Haile Gebrselassie : Athletics
Haile Gebrselassie (born April 18, 1973) is a retired Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won 10,000 meter gold medals at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics as well as several World Championship medals. Gebrselassie is still a keen runner but he entered politics to help his country move forward.
Greatest Sporting Achievements
Aside from his Olympic and World Championship victories, he also won major titles at all distances from 15000 meters to the marathon. Gebrselassie’s career broke 27 world records including the 2,000m on an indoor track to the full 42 km of the marathon in 1994. Haile Gebrselassie is widely recognized as one of the greatest runners of all times.
Why is He So Good?
Haile Gebrselassie started off fast and he always held on to win. What made others excited of his performance was because of his potential, especially when he was younger. He is passionate and driven and have always loved running that he even mentioned in an interview that “a day without running is not a good day. Running, you continue until you die.” He continues to be popular wherever he runs until this day that he became and proved to be an perfect ambassador for track and field.
What You May Not Know
- Haile used to run barefoot 10km to school every day while carrying his school books.
- His first was a school race where he ran a 1,500 m event.
- His first Olympic success was in the 1996 Atlanta Games where he won gold for the 10,000 meters events.
- Haile Gebrselassie was featured in a film about the quest to win the 10,000m title entitled “Endurance”.
Related Pages
- More from athletics
- Athlete Database home
- About the sport of athletics
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