Hicham El Guerrouj.
Learn the name. Remember the name. Cherish the name.
If that’s too difficult, just go watch him run. You’ll surely remember his name then.
As a encore to the fastest mile ever run in the United States, El Guerrouj — a native of Morocco who has been called the greatest middle-distance runner ever —
returns to the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday looking to break the record he set in the 2001 Pre Classic.
“I’d like to promise the crowd that I’ll be back next year to break the world record,” El Guerrouj said after last year’s event at Hayward Field, where he ran the first sub-3:50 mile on American soil. He finished the Bowerman Mile in 3:49.92.
During his first trip to Eugene — just his second race in the United States — “El G” said he was surprised by the attention and affection he received. While visiting the Nike store downtown, he was approached by a young girl who had a scrapbook of newspaper clipping from his races. El Guerrouj said he was touched that the kiss he gave the girl brought tears to her eyes.
“All the people that come and see me are so passionate that it makes me want to be at my best,” he wrote in his diary on the International Association of Athletic Federation Web site.
“It is with great pleasure that I am coming back to Hayward Field,” he said. “I have to admit that I was not sure last year when I decided to make the trip to Eugene, but I was very surprised with the track and field knowledge of the crowd there.”
Tom Jordan, director of the Pre Classic, said El Guerrouj agreed to participate in the 2001 IAAF Grand Prix event because Nike, El Guerrouj’s sponsor, asked him
to come.
“Nike really wanted him to come, and he was doing it as a favor to them,” Jordan said. “Now, he really wants to come back.”

El Guerrouj, 27, holds the world record in the mile with a time of 3:43.13, which he set in Italy in 1999 soon after having hemorrhoid surgery. He holds the world record in the 1,500 (3:26) and the 2,000 (4:44.79), was a silver medalist in the 2000 Olympics, and has won six world championships in indoor and outdoor events.
“I want to be the strongest in the world on all distances between 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters,” he said.
From 1996 to 2000, El Guerrouj lost just three races in 54 attempts, which included a stretch of 29 consecutive wins. That streak ended dramatically at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when El Guerrouj, the clear favorite, was out-legged by Noah Ngeny of Kenya in the final meters of the 1,500.
It seems the Olympic spotlight has been El Guerrouj’s only kryptonite. In the 1996 Atlanta games, he tripped in the final lap, finishing 12th.
“It was the end of the world … Every day I think of what happened,” El Guerrouj said in 2000 of his Atlanta fall. “The memories have made me strong like steel.”
And he showed that strength in his win at the 2001 Pre Classic. Running in a field that included Canadian champion Kevin Sullivan, Bernard Lagat of Kenya and high school phenom Alan Webb, El Guerrouj took control early and kept his lead — despite his frustration with the pace setter.
“The pace setter were out a little too fast,” he said last year. “To be able to run a 3:49 without pace setters is pretty good.”
In an attempt to aid his quest to break his own record in the mile, El Guerrouj is bringing his own rabbit to Hayward Field this year.
While this year’s Pre does not feature sprint champion Maurice Greene, El Guerrouj will make up for his
absence.
“Just having him here makes my day,” Jordan said.
El Guerrouj may make more than just Jordan’s day Sunday; in the end, everybody will know his name.