Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie
Gebrselassie at the Vienna City Marathon 2011
nation	Ethiopia
birthday	April 18, 1973
place of birth	Assela
size	164 cm
Weight	56 kg
Career
discipline	Long distance running
Best performance	12: 39.36 min ( 5000 m ) 26: 22.75 min ( 10,000 m ) 2:03:59 h ( marathon )
status	not active
End of career	May 2015
Medal table
Olympic games 2 × 0 × 0 × World championships 4 × 2 × 1 × African Championships 0 × 1 × 1 × Indoor World Cup 4 × 0 × 0 × Cross Country World Championship 0 × 4 × 3 × Half marathon world championship 2 × 0 × 0 × Junior World Championship 2 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Atlanta 1996 10,000 m gold Sydney 2000 10,000 m  World championships gold Stuttgart 1993 10,000 m silver Stuttgart 1993 5000 m gold Gothenburg 1995 10,000 m gold Athens 1997 10,000 m gold Seville 1999 10,000 m bronze Edmonton 2001 10,000 m silver Paris 2003 10,000 m  African Championships silver Durban 1993 5000 m bronze Durban 1993 10,000 m  Indoor world championships gold Paris 1997 3000 m gold Maebashi 1999 1500 m gold Maebashi 1999 3000 m gold Birmingham 2003 3000 m  World Cross Country Championships silver Antwerp 1991 Team juniors silver Boston 1992 Individual juniors silver Boston 1992 Team juniors silver Amorgebieta 1993 team bronze Budapest 1994 singles bronze Budapest 1994 team bronze Cape Town 1996 team  Half marathon world championships gold Bristol 2001 singles gold Bristol 2001 team  Junior World Championships gold Seoul 1992 5000 m gold Seoul 1992 10,000 m
last change: September 17, 2012

Haile Gebrselassie ( Amharic ኃይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ , born April 18, 1973 in Assela , Oromia region ) is a former Ethiopian long-distance runner . He set a total of 26 world records , dominated the distances from 3000 meters to 10,000 meters for a decade as a multiple Olympic and world champion and was the holder of the world record in the marathon from 2007 to 2011 . He is a four-time winner of the Berlin Marathon and a three-time winner of the highly endowed Dubai Marathon .

Career

As a 13-year-old Gebrselassie won a school break against teachers at his school. When he won a school competition and other competitions, he wanted to be a runner like Miruts Yifter . He went to Addis Ababa in 1990 to train with the best runners in his country. In the same year he was fifth at the Ethiopian Cross Country Championships.

In 1992 he won silver in the junior races of the Cross Country World Championships and was junior world champion over 5000 and 10,000 meters . At the World Athletics Championships in 1993 in Stuttgart, he won the silver medal over 5000 meters and became world champion over 10,000 meters.

World record runner on the track

From 1993 to 1996 he was always among the top seven at the World Cross Country Championships , with a bronze medal in 1994 as the best place.

He was even more successful on the track , where he set numerous world records. He achieved his first on June 4, 1994 in Hengelo , when he achieved a time of 12: 56.96 minutes over 5000 meters. During this time he improved the almost seven-year-old world record of the Moroccan Saïd Aouita , who until then was the only runner to stay under 13 minutes. As an excellent competition tactician, Gebrselassie often distanced his competitors with a final sprint in the last lap due to his high basic speed .

For the rest of the 1990s he was unbeatable in international championships: at the World Championships in Gothenburg in 1995 , in Athens in 1997 and in 1999 , he won gold over 10,000 meters as well as at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney .

He won another four gold medals at World Indoor Athletics Championships: in 1997 in Paris he won over 3000 meters , in 1999 in Maebashi over 1500 meters and 3000 meters and in 2003 in Birmingham over 3000 meters. He set 15 world records. He held the world record for over 5000 meters from 1994 to 2004, and over 10,000 meters from 1995 to 2004 (both with interruptions). His most successful year was 1998, when he set his world records for 5000 and 10,000 meters, which were valid until 2004. In 2002 Gebrselassie also improved the world record in the 10 km road race to 27:02 minutes.

