Double Olympic champion El Guerrouj retires
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-23 08:50
CASABLANCA, May 22 - Morocco's Olympic 5,000 and 1,500 metres champion Hicham
El Guerrouj announced his retirement from athletics on Monday.
 "I am quitting competition," a tearful El Guerrouj told a news
conference.
"I hope the authorities and Moroccan athletes will continue to work so
Moroccan athletics continues to be strong," he said.
"I have no willingness or motivation to continue competing. I am quitting
racing to spend more time with my family and focus on my business."
The 31-year-old, considered the greatest 1,500 metres runner in history, has
not competed since the 2004 Athens Games.
He missed last season with a virus and pulled out of March's indoor world
championships in Moscow with a back injury.
"El Guerrouj does not have the form or the strength to train for such a high
level of competition and win. He has to quit the running track," his coach
Abdelkader Kada said.
WIDELY EXPECTED
His retirement was widely expected in Morocco after he told local reporters
in March that he spent sleepless nights pondering his future outside of
athletics.
The Moroccan holds the world record of three minutes 26.0 seconds for the
1,500 and has won the world title over the distance four times. He also has the
world marks for the mile (3:43.13) and 2,000 metres (4:44.79).
"Hicham is a living legend of our sport," Lamine Diack, president of the
sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations,
said in a statement.
"He has brightened up the athletics' world with his excellent performances,
impressed with his elegant running style, and drawn gasps because of his
determination to always push back the boundaries of his own limits.
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