Haile Gebrselassie Quotes

• You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It’s like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon – it’s the same.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• If I don’t train enough, of course I’m nervous.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• The more you are getting older, you lose a little something. Of course there is another advantage, because of your long experience you can use it.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• In my life I do a lot of things but I never forget my training.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• When you promise something, you must fulfill it.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• For me a day without training is like a day without eating.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• First, do enough training. Then believe in yourself and say: I can do it. Tomorrow is my day. And then say: the person in front of me, he is just a human being as well; he has two legs, I have two legs, that is all. That is mentally how you prepare.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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• You know, I want to help my country. Definitely I can help them, simply by winning races. Sure, they can follow my path to a good career. But for me it is not enough. I want to be more than that. In everything I want to be a role model.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• When we race in London a world record will be the last thing on our minds.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• What can you do if a part of it is uphill? You can’t work out another route. You’ve just got to run the one they give you. But they tell me London is a nice course. Even the cobbles, I hope, are not very much of a problem for me.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• This is what I wanted. They tell me that London is the best field in history. I wanted to be part of that. Because everyone will be there it will be a wonderful challenge for me. You can see the best runners, how they look, how they run. For me to beat the best is what counts.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country. For me sometimes it is difficult even to know who the athletes are who are competing at the highest level. There are thousands.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• My father thought sport was something fun – he didn’t know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: ‘Good, you can support not just yourself but me too’.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• In the rainy season, sometimes to get to the first lesson we had to run really quick, because we had to cross the river to school and we’d have to go up and down the bank to find a place to cross because there is no bridge.

  Haile Gebrselassie

• I’m lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife.

  Haile Gebrselassie

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.

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Today's Anniversary - 28th December

Births

• 1950 - Alex Chilton
• 1979 - Noomi Rapace
• 1953 - Trip Hawkins
• 1932 - Roy Hattersley
• 1946 - Timothy Peter Johnson

Deaths

• 1950 - Max Beckmann
• 1963 - Paul Hindemith
• 1984 - Sam Peckinpah
• 1963 - A. J. Liebling
• 2004 - Susan Sontag