'King of the Mile' Hicham El Guerrouj Joins ASPIRE Sports Academy, Qatar

'King of the Mile' Hicham El Guerrouj Joins ASPIRE Sports Academy, Qatar

July 28, 2006

    DOHA, Qatar, July 28 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Triple
world record holder and sporting icon Hicham El Guerrouj
has joined the team at ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports
Excellence based in Doha, to offer encouragement and
inspiration for the next generation of athletic hopefuls. 

    (Photo: 
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060727/221239 )

    As an ASPIRE Ambassador, El Guerrouj will work with the
Academy to offer guidance and advice for current student
athletes as well as backing wider sports inclusion programs
for children in the Middle East and beyond. 

    Officially opened in November 2005, ASPIRE is one of
the most advanced Athletic Academies in the world, and was
developed as part of a billion dollar investment into sport
in Qatar. 

    The Academy is working hard to attract the world's best
coaches across a range of disciplines and executives hope
that attracting talents of the caliber of El Guerrouj will
offer ASPIRE's student athletes a unique source of learning
and inspiration. 

    The double Olympic champion, who holds the world record
for the 1,500 meters, the mile and 2,000 meters, announced
his retirement in May of this year and expressed his desire
to continue to contribute to the development of sport
throughout the region. 

    El Guerrouj said: "I have watched ASPIRE develop
as an institution from the very beginning and have been
very impressed by its impact upon youth development in the
Middle East and the wider Arab world. If my contribution
helps to inspire more young athletes to train and develop
their talents, it will be a worthwhile experience for us
all." 

    ASPIRE previously hosted El Guerrouj in November 2005,
when he was one of the sporting legends present at the
ceremony to inaugurate the opening of the world's largest
indoor sports dome on the ASPIRE campus. 

    Dr. Thomas Flock, Director General at ASPIRE,
commented: "Hicham El Guerrouj is widely recognized as
one of the greatest athletes in the history of international
competition, so his association with us is both an honor and
a major opportunity for our students. 

    "We hope that they will learn from his example and
that -- whatever levels of sport they are able to compete at
in the future -- they recognize the importance of character,
ambition and the sporting spirit that Hicham El Guerrouj
exemplifies." 

    About ASPIRE

    ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports Excellence, Doha, was
created with the dual aims of identifying and transforming
promising student athletes into world renowned champions
across a wide range of sports and to act as a beacon to
draw sporting culture into the centre of life in Qatar and
the surrounding region.
 
    The Academy is distinguished by a philosophy which aims
to develop the whole student, providing them with full
academic, social and sporting development. 

    Unrivalled facilities mark the Academy out as one of
the world's foremost sporting and educational institutions,
and entice an ever increasing number of visitors from across
the spectrum of world sports to use or simply view them.
These same facilities will also play host to events during
the forthcoming Asian Games 2006. 

    With one indoor and seven outdoor football pitches,
athletics tracks, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving
pool, combat arenas, gymnastics arena, specially designed
weight rooms, lecture halls, dormitories to accommodate
what will eventually become 1,000 students, a medical
centre and much more besides, beneath the world's largest
purpose built indoor sports dome, every aspect of the
development of elite athletes is catered for. ASPIRE is a
place for those who dare to dream. 

    ASPIRE TODAY, INSPIRE TOMORROW

    http://www.aspire.qa

    For more information, please contact:

     Edward Barnfield 
     Wallis Marketing Consultants
     Tel:   [phone]
     Fax:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  ASPIRE