Haile Gebrselassie Quotes

• I want to go down in history.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I wanted to be famous. I wanted people to talk about me.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I want to avoid injuries by running only road.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I remember in particular my first victory when I achieved a very fast time in what were perfect conditions but since then the wind has always been a factor against me.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I love running and I will always run.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I have seen things few of my countrymen have. The first time I went on an aeroplane I couldn’t work out how the lavatories worked up in the sky.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people’s eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I find the business world hard.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I always tell young athletes the same thing, ‘Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.’

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I can’t change everything by myself but I can be one of the people who are trying to change the situation.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• Athletics is in my blood.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Blood

• Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• At the end of the day, people want to see how fast you run.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• Age for me is just a number.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• When I had no shoes I was comfortable – I used to run barefoot. When I wore shoes it was difficult. To run in shoes was ok, but at the beginning of my career it was hard.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• The marathon always starts after 30K. That’s where the problems start. You start without any problems, without any pain. All the pain comes after 30K. Sometimes, it’s possible to have pain even in the finger.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• My school was six miles away from where I lived on the farm. I had to walk and run, there and back every day, through gorges and over rivers. If I was late, there was a very big stick waiting for me.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

• Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can’t make planes or cars, we don’t have the materials. We do what we can.

  Haile Gebrselassie

  Topics in Uncategorized

Haile Gebrselassie (68)

Birth:	18th April, 1973
Nationality:	Ethiopian
Profession:	Athlete

About

Haile Gebrselassie is an Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he won four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion.

Related Authors

• Im Dong Hyun
• Nadia Comăneci
• Trent Dilfer
• Lorrie Fair
• Jim Ryun
• David Bryant
• Gale Sayers
• Nick Price
• Hal Sutton
• Nomar Garciaparra

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 26th December

Births

• 1872 - Norman Angell
• 1914 - Richard Widmark
• 1917 - Rose Mary Woods
• 1751 - Lord George Gordon

Deaths

• 1931 - Melvil Dewey
• 2004 - Reggie White
• 1945 - Bela Bartok
• 2011 - Samuel Carthorne Rivers
• 2005 - Kerry Packer