Ending Is Really a Beginning for Khannouchi

The longest journey begins with a single step. And the step world marathon record-holder Khalid Khannouchi took in May, when he became a U.S. citizen, began his most emotional journey.

Feeling unappreciated by athletic officials in his native Morocco, he emigrated to the United States in 1993. He worked as a dishwasher in Brooklyn and trained by running at night through Central Park--an activity not for the faint of heart.

“I was working sometimes 12, 13, 14 hours a day, but I’d come home and go for a run [although] maybe it was snowing,” he said during a conference call with reporters.

“My friends would call me crazy, but I always had the hope and the faith that I would make it one day.”

He made it to the top at the 1999 Chicago Marathon, in which he set the world mark of 2 hours 5 minutes 42 seconds. He didn’t compete in the Sydney Olympics because he wasn’t sure if his U.S. citizenship would be granted before the national trials. He instead ran in the London Marathon, in which he aggravated old injuries. However, he’s ready to wear U.S. colors for the first time today, when the men’s marathon opens track and field’s World Championships.

“I got here and I met many great people who gave me the love I need,” he said of the United States. “That made me feel great as a person, and when I succeed as a person, I want to give something back. I love my country--I will never lie and say I don’t love Morocco--but I love the United States, and I would be so happy to win a gold medal for this country.”

Khannouchi pulled out of a 15-kilometer race in Utica, N.Y., July 8 because of back spasms, and he feared he might not be able to run in Edmonton. However, he said massage therapy and other treatments have hastened his recovery.

He will have to be at his peak to hold off an impressive field, perhaps the most competitive event in a meet weakened by absences because of injuries and post-Olympic malaise.

Sydney gold and bronze marathon medalists Gezehegne Abera and Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia are expected to compete, as are 1996 Olympic champion Josiah Thugwane of South Africa and silver medalist Bong-ju Lee of South Korea. Lee won this year’s Boston Marathon. Also in the field are Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco, winner of this year’s London Marathon, and Josephat Kiprono of Kenya, who won the Rotterdam Marathon in a world-best 2:06:50.

“If I go to Edmonton and do very well I don’t think I will find the words to describe it,” Khannouchi said.

Marion Jones has been doing very well in European races and is favored in the women’s 100 meters after sprinting to a recent victory in Paris in 10.84 seconds. She will also run the 200, but ruled out the 1,600-meter relay. She wants to run in the 400 relay, but U.S. coaches, reportedly miffed that Jones did not attend a relay camp in Monte Carlo, won’t guarantee her a spot.

“It’s quite possible I could be left off the relay team,” Jones said Thursday. “The U.S. coaches will have the final decision. Regardless of how well I’m running, I will have to live with that decision.”

Maurice Greene, Olympic champion in the men’s 100 and the world-record holder, posted a world-leading time of 9.90 this season but complained of a sore knee in June. The state of his knee will determine if he runs the 200. He plans to anchor the 400 relay.

The women’s marathon field will lack Olympic bronze medalist Tega Laroupe of Kenya, excluded from her country’s team because she refused to return home to attend a training camp. (Olympic men’s 1,500 champion Noah Ngeny was excluded from Kenya’s delegation for the same reason). Naoko Takahashi of Japan, the Sydney women’s marathon gold medalist, decided not to compete.

The women’s events will be without several big names. Olympic 400 hurdles champion Irina Privalova is injured. So are U.S. women’s 400 champion LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Katherine Merry of Britain, who was the Olympic bronze medalist and had run a world-best 49.59 this season. Defending world 1,500 champion Svetlana Masterkova is also injured.

The pole vault also has lost several prominent competitors. Lawrence Johnson of the U.S., the Sydney gold medalist, withdrew because of a stress fracture in his right leg. The defending pole vault world champion, Maxim Tarasov of Russia, is recovering from ankle surgery.