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
people wanted
I wanted to be famous. I wanted people to talk about me.
athlete thinking be-confident
Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.
country running moving
Eradicate poverty. This is all that matters in my country. When I am out training I think about this a lot; when I am running it is going over in my mind. As a country we cannot move forward until we eradicate poverty.
running people the-end-of-the-day
At the end of the day, people want to see how fast you run.
running want injury
I want to avoid injuries by running only road.
eye responsibility people
I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people's eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia.
running retiring
I'm retiring from competitive running, not from running. You cannot stop running, this is my life,
blood athletics
Athletics is in my blood.
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 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.
struggle fighting kind
Life is a kind of struggle. Life is a sort of fight.
sports want enough
That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa.
country want duty
It is not my duty to spend my money in my country, but it is what I want to do. There is nowhere else I would like to invest.
promise
When you promise something, you must fulfill it.