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El Guerrouj goes into battle for Morocco
-Menjaoui SYDNEY, Sept 24 (AFP) - Hicham El Guerrouj begins his campaign for the gold medal in the 1500m Monday claiming that an almost military approach will help him erase the nightmare of the Atlanta Games where a fall scuppered his bid for the title. El Guerrouj goes into the metric mile in the knowledge that he is one of the hottest favourites in the Sydney track and field programme as he bids to land the one major title to elude him. "I respect my opponents but I deserve this medal," said El Guerrouj, who lines up in the heats on Monday. "I am like a soldier ready for battle." El Guerrouj will hope he can count on the support of his team-mates who will help pace him during the race to put him in prime position for the closing 400m where he generally makes the telling breakaway - that policy worked superbly at the 1999 World Championships at Seville, Spain. But should he be the only Moroccan in the final he is well aware of the pitfalls of running alone where just one stray heel or elbow can end the race for a competitor. In Atlanta he tumbled out and then had to watch Algeria's Nourredine Morceli romp away with the gold. "Destiny was against me at Atlanta but I hope this time it will be on my side," said the current holder of three world records in the 1500m, mile and 2000m. El Guerrouj has prepared for his campaign far from the pollution of Rabat in the mountains of Ifrane accompanied by his coach Abdelkadar Kada. His programme consisted of running in the morning before weight training in the afternoon. He has improved his speed work and his average time over the last 400m this year has been 49.50sec. "The Games have made it a very special year which therefore required a special preparation," insisted El Guerrouj. "Gold here in Sydney would be the reward for all my efforts." But the Moroccan believes this is likely to be his last campaign at 1500m, saying: "In Athens (2004) I will be going for the 500m.
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