By Tom Pfeiffer and Michel Debono
IFRANE, Morocco, June 6 (Reuters) - They tried for almost a decade but no one has run a mile faster than Hicham El Guerrouj.
When he retired in 2006, El Guerrouj had earned two Olympic and four world championship gold medals. But with his departure came a realisation that all was not well in Moroccan athletics.
Not enough youngsters have emerged to replace the generation of athletes that included "The King of the Mile" and maintain Morocco's status as a leader on the track.
Running clubs, the roots of the system, are unable to pay for members' shoes, shirts or bus trips to competitions. Tracks have fallen into disrepair, broken training equipment has not been replaced.
"I know many young people forced to abandon training to get paid work or leave the country to support their families," said 1,500-metre specialist Yassine Bensghir at Morocco's international high-altitude training camp in Ifrane.
The malaise was confirmed when top athletes including marathon runner Khalid Khannouchi and middle-distance specialist Rashid Ramzi abandoned their country to run for wealthier nations.
In Morocco, money was spent on a small number of top-flight athletes but regional athletics was left to its own devices, said Mustapha Auchar, Morocco's national athletics technical director since 2007.
"In the 1980s I remember clubs had their own means, their own clothing," he said. "These days I see athletes dressing any old how, with no funds to organise competitions."
CHANGE COMING
It might be too early to make a difference at the Beijing Olympics in August but change is coming, he says.
Up to 60 million euros ($94.56 million) is being spent on a new national strategy for athletics. Twenty-one synthetic tracks are being laid across the country. Clubs will get rewarded for producing athletes who win competitions.
A national centre able to house 150 to 200 athletes is in the works while new regional training centres will open from 2009 focusing on spotting and developing promising youngsters.
Construction of a preparation centre is under way in Ifrane, a mock Swiss village 1,600 metres up in the Middle Atlas mountains which provides the benefits of high altitude training.
Hundreds of sport managers are being taught how to prospect for, detect and enhance athletic talent.
Sport officials are aiming beyond the traditionally strong areas of middle- and long-distance running towards field events.
"National records in field events are falling like dominoes," said Auchar. "When I got here we had three shot putters. Today we have 25."
Some who left the national team are coming home, others who were training at European clubs are back training in Morocco. "The tide is turning," said Auchar.
DREAM TICKET
In a country blighted by mass poverty, running vies with football as a sporting ticket to a better life.
"The quality of the Moroccan athlete is his temerity -- he suffers a lot," said Auchar. "At the end of their training in Ifrane they aren't a pretty sight."
Groups of young and old jog through the cool morning air in the capital Rabat, the men in tracksuits, the women often covered up in djellaba robes and headscarves. Lone athletes can be seen running along polluted city streets and busy motorways.
"Our motivation is to win the respect of the Moroccan people, to get a name in the rich history of Moroccan athletics and ensure our future," said Bensghir.
Athletics has become a symbol of modernity for Moroccan women in a conservative society where baring your legs can draw the opprobrium of Islamists.
Hurdler Nezha Bidouane, Morocco's first female world athletics champion, became a role model when she won two gold medals in 1997 and 2001.
She followed in the footsteps of Nawal El Moutawakel, the first Muslim and African female Olympic gold medal winner in 1984 and now Morocco's sports minister.
A Casablanca women's road race that Moutawakel organises every year now attracts up to 30,000 participants.
"I think by 2012 we'll have plenty of women able to climb the Olympic podium in London or at least reach the finals," Morocco's 800-metre Beijing hopeful Hasna Benhassi told Reuters.
Some of Morocco's Beijing hopes:
* Hasna Benhassi, 29, 800 Metres: silver medal at world championships in Osaka, August 2007, clocking 1:56.99.
* Jaouad Gharib, 36, marathon: Gold medal at the 2003 and 2005 world championships. Best time: 2:07:02.
* Abderrahim Goumri, 32, marathon: Achieved a Moroccan national record in London in April with a time of 2.05.30.
* Amine Laalou, 26, 800 Metres: "He's a bear who thinks he's an ant," said Auchar. "But when he's on top he's no different from the best in the world."
* Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, 23, 5,000 Metres: Bronze medal in 3,000 metres at world indoor championships, Valencia, March 2008. (Writing by Tom Pfeiffer, Editing by Clare Fallon)
