Press Conference News - 28/08/02 EL GUERROUJ Hicham El Guerrouj will run his 8th meeting of this season in Brussels. “I’ve already run 8 times at the Van Damme and since 1996 I’ve always won. I consider Zürich and Brussels as the two meetings you can’t miss. I will once again try to beat my world record. But I will of course be aware of the competition. Last year I was feeling extremely well and ready for a big time, but I had to be cautious of Bernard Lagat. He was following well, so I had to save some power for the straight. Otherwise I would have crashed my 3.26.00, that’s for sure. I’ve watched the video of the race many times afterwards; 12/100th of a second, what a pity!” Hicham El Guerrouj also says he will no longer do all the meetings of the Golden league in the future. “I think that cost me the Olympic title in Sydney. Too much races before. Even this year I find it mentally hard to run every friday like I have to do now. That’s why I took advantage of this week between London and Brussels to do recuperation trainings and eat a lot of pasta in Leuven.” Hicham El Guerrouj continues his fight against doping wearing a red ribbon. “I don’t want to start in a race with someone next to me, who was prepared in a laboratory. If one day I was found positive, I’ll give back all the money and medals I’ve won.”