Gebrselassie experienced his first loss over 10,000 meters in eight years at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. Here he only reached third place behind Charles Waweru Kamathi and Assefa Mezgebu . Two years later, the "Changing of the Guard" followed at the World Championships in Paris / Saint-Denis . Gebrselassie was beaten by his young compatriot Kenenisa Bekele , who was to dominate the track from now on.

At this point, Gebrselassie had already turned to longer distances. At the 2001 World Half Marathon Championships , he won the title in 1:00:03 h on his debut over this distance. In 2002 he finished third in the London Marathon in 2:06:35 h - his first serious start over the full distance (as a teenager he had already run a marathon in Addis Ababa).

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he was fifth over 10,000 meters and hobbled injured across the finish line. As in the previous year in Paris, gold went to Kenenisa Bekele, who had already broken Gebrselassie's world records over 5000 and 10,000 meters.

World record runner on the road

In addition to his running career on the track, Gebrselassie set other records in road running .

In 2005 he won the Great Manchester Run , ran the current world best time over ten miles with 44:24 minutes at the Tilburg Ten Miles (this distance is not one of those for which official world records are held) and finished the Amsterdam Marathon with 2:06 : 20 h the world’s best time for the year.

On January 15, 2006 Gebrselassie improved the world record in the half marathon by 21 seconds to 58:55 minutes in a separate race in the second half of the marathon course at the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon . His 20-kilometer split time of 55:48 minutes was also a world record. On March 12th, in a separate race as part of the 20 van Alphen, he also remained below the 25-kilometer world record. However, this time was not recognized as a world record because of unauthorized help from runners who only entered the race later. The elapsed time of 1:11:37 h was therefore only the world best. In the London Marathon, on the other hand, he had problems with the wet road and only finished ninth in 2:09:05 hours. He continued the hunt for the marathon world record in two races in autumn: at the Berlin Marathon he set the world best time of 2:05:56 h, and he won the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:06:52 h.

In 2007 he started again at the London Marathon, but had to give up because he had breathing difficulties due to a pollen allergy. At the Grand Prix meeting of the athletes in Ostrava on June 27th Gebrselassie set two more world records in one race. In the hour run , he covered 21,285 meters in 60 minutes, surpassing the 16-year-old record of the Mexican Arturo Barrios . In the same run he also improved the world record over 20,000 meters.

He finally broke the world record over the 42.195 km distance on September 30, 2007 at the Berlin Marathon. With 2:04:26 h he was 29 seconds below the 2:04:55 h that his Kenyan friend Paul Tergat had achieved in the same place four years earlier. At the winner's interview, he presented himself in a manner typical for him. With a smile he explained: “Don't ask me how proud I am… I promised to run 2:03 - it did not happen, what can I do…” (“Don't ask me how proud I am… I have I promised to run 2:03 - I didn't make it, what should I do ... ").

At the 2008 Dubai Marathon he tried to break this record, for which a record prize of $ 1,000,000 was advertised. After an incredibly fast start (10 kilometers in 28:39 minutes), he reached the half marathon mark in 1:01:27 hours. However, after his last pacemaker got out at 30 km, he slowed down, and so his lead over the intermediate times in Berlin, which was 25 seconds at 35 km, melted away. The final time of 2:04:53 h earned him a $ 250,000 win bonus.

Gebrselassie (center) at the Berlin Marathon 2008

In spring 2008, he canceled participation in the marathon of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing because of his asthma and high levels of air pollution . Instead, he started again over the 10,000-meter distance. He was in the top group until the last lap, but had to let his younger competitors go in the final sprint and came in sixth place, five and a half seconds behind Kenenisa Bekele, who repeated his victory in Athens. In retrospect, Gebrselassie regretted his cancellation of the marathon, as the air conditions in Beijing were much better during the games than on his first visit.

