HEUSDEN, Belgium, 2 August 2004 — Moroccan middle distance great Hicham El Guerrouj achieved a confidence-boosting pre-Olympics win over 1,500 meters at the IAAF Grand Prix II meet here on Saturday.
The 28-year-old posted the best time of the season with 3min 29.18sec to better the previous best of 3:29.21 set by Kenyan Bernard Lagat in Paris last week.
It was an encouraging time for El Guerrouj whose bid for Olympic gold had been knocked off course earlier this month when he placed eighth in the Golden League meet in Rome and later complained of breathing problems.
The win confirms the form the four-time 1500m world champion’s win at the IAAF Super Grand Prix event in Lausanne three weeks ago.
“I’ve nearly got rid of the allergy problems which have hampered my winter preparations and which explain my under-par performance in Rome,” he explained.
“Since then I’ve had several high quality training sessions which prove that I’ve regained the essential of my form which was confirmed this evening.”
The Moroccan, who is bidding for the Olympic title which has eluded him so far, travels to Zurich Friday for his final 1,500m before the Athens Games.
Belgian Kim Gevaert won the women’s 100m ahead of veteran sprinter Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, while Namibian two-time Olympic medallist Frankie Fredericks was disqualified for a false start in the men’s event where he was favorite.
Russia’s Lebedeva Produces
Biggest Long Jump for Two Years
In Tula, Russian long jumper triple jumper Tatiana Lebedeva underlined her intention to win both events at the Athens Olympics by producing the best long jump in the world for two years.
Lebedeva leaped to 7.33 meters at the Russian championships on Saturday’s 22 centimeters further than Marion Jones jumped to win the event at the US Olympic trials last month.
In a high-quality competition, Irina Simagina was second with a best jump of 7.27m and Tatyana Kotova was third in 6.93m.
Wind speeds were not supplied although the meeting was disrupted by thunderstorms.
Lebedeva, 28, is the reigning world triple jump champion and finished second in that event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She won both jumps at this year’s World Indoor Championships.
Tatiana Andrianova gave reigning Olympic champion Maria Mutola food for thought with victory in the 800m in 1min 56.23sec, easily the fastest time in the world this year.
And Yury Borzakovskiy showed he is in the form to win Olympic gold as he eased to victory in the men’s 800m in 1:44.72.
Danil Burkenya established his medal credentials with a 17.69m performance in the men’s triple jump, which puts him third on the 2004 lists. In other impressive women’s performances, Irina Khabarova took the 200m in 22.34sec and Natalia Nazarova and Natalia Antyukh both dipped under 50 seconds in the 400m. Nazarova won in 49.65sec to Antyukh’s 49.85.
