Haile’s top ten moments
Following Haile Gebrselassie’s emotional retirement from the sport after his disappointing failure to finish last Sunday’s New York Marathon spikesmag.com decided to pay tribute to the
greatest distance runner in history. Of course, speculation is now rife he could reverse his decision, so we unveil the ten greatest achievements in Haile’s career, so far?
1993 – World Championships Stuttgart, Germany Aug 22 10,000m
The race which announced to the world the incredible potential of Haile. In a bizarre finale the Ethiopian accidentally trod on the shoe of long-time leader Moses Tanui with a little under 400m to go. Tanui angrily kicked off the dislodged shoe and burst into a 10m lead before Haile slowly reeled him in down the home straight to strike gold by 0.52 in 27:46.02. It was the first of his four successive world 10,000m titles.
1995 – Zurich, Switzerland Aug 16 5000m
Earlier that summer Gebrselassie has hacked nine seconds from the world 10,000m record in Hengelo but arguably his greater achievement that year came in Zurich when he sliced a staggering 10.91 seconds from Moses Kiptanui’s world 5000m record in Zurich. He recorded a time of 12:44.39 – a time which still stands as the sixth fastest of all-time today.
1996 – Olympic Games Atlanta, USA Jul 29 10,000m
Overcoming blisters from the hard track surface in Atlanta, Haile struck his first Olympic gold medal in an epic encounter with his great rival Paul Tergat. In a scenario which was to become the norm for much of their careers, Haile managed to outkick Tergat over the final lap to take gold by 0.83 in an Olympic record time of 27:07.34
1997 – Zurich, Switzerland Aug 13 5000m
Some twelve months after Haile suffered defeat to rising Kenyan star Daniel Komen at this same meeting, the Ethiopian exacted revenge in spectacular fashion. The world’s greatest ever distance runner on this occasion simply blew the world 5000m champion away. Haile ran a staggering final 200m in 26.8 and lowered his own world record by more than two-and-half seconds in 12:41.86.
1998 – Hengelo, Holland Jun 1 10,000m
Haile enjoyed, argubaly, the finest year in his track career in 1998 and began his season with a bang in Hengelo. Running back-to-back 5000m in splits of 13:11/13:11 the diminutive Ethiopian ran clear of the field to slice more than five seconds from Paul Tergat’s world 10,000m record. Haile’s time of 26:22.75 still remains his quickest ever for 10,000m and is still the third quickest in history for the 25-lap distance.
1998 – Helsinki, Finland Jun 13 5000m
Later that summer Haile also recorded his fastest ever 5000m with a blistering 12:39.36 clocking to chip 0.38 from Daniel Komen’s world record. Passing four laps to go in 8:40.00 the Ethiopian superstar needed to draw on all his reserves to record a sub-four minute final 400m to snatch the record. It still stands second on the all-time lists today.
1999 – World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan Mar 5-7 1500m and 3000m
Haile demonstrated his incredible versatility over a range distances by completing the 1500m and 3000m double in the three-day global indoor championship. He landed victory over the metric mile in a championship record 3:33.77 by 0.21 from Kenya’s Laban Rotich and the Ethiopian also secured victory in the 3000m in 7:53.57. He is still the only man in history to complete this double at a World Indoor Championships.
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 10,000m Sept 25
Some would say the defining moment of Haile’s career came on ‘Magic Monday’ in Sydney. Struggling with an Achilles problem in the lead up to the Games he was locked in an epic head-to-head with his old rival Paul Tergat. The Kenyan completed the final 200m in 26.3 but Haile trumped him to complete the final half-lap in just 25.4 to secure victory in the final stride. He successfully defended his Olympic title by just 0.09 – less than the victory margin in the men’s 100m - in a time of 27:18.20.
2007 Berlin, Germany Marathon Date: Sept 30
Now reinvented as a marathon runner Haile also proved his greatness over the 26.2-mile distance to lower the world record mark of his old sparring partner Paul Tergat by some 29 seconds. He stopped the clock in 2:04:26 and achieved this by running a staggering second half in sub-62 minutes.
2008 Berlin, Germany Marathon Date: Sept 28
Twelve months after first breaking the world marathon record mark he repeated the feat on the streets of the German capital with another extraordinary run. On this occasion he became the first man in history to run a sub 2:04 marathon (in 2:03:59) at an eye-popping average speed of 4:44 per mile for the 26.2-mile distance.