In short, the first athlete to break three minutes and 27 seconds for the 1,500 metres outdoors was Moroccan middle-distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj. On July 14, 1998, at the so-called Golden Gala – which, at the time, was the second in a annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, known as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Golden League – at Stadio Olympico, Rome, El Guerrouj ran the 1,500 metres in 3:26.00.
In a nigh on perfect race, Kenyan pacemaker Robert Kibet took the field through two laps in 1:50.8, half a second or so ahead of world record schedule, and countryman Noeh Ngeny led El Guerrouj through 1200 metres. Heading down the back straight for the last time, El Guerrouj, who had been ‘supremely relaxed’ up to that point, kicked for home and came home in splendid isolation, 50 metres ahead of a world-class field. Confusion reigned, albeit briefly, when the trackside clock failed to stop, but it was soon clarified that El Guerrouj had not only beaten, but smashed, the previous world record, 3:27.37, set by Algerian Noureddine Morceli in Nice, France three years earlier.
His confidence burgeoning, El Guerrouj said afterwards, ‘My dream is to run 3:24. I hope to do it before this season is out; if not, God willing, I will be back to do it here next year.’ Of course, he didn’t and he wasn’t, but the world record he set in Rome still stands, 25 years later. El Guerrouj also paid homage to his boyhood hero, countryman Said Aouita, and the previous world record holder, saying, ‘Before it was Aouita’s time, then it was Morceli’s, now it is Hicham’s time. We are all Moslems, all brothers.’