Guerrouj, who has won two World indoor titles - in Barcelona 1995 and Paris 1997 - and two outdoor World titles - in Athens 1997 and Seville 1999 - at 1500m will be aiming to capture the World indoor crown for 3000m in Lisbon, his coach Abdelkader Kada said.
If the 3000m is a straight final and the heats cancelled, El Guerrouj may then also compete in the 1500m, distance over which he holds the world indoor record at 3:31.18 since 2 February 1997.
El Guerrouj did not compete in the last edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Maebashi two years ago, where the only Moroccan to medal was Zahra Ouaziz, runner up behind Gabriela Szabo in the 3000m. Ouaziz will not be competing in Lisbon as she is not yet fully recovered from the surgery she underwent on her left ankle last summer.
El Guerrouj has competed in two indoor meetings so far this year. In Gent, where he clocked the year’s best performance and second best ever over the two miles race, and in Liévin where he easily won the 1500m in 3:37.20.
El Guerrouj will be accompanied at the start of the 1500m by Youssef Baba, the African 1500m champion and Sydney Olympic finalist, and 1998 World Junior Champion Adil El Kaouch, who will also be attempting the 1500m-3000m double in Lisbon.
Youssef Baba’s most recent performances include third place finishes over 1500m in Birmingham, where he set a new personal best of 3:36.89, and at 2000m in Lievin (4:58.93).
As for Said Berrioui, 6th in the 10,000m final in Sydney, he will race over 3000m and attempt to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Moroccan athlete Said Aouita who won the race and the title in 1989 in Budapest.
Morocco will be represented in the field events with long jumper Younés Moudrik, 8th at the World Championships in Seville 1999, and African champion and record holder with 8.34m.
Moudrik set a new indoor national record with 8.02m at the meeting in Erfurt (Germany) where he had been undergoing a training course over the previous six weeks.
With the only Moroccan medallist (silver at 3000m) at the previous World Indoor Championships Zahra Ouziz out of action, the women’s team hopes will be pinned on rising star Hasna Benhassi, African and Mediterranean Games champion over 800m, who finished fifth at the distance in Maebashi 1999, and the 10,000m Arab champion Asmae Laghzaoui, who will be lining up for the 3000m
Hasana Benhassi, who will probably start the 1500m in Lisbon, was second behind Gabriela Szabo (ROM) over 1500m in Dortmund, and was the winner of the 800m in 1:59.86 in Birmingham, ahead of another Olympic winner Mozambican Maria Mutola.
At previous editions of the World Indoor Championships Morocco has obtained a total of 9 medals, three gold, three silver and three bronze.
The gold medallists include Said Aouita (3000m) in Budapest
1989, and Hicham El Guerrouj (1500m) in Barcelona 1995 and Paris 1997.
Hammou Boutayeb (3000m) in Seville in 1991, Mahjoub Haida (800m) in 1997 and Zahra Ouaziz
in 1999 in Maebashi won the silver medals.
Bronze went to Faouzi Lahbi for the 800m in Indianapolis (USA) in 1987, Brahim Jebbour
(3000m) in Barcelona in 1995 and Smail Sghir (3000m) in 1997.
The Moroccan team for Lisbon
Men:
1500m: Hicham El Guerrouj, Youssef Baba and (Adil El Kaouch)
3000m: Hicham El Guerrouj, Said Berrioui and (Adil El Kaouch)
Long jump: Younés Moudrik
Women:
800m: Hasna Benhassi
1500m: Hasna Benhasi
3000m: Asmae Laghzaoui.