Eugene, OR - Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, the Olympic gold medalist in both the 1500 and 5000 meters at the Athens Olympic Games, will return to the Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix on June 4th to run the 2-Mile. Already entered in that race, of course, are America's best Alan Webb and Dathan Ritzenhein.

"El G", arguably the best middle distance runner in history, has won an astonishing nine Olympic or World Championships medals:

OG 1500m gold '04
OG 5000m gold '04
OG 1500m silver '00
WC 1500m gold '97, '99, '01, '03
WC 1500m silver '95
WC 5000m silver '03

While he is most famous as "The King of the Mile", the world recordholder at both the 1500 and Mile is also adept at the longer distances, as evidenced by his gold medal at the 5k in Athens, and his 3000 best which is the second fastest in history. In fact, his 7:23.09 3k PR is roughly equal to a 2-Mile in 7:58.8!

With the addition of the 30-year-old Moroccan, the Prefontaine Classic now can claim 19 World or Olympic medalists, who have won a total of 53 medals, after the announcement of just six events out of the 16 total.

2-MILE (MEN)

Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)
Alan Webb
Mulugeta Wendimu (Ethiopia)
Mark Carroll (Ireland)
Boaz Cheboiywo (Kenya)
Dathan Ritzenhein
Luke Kipkosgei (Kenya)
Daniel Lincoln
Belota Asmerom
Markos Geneti (Ethiopia)
Jonathan Riley
Joseph Koskei (Kenya)
Shadrack Kosgei (Kenya)