Haile Gebrselassie
ETHIOPIA
BIRTHDATE:
April 18, 1973
PERSONAL BEST:
2:03:59 (Berlin, 2008) World Record
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
20Sep09 real,- Berlin Marathon 1st 2:06:08
28Sep08 real,- Berlin Marathon 1st 2:03:59
30Sep07 real,- Berlin Marathon 1st 2:04:26
22Apr07 Flora London Marathon DNF
24Sep06 real,- Berlin Marathon 1st 2:05:56
23Apr06 Flora London Marathon 9th 2:09:05
14Apr02 Flora London Marathon 3rd 2:06:35
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
22Jan10 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon 1st 2:06:09
16Jan09 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon 1st 2:05:29
18Jan08 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon 1st 2:04:53
03Dec06 Fukuoka Marathon 1st 2:06:52
16Oct05 Amsterdam Marathon 1st 2:06:20
CAREER NOTES:
Haile Gebrselassie, the world record holder in the marathon, is arguably the greatest distance runner in history.
At 10,000m he won four successive world titles, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999 as well as the Olympic titles of 1996 and 2000. Despite no races for nearly a year due to an Achilles tendon injury, he still took the bronze medal in the 2001 World 10,000m and he was second to Kenenisa Bekele in a magnificent race in 2003. He won the World silver medal at 5000m in 1993 and the World Indoor 3000m in 1997 before an amazing World Indoor double gold at 1500m and 3000m in 1999. He also won the World Indoor 3000m in 2003.
In addition to his collection of gold medals, his intense rivalry with several talented Kenyans and Moroccans has produced 25 world records or world bests (11 outdoor track, 7 indoor, 7 road). From February 1997 to August 2001 he won an astounding 51 consecutive races over cross-country, the roads and indoor and outdoor track at distances of 1500 meters or longer.
Gebrselassie first came to the attention of the world when he completed a brilliant 5000m and 10,000m double at the 1992 World Junior Championships. His first world record was 12:56.96 for 5000m in 1994. A year later he ran a world best for 2 miles, and then took 8.7 secs off the 10,000m record with 26:43.53, and regained the 5000m record with 12:44.39, taking 10.91 secs off the mark run earlier in the year.
He began the Olympic year with indoor world records at 3000m and 5000m and won a stirring duel over 10,000m against arch rival Paul Tergat at Atlanta. In 1997 after another two miles world best of 8:01.08, he took 6.76 off the world 10,000m record in Oslo, running 26:31.32. Then he won his third world 10,000m title and took the 5000m record down to 12:41.86 in Zürich. However, once again his world records were "borrowed" by the Kenyans, Daniel Komen (5000m) and Tergat (10,000m) a week later. Few doubted that the tiny (1.64m) Ethiopian would be back to reclaim these records, and he did just that in 1998 with 12:39.36 at Helsinki and 26:22.75 at Hengelo.
Gebrselassie turned to longer distances, and won the world half marathon title in 2001 in 60:03. He improved to 59:41 at Lisbon in April 2002, before making his marathon debut (apart from a 2:48 at the age of 15 in 1988) in London, coming third in 2:06:35. He then missed the summer season through injury but returned with a world 10km road best of 27:02 at Doha, Qatar in December for a reward of $1 million.
In 2004 he was below his best through injury, but still took fifth in the Olympic 10,000m and in 2005 he set a world best for 10 miles on the roads with 44:24 (with an unofficial world best 41:22 at the 15km split) at Tilburg before breaking the Ethiopian marathon record when he won at Amsterdam in 2:06:20. He started 2006 with a world record 58:55 half marathon at Phoenix in January, passing 20km in another world record of 55:48. He followed that with the fastest time ever for 25km in 1:11:37 in the Netherlands, although the mark could not be ratified as a world record because of a lack of a post-race EPO test.
Gebrselassie posted a new marathon personal record at the 2006 real,- Berlin Marathon in 2:05:56 and ended 2006 with a victory at the prestigious Fukuoka Marathon in Japan in 2:06:52, just one second off the course record.
While 2007 saw him drop out of only the second race of his career at the London Marathon he more than made up for it with a spectacular 2:04:26 world record at Berlin in September. Earlier in the year he set a track world record of 13 miles 397 yards (21.285 kilometers) for the One Hour Run and passed 20,000m in another WR of 56:26.
At the Standard Chartered Marathon in Dubai on January 18, 2008, Gebrselassie set out at a startling pace of 1:01:27 for the first half, but even after slowing to 1:03:26 for the final 21.1-km, he wound up with the second fastest time in history, 2:04:53.
After a sixth-place finish in the Beijing Olympics 10,000 meters, Gebrselassie returned to Berlin in September where he made more marathon history. With almost perfect pacing, he passed halfway in 1:02:03 and accelerated away from his last challenger with six kilometers remaining. He broke through the two hours four minutes barrier by one second.
On September 20, 2009 he became only the second man to win the same World Marathon Major four consecutive years, with a victory at Berlin; Bill Rodgers won New York City 1976-1979. En route he set a world record for 30 kilometers, 1:27:44.
PERSONAL NOTES:
Gebrselassie was born in the province of Arsi in central Ethiopia, the eighth of 10 children. While growing up on a farm, he ran 10 kilometers to school and back every day, carrying books under his arm which would result in his distinctive crooked left arm running style. He and his wife Alem have three daughters (Aden, Miharet, Meseret) and a son (Nathan). He starred in a 1999 autobiographical movie of his life, “Endurance,” and in January 2006 a photo exhibition about his career was officially opened at the National Museum in Addis Ababa.
