Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie (born April 18, 1973) is a long distance track and road running athlete born as one of ten children in Assela, Arsi, Ethiopia. He is considered by many to be one of the best distance runners of all time. His prodigious distance running ability may have resulted in part from the high elevation of his home village: 8,000 feet above sea level.

Gebrselassie gained international recognition in 1992 when he won the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races at the World Junior Championships. In 1994 he set his first world record by running a 12:56.96 in the 5,000-metres. The next year, in Zurich, Switzerland, Gebrselassie shaved an astonishing 10.91 seconds from the 5,000 meter world record, which had since been taken by Kenya's Moses Kiptanui. In running 12:44.39, Gebrselassie seemingly put the record out of reach. The very next year, though, in Zurich, an exhausted Gebrselassie, suffering from blisters obtained on the hard track in Atlanta where he won his Olympic 10,000 meter gold, had no answer to the 58 second lap of Daniel Komen with 5 laps to do. Komen just missed Gebrselassie's record while running 12:45.09. The next year, Gebrselassie came fresh off his third 10K world championship gold medal to outkick Komen with a new world record 12:41.86 and a final 200 meters in 26.8 seconds. Gebrselassie saw his record fall twice more--Komen took it weeks later in Brussels on August 22, 1997, running under 12:40 for the first time in history with a 12:39.74. The next year, just 13 days after lowering Paul Tergat's 10,000 meter world record to 26:22.75 in Hengelo, Holland, Gebrselassie took on the mark of Komen in Helsinki, Finland. Croatian pacemaker Branko Zorko took the pace out too slowly, hitting 1000 meters in 2:33.91 and dropping out at the mile. Million Wolde and Assefa Mezgebu led Gebrselassie through 2,000 meters in 5:05.62. His pacemakers could not maintain the pace, though, and Gebrselassie was left alone for a difficult solo effort 6 laps out. Hitting 3,000 meters in 7:38.93, even the British commentators announcing the race counted him out. With 4 laps to go (8:40.00), Gebrselassie needed a sub-4 minute final mile for the record. With one lap to go and in great pain, Gebrselassie took off, recording a fabulous final lap of 56.77 seconds and a final mile inside 4 minutes to race to a 12:39.36 world record, one of 18 of his illustrious career.

He was the first man to break both the 13 minute mark for the 5000 metre run and the 27 minute mark for the 10000 metre run, although not the first to break each of those marks separately.

On August 30 2003 Gebrselassie topped the polls when elected as a member of the IAAF Athletes Commission.

In 1999 Gebrselassie starred as himself in the movie "Endurance." The film chronicled his quest to win Olympic gold in the 10,000-meters.

In 2004, Gebrselassie came to the Olympic Games seeking to become the first man in history to win three straight Olympic gold medals in the 10000 metre run. He was unable to do so, however, finishing fifth in a race won by his countryman and protégé Kenenisa Bekele. Gebrselassie had lost 3 weeks of training due to an Achilles tendon injury. It was severe enough that he would not have competed had the race been any other than the Olympics. This loss of the final period of training, when Gebrselassie observed that he sharpened his finishing sprint with tough, fast sprinting climbing the steep hills surrounding his training ground in Ethiopia, may have cost him a medal.

Honors

• 1993
  • 1993 World Championships in Athletics
    • 10,000 metre gold medal
    • 5,000 metre silver medal
  • 1993 IAAF African Athletics Championship
    • 5,000 metre silver medal
    • 10,000 metre bronze medal
• 1995
  • 1995 World Championships in Athletics
    • 10,000m gold medal
• 1996
  • 1996 Summer Olympics
    • 10,000m gold medal
• 1997
  • 1997 World Championships in Athletics
    • 10,000m gold medal
  • 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships
    • 3,000m gold medal
• 1999
  • 1999 World Championships in Athletics
    • 10,000m gold medal
  • 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships
    • 1,500m gold medal
    • 3,000m gold medal
• 2000
  • 2000 Summer Olympics
    • 10,000m gold medal
• 2001
  • 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon winner

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