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Early Life
Haile Gebrselassie was born April 18, 1973. He was one of ten children growing up on a farm in Arsi Province, Ethiopia. As a school pupil he would run barefoot to school every day for a distance of about 10 kilometers, carrying his school books in his left arm. In his first race at school, a 1,5 km run, Haile says although he was younger than the other competitors he started off fast and held on to win. This made him (and others) marvel at his potential. From then, He decided to concentrate more on running. As a youngster, his big running hero was fellow Ethiopian Abebe Bikila – who won Olympic gold in 1960.
His big breakthrough on the international scene came in 1992 when he won the Junior World title at 5,000m and 10,000m. The next season, in his first year in the senior ranks, Haile won his first world champion title, taking the 10,000m title in Stuttgart. Haile went on to win four consecutive world titles at this distance – 93, 95, 97 and his final world 10,000 m title in 1999 at Seville, thereby cementing his place as one of the very best athletes in the world.
His first Olympic success came in 1996, Atlanta, where he won gold in the 10,000 metres. Haile later featured as himself in a film ‘Endurance’ – about the quest to win the 10,000m title.
In 2000, Haile became only the third man (after Emil Zátopek and Lasse Virén) to successfully defend his 10,000 metre title, narrowly beating his friend Paul Tergat from Kenya after a blistering last 200 metres. He later said in an interview that this, more than his 5,000 record, is his career highlights.
"Although I am very proud of the fact that I have 2 gold medals, I think I would definitely rate the Sydney gold a little higher than the other. Why? Probably because of the toughness of the field, the intense competition I had with Paul Tergat, my friend from Kenya, and most of all, the fact that the difference between us at the end was so little So yeah, although I have set a lot of world records, and won a lot of competitions, the 2000 Sydney Olympic gold is most definitely my favourite moment."
Gebreselassie (left) on the Sydney 2000 finish – It was a thrilling finish, made the gold very special
In 2001, Haile started to step up the distance and won the IAAF half marathon. He completed his first marathon in 2002 at London, where he finished third. But, Haile was still concentrating on the track and in the 2004 Athens Olympics, he attempted to become the first athlete to win three consecutive gold medals at the 10,000 metres. However, shortly before the Olympic games, he sustained an injury which prevented him from training. In the final, he came 5th, being eclipsed by compatriot – Kenenisa Bekele.
After the 2004 Olympics, Haile directed his focus towards marathons and road races. In 2007, he won the Berlin marathon in a new world record time – 2:04:26 – a world record he would lower in the same Berlin marathon the next year (2008) to 2:03:59. In 2008, he hoped to win another Olympic medal in Beijing. However, he decided to opt out of the marathon because of fears over air quality. He finished 6th in the 10,000m. He later said he regretted not doing the marathon as the air quality was not as bad as he first feared.
Aged 40, Haile was still able to win races. In April 2013, just before his 40th birthday, Haile won the Vienna half marathon in a time of 1 hour one minute.
Gabrselassie considered a move into politics in order to better his country. However, he now holds a position as the Head of Ethiopian Athletics Federation and has recently made strong comments around the issue of doping in athletics, saying “When athletes take drugs they may make money in the short-term, but in the long-term, when they think about what they’ve done, they will regret it. They are directly cheating money out of the pockets of other athletes.”
Interesting facts
Haile had a distinctive style where his left arm stayed positioned. This apparently developed in his school days when he ran to school with books in his one arm. In an interview he said “Yes, the posture indeed developed due to the way I used to run to my school with books in my hand. There was no other mode of transport available, and running was something that I liked so, so it was a good thing. My left hand thus always stayed in that manner, as I never really paid attention to it, and it was something that just happened naturally.”
At 22, Haile owned two Mercedes Benz vehicles, however, rather comically, he could not drive and had no drivers license. The story goes that when he travelled a lot by public transport and that whenever he was at home in Ethiopia he would be driven by one of his brothers instead.
During his career he broke 27 world records and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners of all time.
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