Jaouad Gharib

JAOUAD GHARIB
MOROCCO

BIRTHDATE:
2 February 1972

PERSONAL BEST:
2:07:12 (London, 2004)

WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:

22Apr07 Flora London Marathon 4th 2:07:54
23Apr06 Flora London Marathon 8th 2:08:45
06Nov05 ING New York City Marathon 2nd 2:09:31
13Aug05 IAAF World Championships Marathon 1st 2:10:10
17Apr05 Flora London Marathon 2nd 2:07:49
29Aug04 Olympic Games Marathon 11th 2:15:12
18Apr04 Flora London Marathon 3rd 2:07:12
30Aug03 IAAF World Championships Marathon 1st 2:08:31

CAREER NOTES:

Jaouad Gharib shocked the field at the 2003 IAAF World Championships Marathon not only by winning, but by smashing the 20-year-old World Championships record that Rob de Castella had set at the first edition in 1983.

Gharib had run only one previous marathon – a sixth at Rotterdam that April – and had solid, but not spectacular, track bests of 13:19.69 for 5000 meters and 27:29.51 for 10,000 meters. He was 10th in the 2001 IAAF World Championships 10,000 and second in the 2002 IAAF Half Marathon World Championships.

He then showed his 2003 win was not a fluke by becoming just the second man (after Abel Anton) to successfully defend his World Championships title, with a repeat gold in 2005.

Gharib's fastest marathon time came at London in 2004 although there is some question as to whether it should be 2:07:02 (results time) or 2:07:12 (clearly showing on finish clock of race video coverage). A year later he finished second to Martin Lel in London.

After dropping back to eighth at the 2006 Flora London Marathon, Gharib challenged Haile Gebrselassie at Fukuoka in December, but finished well after the Ethiopian legend and just behind Ukrainian Dmitriy Baranovskiy's national record effort.

At the Lisbon Half-Marathon in March 2007, Gharib placed third behind Robert Kipchumba and Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot. Heading into the final kilometres of the Flora London Marathon, Gharib was smiling with confidence, but he could not summon up another gear to outkick a trio of others in the final pack, although he still posted his fourth career sub-2:08.

PERSONAL NOTES:

Jaouad Gharib is a Berber from Khenifra, a town in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. He didn’t start running until age 22 after being inspired by a television transmission of the Marrakech Marathon.

HIGHLIGHTS:

03Dec06 Fukuoka Marathon 3rd 2:07:19
13Apr03 Rotterdam Marathon 6th 2:09:15