page_title: Jaouad Gharib
section_title: Back-to-back World Champion
hierarchical_section_title: Jaouad Gharib / Career / Back-to-back World Champion
caption_attribution_description: English: Chicago Marathon (Patrick Ivuti &amp; Jaouad Gharib) en:Category:Images of Chicago, Illinois
context_page_description: Jaouad Gharib is a Moroccan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon. Winner of the 2003 World Championships and 2005 World Championships over the distance, he is also notable because he only began running seriously at the age of twenty-two. His 2005 retention made him one of only two successive world championship marathon champions, after Abel Antón. He was the silver medallist in the marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
context_section_description: He made his global indoor debut in the 3000 metres at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, taking twelfth in the final. Another appearance at the World Cross Country Championships brought him another team bronze, although he managed only 23rd place on that occasion. His appearance at that competition was made at the behest of the Moroccan team director and he took part merely as preparation for his impending debut over the marathon distance. Following the coaching of former Olympic champion Brahim Boutayeb, he took part in the Rotterdam Marathon a month later, running a time of 2:09:15 for sixth. Following a half marathon win in Johannesburg, he entered the marathon race at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. Despite it being only his second outing over the distance, he saw off Michael Kosgei Rotich and Julio Rey to forge a lead in the final stages and win the gold medal in a Championship record time of 2:08:31.
  He continued to focus on road running in 2004, beginning with a run of 59:56 minutes at the Lisbon Half Marathon for fourth place on the downhill course. Next came the London Marathon, where he finished third behind Evans Rutto and Sammy Korir and set a personal best of 2:07:02 despite slipping and banging his head mid-race. He competed at his first Olympics at the 2004 Athens Games but failed to match his previous global form and finished in eleventh place in the men's marathon. A groin injury in the run-up to the competition and Gharib reflected that he had pushed himself too much in training during the two weeks before the race.
  He repeated his approach to the season in 2005 by starting at the Lisbon Half Marathon and he finished sixth on this occasion. He ran sub-2:08 at the London Marathon for a second time and improved one place from the previous year, finishing as runner-up behind Martin Lel. His focus of the year was a defence of his title at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. He returned home to Morocco and trained at altitude in the Atlas Mountains region. The move proved fruitful as, in spite of a sleepless night and stomach pains during the competition, he won the world championship marathon with an eleven-second margin over runner-up Christopher Isengwe. This made him only the second runner ever to retain the world marathon title, after Spaniard Abel Antón.
  With no major competition to work towards in 2006, he focused on competing on the circuit. He finished the London Marathon in a time of 2:08:45 – the third fastest run of his career at that point – but this was only enough for eighth in a fast race which saw him beaten by compatriot Hicham Chatt. After a fourth-place finish at the Great North Run, his next marathon race came at the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan. Gharib came close to a career best, crossing the line in 2:07:19, and took third place on the podium behind Haile Gebrselassie and Dmytro Baranovskyy.
caption: Gharib and Patrick Ivuti in a sprint finish at the 2007 Chicago Marathon
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