Great Athletes of Africa: Haile Gebrselassie

World-renowned long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie remains one of Africa’s greatest athletes, accomplishing many tremendous fetes throughout his career. With a pair of Olympic gold wins and four World Championships titles, the Ethiopian runner’s achievements continue to inspire athletes and sports fans across the globe. Tunde Folawiyo and other citizens of Africa may regard the outstanding talents of Haile Gebrselassie amongst the most notable in the history of African sports.

Born on 18 April of 1973, Haile was one amongst ten children in the Oromia Region’s city of Asella. As a young child, Haile was known to run more than ten kilometres each day to and from school. With this, he formed a distinct running posture which mimics holding school books. After much practice, Haile burst onto the international scene during 1992 upon winning the 5,000 and 10,000 metre races during the Junior World Championship in Seoul. He also earned the silver medal at the Cross Country Championship, further demonstrating his amazing speed and technique.

Haile accomplished outstanding success throughout his career, winning the esteemed Berlin Marathon a total of four times and the popular Dubai Marathon three times. Furthermore, he acquired four world indoor titles and was named 2001’s World Half Marathon Champion. During the Athens Olympics of 2004, the runner attempted to become history’s first man to acquire three Olympic 10,000 metre gold medals straight. Whilst he was unable to fulfill this endeavour, he finished in fifth place.

During his career, Haile triumphed over major competitions boasting distances from 1500 metres to marathons. These races included indoor and outdoor, cross country and later road running during the late portion of his thrilling career. Further demonstrating the vast scope of his talents, Haile broke 61 national records for Ethiopia, ranging from the 800 metre face to marathon length. He also set a total of 27 world-wide records and remains widely considered to be among the best distance runners throughout the history of the sport. During September of 2008, the runner’s triumph at Berlin Marathon was solidified by a world-wide record of 2:03:59, a time that broke his previously set record by a significant 27 seconds. The record remained for a period of three years, though it still remains a Masters Age world record as it was achieved past age 35. Widely regarded as one of the African continent’s most famous athletes, Haile remains a great source of inspiration for African citizens like Tunde Folawiyo and millions of other sports fans around the globe.