At the 35th Berlin Marathon in 2008 he broke his own world record with 2:03:59 h after a tactically clever and much more steady race than in Dubai, which he held for almost a year to the day. Beaming with joy, he reached the finish line and still had his promise from the previous year (Berlin Marathon 2007) come true. When asked if he could run even faster at some point, he replied shortly after the race: “Certainly, maybe 2:03:30 hours. But I have a strong competitor and he's my age. "

In 2009, his attempt to further improve the marathon world record at the Dubai Marathon in January failed. However, his winning time of 2:05:29 h was still the eighth fastest time in history at this point. After the race he said: “I came to run a world record, but the rain and wind made it impossible today.” He also announced that he would not start at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in order to instead attacking the world record at the Berlin Marathon.

In March he tried to regain the half marathon world record, which he had meanwhile lost to Samuel Kamau Wanjiru . At the CPC Loop The Hague , however, due to adverse weather conditions, he could not endanger the record (58:35 min) at any time and reached the goal in 59:47 min. In the final sprint he even had to let the Kenyan Sammy Kirop Kitwara go, who won by four seconds. In May, Gebrselassie won the Great Manchester Run for the second time since 2005.

On September 20, 2009, he won the Berlin Marathon for the fourth time in a row. With his split time of 1:27:49 h after 30 kilometers, he undercut the world record over this distance by 11 seconds. In the further course, however, he had to pay tribute to his high starting pace and in 2:06:08 clearly missed the desired world record in the marathon.

At the Dubai Marathon on January 22nd, 2010 it was shown that back problems that had occurred shortly before did not allow a new world record. Nevertheless, he managed to prevail against his compatriots Chala Dechase and Eshetu Wendimu with a time of 2:06:09 h and to achieve the third victory in a row in this race. In May he managed to defend his title at the Great Manchester Run, and in September he won the Great North Run in 59:33 minutes on his first participation .

After he could not finish the New York Marathon in 2010, he surprisingly declared his active career over at the subsequent press conference. A week later, he reversed this decision and announced that he would continue to compete after the knee injury healed. His manager Jos Hermens announced that Gebrselassie would compete in the Tokyo Marathon 2011 as planned , but this start did not take place due to an injury. Instead, he competed in the Vienna City Marathon , where he set the fastest time on Austrian soil over the half-marathon distance of 1:00:18, and in the Great Manchester Run, where he triumphed for the fourth time. At the Berlin Marathon, Haile ran into problems after 27 kilometers when Patrick Makau Musyoki increased the pace, and soon had to give up, while Musyoki improved the world record in 2:03:38 h. In October Haile won the Great Birmingham Run , in November he won the Zevenheuvelenloop for the third time.

In 2012, he finished fourth in the Tokyo Marathon in 2:08:17 h, a time that had recently been undercut by no fewer than eleven of his compatriots in the Dubai Marathon. He then gave up another attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games in London . At the Vienna City Marathon he won a pursuit race over the half marathon distance against Paula Radcliffe ; Both athletes were received by President Heinz Fischer the day before . In May he took his fifth victory at the Great Manchester Run. At the FBK Games he tried to qualify for the Olympic Games over 10,000 m, but was only seventh with a time of 27: 20.39 minutes.

After hardly having completed any races since 2014, he announced the end of his professional career in May 2015.

Best times

discipline	power	date	place	Remarks
1500 m	3: 33.73 min	June 6, 1999	Stuttgart
1500 m (hall)	3: 31.76 min	February 1, 1998	Stuttgart
1 mile	3: 52.39 min	June 27, 1999	Gateshead
2000 m	4: 56.10 min	August 22, 1997	Brussels
2000 m (hall)	4: 52.86 min	February 15, 1998	Birmingham	former world record
3000 m	7: 25.09 min	August 28, 1998	Brussels	World annual best 1998
5000 m	12: 39.36 min	June 13, 1998	Helsinki	former world record
10,000 m	26: 22.75 min	June 1, 1998	Hengelo	former world record
10 km	27:02 min	December 11, 2002	Doha	former world record
15 km	41:38 min	November 11, 2001	Nijmegen
10 miles	44:24 min	September 4, 2005	Tilburg	World record
20,000 m	56: 25.98 min	June 27, 2007	Ostrava	World record , split time in the hour run
20 km	55:48 min	January 15, 2006	Phoenix	former WR, meanwhile at the half marathon
half marathon	58:55 min	January 15, 2006	Phoenix	former world record
Hour run	21.285 km	June 27, 2007	Ostrava	World record
25 km	1:11:37 h	March 12, 2006	Alphen aan den Rijn	World record
30 km	1:27:49 h	September 20, 2009	Berlin	former world record
marathon	2:03:59 h	September 28, 2008	Berlin	former world record

