Haile Gebrselassie
Haile Gebrselassie
Haile Gebrselassieis a retired Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he won four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion...
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth18 April 1973
CityAsella, Ethiopia
sports commitment hard-work
You need three things to win: discipline, hard work and, before everything maybe, commitment. No one will make it without those three. Sport teaches you that.
promise
When you promise something, you must fulfill it.
pain marathon problem
The marathon always starts after 30K. That's where the problems start. You start without any problems, without any pain. All the pain comes after 30K. Sometimes, it's possible to have pain even in the finger.
struggle fighting kind
Life is a kind of struggle. Life is a sort of fight.
planning making-money broke
If you're planning only to make money and nothing else, you'll be broke.
father remember beats
He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.
running careers shoes
When I had no shoes I was comfortable - I used to run barefoot. When I wore shoes it was difficult. To run in shoes was ok, but at the beginning of my career it was hard.
athlete thinking dedication
Being a great athlete is something that requires a lot of training and dedication, it does not come as easily as some people may think.
running retiring
I'm retiring from competitive running, not from running. You cannot stop running, this is my life,
running country athlete
Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country. For me sometimes it is difficult even to know who the athletes are who are competing at the highest level. There are thousands.
marathon things-change runners
I have to change a lot of things before I become a good marathon runner.
sports fun father
My father thought sport was something fun - he didn't know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: 'Good, you can support not just yourself but me too'.
speed stamina loses
You lose the speed before the stamina.
important schooling
Schooling is so important.