Haile Gebrselassie: Mr Berlin-Marathon returns to his favourite race

Haile Gebrselassie returns to his favourite marathon: There is no other race at the classic distance which he likes as much as the real,- BERLIN MARATHON. This is no coincidence since nowhere has he been as successful in the marathon as in the German capital.

It was two years ago in Berlin when he finally fullfilled his big dream by breaking the world record. When he returned a year ago Haile Gebrselassie broke his record and achieved the first sub 2:04 time in the marathon (2:03:59). Now the Ethiopian will go for record number three and for further unique achievements.

„I can run a bit quicker,“ Haile Gebrselassie had said after winning in Berlin in 2008. “I know that I can run 2:03:30. But may be on a perfect day I could even reach 2:02:59.” In 2008 he had started the race after a problem in the built-up. A slight calf muscle injury had hampered his training for some time. During the marathon it was fine, but probably Haile Gebrselassie was not quite 100 percent. Additionally in 2008 he had interrupted his training for Berlin when he travelled to the Olympic Games to run the 10,000 m.

Taking his original Berlin goal there are still 59 seconds missing today. At a pre-race press conference two years ago Haile Gebrselassie had been asked to make a drawing which should show his motivation for running. Haile Gebrselassie painted himself and wrote below: ,2:03:00 – I will show you’! Then he said: “You always have to have big goals.”

Should Haile Gebrselassie indeed break the world record for a third time or should he win the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON for the fourth time in a row then he would assure his position as ,Mr Berlin Marathon’. Until today he has started three times at this race and always won.

There is one novelty he has achieved already before coming back to Berlin. For the second time in a row his face will be on all the finisher medals of the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. Since Haile Gebrselassie had established a second world record at this race he will be honoured for a second time.

There is no doubt that Haile Gebrselassie belongs to the greatest runners ever seen. The Ethiopian so far has broken 19 official plus 7 unofficial world records. Additionally he took two Olympic golds and four World Championship titles at 10,000 m. So he at least stands in one row with Finland’s Paavo Nurmi, who had established 22 official plus at least 12 unofficial world records until the early 30ies, or Emil Zatopek. The Czech’s Olympic achievements in 1952 are still unique. He took the gold medals at 5,000 m and 10,000 m and then won the marathon as well in Helsinki.

Haile Gebrselassie managed to achieve world-class results over a very long period, which few other runners can match. His breakthrough came at the age of 20, when he took the World Championships’ gold medal in the 10,000 m final in 1993. Additionally he won a silver in the 5,000 m final in Stuttgart.

While at 36 Haile Gebrselassie is no longer fast enough to match the speed of his fellow countryman Kenenisa Bekele on the track his age is still fine for marathon running. “Of all my world records the ones in the marathon are without doubt the most important ones to me. This is because the marathon is the king of distance running events. Now my name is in the marathon record lists and I am very proud of this. In 100 years people will still look into these lists and say, ah, this was Haile Gebrselassie.”

Haile Gebrselassie was born in central Ethiopia (Arssi region) and grew up on the farm of his parents. They had ten children altogether. Since the school was 10 kilometres away he had to cover a distance of 20 km per day. Haile ran to school, carrying his books all the way. Doing this he unconsciously built up the basis for his future career as a runner.

Today Haile Gebrselassie lives in the capital Addis Ababa with his wife Alem and their four children. The three girls Eden (12 years), Melat (10) and Batiy (8) go to school while their son Nathan is just 3 years old. Gebrselassie runs his main training session early in the morning outside of Addis Ababa. He then has breakfast back home and goes to the office for a couple of hours. The 36 year-old runs a building and estate company in the capital. After office work he takes a rest before he goes for a second shorter training session in the afternoon. But Haile never really runs slow. „In can not run slow – there is something which makes me run fast. A slow run would be 4:30 minutes per kilometre, I can’t go slower than that,” says the world record holder, who covers up to 250 kilometres per week in a marathon built-up.

There is one big goal, which Haile Gebrselassie did not yet reach during his outstanding career: the Olympic marathon gold. Though he was the world’s fastest marathon runner in the past four years (this is a record as well) he did not go for the distance at the Olympics in Beijing in 2008. Afraid of the possibility of a polluted Chinese capital and of negative health effects he decided to go for the 10,000 m instead. “I am sure – and Haile is as well – that he can still win the Olympic marathon in London 2012,” his manager Jos Hermens had said before the Beijing games.

As in 2008 Haile Gebrselassie’s priority remains to further improve his marathon world record. This is more important for him than to chase medals at global championships. And this is the reason why he decided not to run the World Championships’ marathon in Berlin in August but instead come back for the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON a month later. Haile Gebrselassie fears that one of the strong Kenyans could break his marathon world record.

Indeed in April Duncan Kibet came very close when he took the Rotterdam Marathon with 2:04:27. Because of this the Ethiopian wants to run even faster and will return to his favourite marathon race. “Berlin,” says Haile Gebrselassie, “is my lucky city.”

Quelle: BERLIN-MARATHON