HaileGebrselassie.docVIP

Haile Gebre Selassie Intro Haile Gebre Selassie is regarded universally as the greatest distance runner of all times. With a career that sees him breaking records as they are made, Haile has built an extraordinary reputation as an exceptional athlete who is setting a new level in long-distance running. The Beginning - Brief Bio Haile was born in the province of Arsi in Central Ethiopia. Arsi is a fertile region in the central Ethiopian plateau that has produced great long-distant runners like Derartu Tulu, Fatuma Roba, and of course, Haile Gebreselassie. Haile was inspired by his countrymen, the Ethiopian marathon legend, Abebe Bikila and also 5k and 10k Olympic gold medalist Miruts Yifter. As a child he had to run 10 kilometers a day each way to go and come back from school. At age 16, without any formal training, he entered the Addis Ababa marathon, and finished in 2:42. Haile rose to international prominence in 1992 when he won the 5000m and 10,000m World Junior championships. In 1993 at the Stuttgart World championships, he won the 10,000m and got second in the 5000m. Haile set his first World Record in the 5000m in 12:56.96 in Hengelo, Holland in 1994. By breaking the 6 year old world record of Said Aouita. 1995 - Gabes Milestone Year 1995 established Haile as an unparalleled long-distance runner. He had a bad start due to mismanagement and bad leadership by the Athletics Federation which bungled the travel plans of the national athletics team in a race in England. Haile finished fourth. However, in May of the same year, Haile broke Moses Kiptanuis World Record in the 2 miles race by clocking 8:07.46. Only a week later, Haile broke the world record in 10K by clocking a new speed of 26:43.53 in a race in Hengelo, Holland. Haile won another victory in the World Championship 10,000m by earning a gold medal. A 12:44.39 record in the 5K race in Zurich, in August brought the number of world records broken by Haile to four. Before the end of the year, Haile had brok