Brussels athletics meet: Morocco's El Guerrouj, Goumri win 1,500, 3,000 races
Morocco, Sports, 9/2/2002

Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj won at the Van Damme Memorial Friday in Brussels the 1,500 m race and remained in the race for the Golden League jackpot.

El Guerrouj was chasing his own world record but had to settle for victory alone, holding off Kenya's Bernard Lagat to finish in 3 minutes 29.95 seconds, almost four seconds off his record.

This was El Guerrouj's sixth victory in a row after those scored at the meetings of Oslo, Paris, Rome Monaco and Zurich.

The concluding Golden League meet will be held in Berlin next week. The winners of all seven events in the competition will share the gold on offer.

El Gerrouj's countryman, Abderrahim Goumri, won the 3,000 race, finishing in 7 minutes 35.77 seconds.

He was followed by two Kenyans, Chebilii Abraham and Kipkoscgei Luke.

The meet came a day after the sport was rocked by the announcement that Moroccan steeple chase sensation Brahim Boulami had tested positive for the endurance-enhancing drug EPO on the eve of his world record run in Zurich, Switzerland two weeks ago.

The initial test still needs to be confirmed by another sample before the athlete is considered guilty, but the Moroccan nevertheless pulled out of the Brussels meet where he set a steeplechase world record last year.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco's Steeplechaser Boulami Tests positive for EPO, Claims Innocence   (8/30/2002)
  Morocco's Hicham El-Guerrouj wins mile race at London meet   (8/27/2002)
  Long Island Tennis Tournament: Morocco's El-Aynaoui Ousted at Quarter-Finals   (8/24/2002)

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