I'm from Scotland and remember being overwhelmed with emotion when this truly legendary athlete eventually got this Olympic gold. To this very day, he remains in my own pantheon of Greats.

No matter how many times I watch this, seeing Hicham bawl his eyes out while Lagat hugs him gets me every time.  Great athletes, great sportsmanship.

I am from Croatia and when someone mention Morocco to me , I always first think about Hicham. For me he is bigger than legend, maybe something like a MYTH

A big part of my passion for running is due to what this man meant to me when I was a kid, staring at him on a tv screen. I have watched this video several times, but it’s always the same emotion. It clearly sums up what sport can teach: patience, sacrifice, acceptance of defeat, respect for your rivals (the embrace by Lagat)…

This legend needs a movie on him for sure ..

This race made me cry. The greatest miler of all time🐐🐐

Congratulations Hicham.
The pride of Morroco 🇲🇦 And North Africa 💪
Lots of love to all Moroccans 🇲🇦❤️❤️❤️
Greetings from Tunisia 🇹🇳
❤️🇹🇳🇲🇦❤️

Unbelievable talent this guy was way ahead of his time, with all of today's technology and advancements in sports science, still no one can beat his record, truly amazing

I grew up watching Coe, Ovett, Cram, Aouita & Morceli. Hicham was the greatest 1500m/miler of all time.

"He goes from the greatest never, to the best of all time." What a line

Killer commentary. Miss the days of seasoned, charismatic broadcasters with decades of experience.

من الجزائر و الله أتذكر هذه اللحظات في مقهى في الجزائر في مدينة قسنطينة كل الشعب يشجع في هشام القروج في الدورة الأخيرة من السباق اهتز المقهى فرحا بفوزه. الحمد لله.

Hicham make me love to watch and run 1500  and miles run 🏃‍♀️  respect from USA 🇺🇸 to 🇲🇦

I was in Athens, unfortunately not in the stadium, but the Heineken bar I was at, the whole placed stopped to watch this race.....and cheered and celebrated the finish.
"He goes from the greatest never, to the best of all time!"
4 days later he became a Dual Olympic Gold Medalist.

We Moroccans are proud of him for achieving what others thought was impossible for him at first, he fell down, stepped up and he showed them that he could! 🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦

El guerrouj is absolutely the most dominant runner that ever lived , forget the world titles the records but the races he won and the number of times he ran world record pace races is unmatched , winning more than 80 1500m races , 30 of them under 3:30 is mind blowing . History will always remember him as the best ever

Legendary!

Thank you, from Portugal, to our Moroccan friends, and neighbours, for giving the world amazing athletes such as Hicham!

و الله يا دمعة بغات اطيح كي نتفكر ذيك الايام مع الرجال و الابطال خاصة هشام القروج ، بطل باتم ما تعنيه الكلمة بلاما ننساو مرصلي و عويطة و القاءمة طويلة ، تحية من الجزاءر للابطالنا.

My favourite Olympic video ever. I come back to it regularly and still feel emotional. Hicham El Guerrouj is the greatest 1500M/Miler I have ever seen, and not a bad 5,000M as well. Bernard Lagat is a class act as well, and I have huge respect for him for his generosity to Hicham. They both had tremendous respect for each other and it showed. Bruce McAvaney's commentary and the music choice are just brilliant. He still holds the world record time: "Each lap run during the men's world-record race of 3:26.00, run by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998, averaged just under 55 seconds per lap."

His story and Messi are so similar, both of them are the greatest of all time and although they failed twice, they never give up. One of the best moments of Olympics. After two final at the third one during last 100 meter falling behind and winning the race, what a mental strength. Thank you Hicham, greatest 1500m/1mile runner of all time.