Haile Gebrselassie reconsiders decision - Lord Coe praises Haile.

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If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)

By Rameshon

Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

GEBRSELASSIE'S DESCRIBES HIS LOVE FOR RUNNING

Picture 1 - Always Gebrselassie is prepared for before any race.

Haile Gebrselassie may be reconsidering his decision to retire from athletics. This is a piece of good news for all of us. It will be good to see him, hopefully, run in the 2012 London Olympics. He was in tears announcing his retirement from the sport after stopping in the ING New York Marathon at the 16-mile mark. A day before, some fluid was taken from his knee so that he can run the race. Haile thought that everything should be fine. However, things did not turn out well when he going through a downhill where his knee started to hurt a lot.

In the press conference on Sunday, Haile said, "I'm not going to run anymore. It's better to stop here." Haile made this decision without even seeing his manager. After some encouragement from some officials, he is rethinking about coming back to competitive running. "What a disappointing weekend, I didn't plan to come back to Ethiopia this way. I wanted to succeed in New York," Gebrselassie mentioned.

He said, "I still love running. I will always run. Just give me some time to think things over." Some of his close associates think that Gebrselassie made the decision in the spur of the moment and is confident that he will race again.

Gebremariam, the winner of ING New York City 2010, said, "When I get back home I will start to speak to him to try to make him think again. He has to run two or three more races. I think he will change his mind.

"Haile is the king of athletics. He decided... after getting the injury. I think he was very emotional at that time."

Picture 2 - Two times Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder of 800m, Lord Coe.

Lord Sebastion Coe, the former world record holder of 800m said,  "We will wait a long time before an athlete dominates over so many distances and across such an extraordinary time period as Haile Gebrselassie has done.

"The litmus test for a successful athlete is longevity at the very highest level and he had that in abundance.

"There is nothing he couldn't do - and he did it with style. I believe he is the greatest athlete of the last 50 years and arguably the best of all time."

Let us hope that this just a spur of the moment decision by Haile. Many are hoping to see Haile run in the 2012 London Olympics. We believe that with Haile, there is more excitement to come.

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By Narayanan

Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).

He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.