The great Moroccan middle distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj has called on athletics' world governing body to bolster public interest in middle-distance running which has been overshadowed by the feats of Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt.
Bolt, the winner of six Olympic gold medals, will earn an estimated $10 million US dollars a year in sponsorship deal with the German sportswear company Puma that will take the 27-year-old to the end of his career.
El Guerrouj, the 1500 metres and mile world record holder, says support for longer distance athletes was much less, and youngsters are being lured away from athletics.
Jamaican sprinters have sullied athletics recently, with several high profile sprinters failing drugs tests.
