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DOHA, Qatar, July 27 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/

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

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

www.aspire.qa

SOURCE ASPIRE

/CONTACT: Edward Barnfield of Wallis Marketing Consultants,
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/Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060727/221239
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/Web site: http://www.aspire.qa /