• (Current world records in bold ; as of March 23, 2012)

Personal

Haile Gebrselassie is 1.64 m tall. He is the eighth of ten siblings and in his youth ran ten kilometers to school and ten kilometers back with his books under his arm, which he says can still be seen in the peculiar posture of his left arm when running. He is married with four children and is a successful businessman. In 1996 his life and career were processed in a film that appeared in 1999. The film began in Atlanta during the Olympic Games and was shot in Ethiopia in December 1996. Performers are the real members of the family; the young Gebrselassie was portrayed by a relative.

Gebrselassie is an athlete ambassador for the development aid organization Right to Play . In 1995 the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport voted him World Sportsman of the Year . In 1998 he was named World Athlete of the Year . He is the United Nations Honorary Ambassador for a Program for the Development of Ethiopia (ONUD) and holder of the Olympic Order .

In 2009 Haile Gebrselassie also opened his Haile Resort in the city of Awassa and at the same time presented his newly founded joint venture called Marathon Motors Engineering . He announced that he wanted to get into the automotive industry to create jobs in his home country.

In 2011 he received the Prince of Asturias Prize in the Sports category .

Haile Gebrselassie has been an ambassador for the NGO Light for the World since 2013 .

Web links

Commons : Haile Gebrselassie  - Collection of images

• Haile Gebrselassie in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Athlete portrait by Haile Gebrselassie on marathoninfo.free.fr
• Athlete portrait ( Memento from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the World Marathon Majors website
• Ethiopian Athletics Legends: Haile Gebrselassie on ethiopians.com
• “I came to run a world record” , Interview in der Welt , September 23, 2006
• Emil Bischofberger, Monica Schneider “I believe in hard work” Interview in: Tages-Anzeiger from May 18, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Haile Gebrselassie: I have a dream. "On the way to school we often met hyenas" . In: Die Zeit No. 42 of October 8, 2009.
2. ↑ YouTube : 10,000 m sydney olympics final . (posted on July 6, 2008; duration 2:21 minutes)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Runner’s World : Haile Gebrselassie imagines 2:03 hours. http://www.runnersworld.de/laufevents/haile-gebrselassie-malt-sich-2-03-stunden-aus.68440.htm ( Memento from January 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) August 7, 2007
4. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie in record breaking shape in Manchester . May 22, 2005
5. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie runs fastest ever 10 Miles in history: 44:24 , September 4, 2005
6. ↑ IAAF: 2:06:20 win for Gebrselassie in Amsterdam ( memento of November 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). October 16, 2005
7. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie slices 21 seconds off World Half Marathon record and breaks 20 km mark en route . January 15, 2006
8. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie breaks 25 km World record . March 12, 2006
9. ^ IAAF: World-leading 2:05:56 for Gebrselassie in Berlin . September 24, 2006
10. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie's 2:06:52 victory falls just shy of course record in Fukuoka . December 3, 2006
11. ↑ Die Welt : Berlin Marathon: Gebrselassie before the fulfillment of his dream . September 28, 2007
12. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie's legend grows with One Hour Run World record in Ostrava - IAAF World Athletics Tour . June 27, 2007
13. ↑ http://www.iaaf.org/MultimediaFiles/Competitions/WorldChampionships/40312_MP3.mp3 (link not available)
14. ↑ IAAF: Haile - 2:04:26 World Record in Berlin! - UPDATED September 30, 2007
15. ^ IAAF: Second fastest of all time for Gebre in Dubai Marathon . January 18, 2008
