Did America Just Get Itself a Gold-Medal Contender in the 1500 at the 2040 Olympics?

Wife of 2012 Olympic 1500 Bronze Medallist Abdelaati Iguider Gave Birth To A Son, Mohamed Mourad Iguider, On Friday in Philadelphia

By LetsRun.com
February 14, 2015

IMG_3098 Photo courtesy of Sami Aziz. Coming soon: SamiAziz.com.

No American has won a gold medal in the men’s 1500 meters in over 100 years; Mel Sheppard was the last man to do it, in London in 1908. Men such as Leo Manzano and Matthew Centrowitz will be looking to end that drought next year in Rio. But if they fall short, LetsRun has found someone who may be able to do it a few years down the road.

Yesterday, the wife of 2012 Olympic 1500 bronze medalist Abdelaati Iguider of Morocco, Ibtissam, gave birth to a son, Mohamed Mourad Iguider, in Philadelphia. Iguider and his wife were staying in Philadelphia this week (he raced at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix last week and was scheduled to run the 1000 at tonight’s Millrose Games in New York (meet organizers wouldn’t let him in the mile) but has scratched as he’s been sleeping at the hospital).

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Ibtissam had to be rushed to the hospital early Friday morning by the mother of Sami Aziz, a photographer (and former NXN qualifier) who has worked with LetsRun in the past. Aziz had been showing Iguider around Philadelphia and clued us in to this story.

Iguider has pbs of 3:29.83 (1500), 3:49.09 (mile) and 13:09.17 (5000), and in addition to his Olympic 1500 bronze in 2012, he also finished 6th in the 5000 and won the World Indoor title at 1500 that same year. His 3:29.83 is faster than any American-born man has run in history (Bernard Lagat and Sydney Maree have run faster as U.S. citizens).

Iguider’s son will obviously have U.S. citizenship, but since Iguider and his wife live in Morocco, he’ll be raised overseas. It’s way too early to know what country Mohamed Mourad Iguider will choose to represent — or even if he will run at all (Abdelaati Iguider joked with Aziz that he wanted his son to play golf). Still, he’ll be 25 in 2040 and has great genes…

Congrats to Abdelaati and Ibtissam and welcome to America Mohamed.

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