Interview with Abderrahim Goumri

By Stuart Calderwood

Abderrahim Goumri has run five marathons. Three of them have made the 32-year-old Moroccan the favorite at the ING New York City Marathon 2008 despite the presence of seven other men who have broken 2:08:00, three of whom are former New York champions. In Goumri’s major-race debut, he finished a close second to Martin Lel in the 2007 Flora London Marathon. He was second to Lel again in last year’s ING New York City Marathon, and then he returned to London and ran the fastest-ever third-place time in history—2:05:30, behind Lel and his Kenyan countryman Sammy Wanjiru, who would win the Beijing Olympic Marathon in August. Lel broke a bone in his foot recently, leaving the friendly, soft-spoken Goumri in the position of favorite.
 
Goumri’s fifth and most recent marathon was a disappointing 2:15:00 for 20th place in Beijing, where the extreme heat and humidity weakened him in the late stages. His first marathon, unlike the others, was small, obscure, and slow, but it may have been the most important race of his life. New York Road Runners spoke with Goumri at a pre-race media conference at Tavern on the Green on Friday, October 31, two days before his sixth marathon.
 
New York Road Runners: You ran excellent track times before you became a marathoner—I know your 5000-meter PR is 12:50; what did you run for 10,000?
 
Abderrahim Goumri: My best time is 27:02.
 
NYRR: You were still running at the top level on the track right up until your first marathon, last year in London—what made you decide to move up when you did?
 
AG: I ran another marathon before that, you know.
 
NYRR (surprised, Goumri's 2007 London race was thought to be his marathon debut): You did?
 
AG: Yes…it was ten years before London.
 
NYRR: Where was that?
 
AG (smiling): In Norway, in 1997. It was not well known…I was running only the 1500 meters, sometimes 5000, and I had very little money. I saw a notice of a meet in Norway with a 10,000-kronor prize. They had a 5000 and a 10,000. I was from the countryside, I had trouble even buying clothes—and I decided to go. I spent most of my money to get to Norway, to a town called Tromsø—and when I got there, they told me, “There is no 5000, no 10,000. Only a half-marathon and a marathon, and the money is only in the marathon.”
 
NYRR: Oh, no.
 
AG: So, that was my first marathon. I won it in 2:30:54. And they told me, “You only get the money if you run under 2:30.”
 
NYRR: Incredible.
 
AG: I had no money left to get home—only to Oslo. I heard about a Moroccan club there—not a running club, just a club, they played some soccer, you know—so I met them, and they helped me get work. One guy in the club ran with a team, and I went with him to a workout. It was the group of Khalid Skah. [Note: Skah was the 1992 Olympic 10,000-meter champion.]
 
NYRR: Skah was living in Norway?
 
AG: Yes, he married a woman from there. I trained with his group, and I worked the whole time, too.
 
NYRR: What kind of work?
 
AG: Anything! I worked as a stonemason…then I got a job cutting potatoes into…what is English for pommes frites?
 
NYRR: French fries.
 
AG: Yes! I cut them into French fries.
 
NYRR: How long did you stay there?
 
AG: For three years.
 
NYRR: Really?
 
AG: I only went back to Morocco in the winters. It was not good to train in Norway then.
 
NYRR: So, you ran for Skah’s team—how did you do?
 
AG: My first 5000 for them, I ran 13:20.
 
NYRR: I guess they let you stay on the team.
 
AG: Yes. (Laughs) And then Khalid Boulami became the coach. He coaches Ramzi now. (Goumri gestures to his left, beyond the table. Rachid Ramzi, the Beijing Olympic 1500-meter champion, is sitting there, smiling.)
 
NYRR: I guess that explains why you didn’t want to run any more marathons for a while. So you have won a marathon…but this one would get more attention.
 
AG: Yes—the most of any marathon. When I was second in London, a few of my friends called me up. When I was second in New York, you know, everybody called. I got calls from old friends in Norway.
 
NYRR: The New York course record is 2:07:43. Do you think you have a chance of breaking that?
 
AG: Will there be pacesetters?
 
NYRR: No, but we can talk to Hendrick if you like… [Note: 2005 champion Hendrick Ramaala is known for his dramatic mid-race accelerations.]
 
AG (smiling): Okay, good!
 
NYRR: If Ramaala takes off, will you go with him?
 
AG: Yes. I hope he does that.
 

Interview conducted on Friday, October 31, 2008, and posted on Saturday, November 1, 2008.