El Guerrouj wins Spain’s top sporting award
MADRID: Double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj has been given the 2004 Principe de Asturias prize, Spain's top international sporting honour, the prize foundation announced yesterday.
Moroccan El Guerrouj won both the 1,500 and 5,000m at the Olympic Games in Athens last month to emulate the achievement of Finland's Paavo Nurmi in 1924 and confirm himself as the outstanding middle distance runner of his generation.
Olympic gold had previously eluded the 30-year-old 1,500m and mile world record holder.
He fell at the bell in the final at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and was outsprinted by Kenyan Noah Ngeny four years later in Sydney but he fought back in style to complete his historic double gold medal-winning success at Athens.
“He is an extraordinary sportsman,” said former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who chaired the foundation's jury.
“His success represents the triumph of an athlete who knew how to recover from misfortunes when he seemed to be unable to win medals in the biggest competitions.”
Previous winners of the award for sport include six-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, tennis great Martina Navratilova and athletes Carl Lewis and Sebastian Coe. – Reuters
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