16. ↑ Focus : Air pollution: athletes fear shortness of breath in Beijing . July 23, 2008
17. ↑ http://sport.orf.at/spiele08/?href=http://sport.orf.at/spiele08/ticker/299459.html (link not available)
18. ^ IAAF: Haile breaks 2:04 barrier, Mikitenko under 2:20 in Berlin ( Memento from September 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). September 28, 2008
19. ↑ rbbonline : 35th Berlin Marathon: Gebrselassie breaks its own world record ( Memento from December 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). September 28, 2008
20. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Haile Gebrselassie the running king of Berlin . September 28, 2008
21. ^ IAAF: Despite heavy rains, Gebrselassie clocks 2:05:29 in Dubai . January 16, 2009
22. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: No world record in Dubai . January 16, 2009
23. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Haile Gebrselassie toying with the World Cup waiver. January 19, 2009
24. ^ IAAF: Upsets at The Hague - Kitwara and Wangui prevail in City-Pier-City Half Marathon . March 14, 2009
25. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie and Cheruiyot take expected Manchester victories but record hopes blown away . May 17, 2009
26. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie takes fourth Berlin Marathon title . September 20, 2009
27. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Haile Gebrselassie continues to rule in Berlin . September 20, 2009
28. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie fights off back pain and late race challenge to collect third Dubai victory . January 21, 2010
29. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: No world record for Haile Gebrselassie in Dubai . January 22, 2010
30. ↑ IAAF: Gebrselassie and Kidane score Ethiopian sweep in Manchester 10Km . May 16, 2010
31. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie and Adere take Great North Run titles . September 19, 2010
32. ↑ LetsRun.com: Analysis & Hearsay: Haile's Retirement What It Means . November 7, 2010
33. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: "Kaiser" Haile resigns after an exceptional career . November 8, 2010
34. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : Sublime soul in sneakers . November 8, 2010
35. ↑ LetsRun.com: Haile Gebrselassie's Retirement Lasts One Week . November 15, 2010 (with management press release)
36. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie reconsiders retirement, now targeting London 2012 . November 15, 2010
37. ↑ Leichtathletik.de Haile Gebrselassie - Resignation from resignation! . November 15, 2010
38. ↑ Japan Running News: Gebrselassie Reconfirms Intent to Run Tokyo Marathon . November 15, 2010
39. ^ IAAF: Kiprotich and Tola the surprise winners in Vienna, Gebrselassie cruises 1:00:18 in the Half Marathon . April 17, 2011
40. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie takes fourth Manchester 10Km victory, Clitheroe surprises . May 15, 2011
41. ↑ Makau runs a world record and dethrones Gebrselassie . In: Berliner Morgenpost . September 25, 2011
42. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie returns to winning ways with commanding Half Marathon performance in Birmingham . October 23, 2011
43. ^ IAAF: Gebrselassie heads Ethiopian double in Nijmegen . November 20, 2011
44. ^ IAAF: Radcliffe and Gebrselassie meet Austrian President Fischer . April 16, 2012
45. ↑ IAAF: Gebrselassie takes another strong 10k victory in Manchester . May 20, 2012
46. ^ IAAF: Kszczot and Chepseba impress as Gebrselassie's London ambitions end in Hengelo - IAAF World Challenge . May 27, 2012
47. ↑ Gebrselassie ends his running career. In: kurier.at. May 11, 2015, accessed December 29, 2017 . 
48. ↑ Endurance. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 . 
49. ↑ Haile Gebrselassie, Detlef Moritz Abebe, Dr. Wolde Meskal: Running with Haile Gebrselassie Ehrenwerth Verlag
50. ↑ International Board of Ambassadors on light-for-the-world.org, accessed September 30, 2013