Gebrselassie: Still Impervious at 40

Note:

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)

12 Oct 2013

Haile Gebrselassie

Double Olympic gold medalist Haile Gebrselassie broke clear of Kenya’s Emmanuel Bett in the final stages to win the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow. The 40-year-old Ethiopian, in his first appearance in Scotland, crossed the line in 61 minutes nine seconds, a record for the annual half-marathon.

Having led the way for the first 5km, Gebrselassie invited the others to take their turn at the front. The world record holder at 20,000m and the one-hour race, surged 100m clear with a mile to go as they headed along the Broomielaw towards the city centre. And he maintained the gap over the final mile to cross the line first at Glasgow Green, 31 seconds before Bett.

“Today was really wonderful. I am so happy. It was a perfect set-up. I didn’t expect this kind of weather. When I saw the time at 15k I knew we were heading for a fast time,” said Gebrselassie.

The Great Scottish Run was first held in 1982 and has grown each year, with 24,089 people taking part last year.

Haile was born as one of ten children in Asella, Arsi Province, Ethiopia. As a child growing up on a farm he used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same back every evening. This led to a distinctive running posture, with his left arm crooked as if still holding his school books.

He gained international recognition in 1992 when he won the 5000-metre and 10,000-metre races at the 1992 Junior World Championships in Seoul and a silver medal in the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships.

The next year, in 1993, Haile won the first of what would eventually be four consecutive world championships titles in the men’s 10,000 metres at the 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999 World Championships. His win at the 1993 was, however, his most infamous as he accidentally stepped on the heel of Moses Tanui’s shoe, causing it to fly off his foot. The contact causes Tanui to finish second behind Gebresalassie. Also at the 1993 World Championships he ran in the 5,000-metre race to finish a close second behind Ismael Kirui of Kenya. In 1994 he won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Later that year he set his first world record by running a 12:56.96 in the 5,000-metres, breaking Saïd Aouita’s record by two seconds.

In 1995, Haile ran the 10,000-metres in 26:43.53 in Hengelo, The Netherlands, lowering the world record by nine seconds. That same summer, in Zürich, Switzerland, Haile ran the 5000 metres in 12:44.39, taking 10.91 seconds off the world record 12:55.30 (established by Kenya’s Moses Kiptanui earlier in the year). This world record at the Weltklasse meet in Zürich was voted “Performance of the Year” for 1995 by Track & Field News magazine. At the same Weltklasse meet in Zürich in 1996, an exhausted Haile, suffering from blisters obtained on the hard track in Atlanta (where he had won the Olympic 10,000 metres gold), had no answer to the 58-second lap of Daniel Komen with five laps to go as Komen went on to win and just miss Haile’s record, finishing in 12:45.09. In 1997, Haile turned the tables on Komen at the same meet. Coming off his third 10K world championship gold medal, Haile beat Komen in another Zürich classic on 13 August 1997, covering the final 200 metres in 26.8 seconds to break his 5,000 metres world record with a time of 12:41.86. Komen, in turn, took Haile’s record only nine days later when Komen ran a 12:39.74 performance in Belgium.

The next year, 1998, saw Haile lowering the indoor world records for 2,000 and 3,000 metres, enjoying success outdoors by taking back both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres world records, as well as earning a share in the Golden League jackpot for winning all of his races in the Golden League series that summer. In June 1998, in Hengelo, Netherlands, Haile set a 10,000 metres world record 26:22.75, breaking Paul Tergat’s world record 26:27.85, running evenly paced 13:11/13:11 5K splits.

In 2000, Haile again won all of his races, ranking first in the world yet again in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he became the third man in history to successfully defend an Olympic 10,000 metres title (after Emil Zátopek and Lasse Virén). The narrow Olympic victory over Kenya’s Paul Tergat came down to a blistering final kick, with Tergat’s 26.3 second final 200 metres being toppled by Haile’s even faster 25.4. The winning margin of victory was only 0.09 seconds, closer than the winning margin in the men’s 100-metre dash final.

In 2001, he won the IAAF World half marathon and the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. In the same year, he also worked with Peter Middlebrook and Abi Masefield he conceptualised the Great Ethiopian Run, which was latterly supported by Brendan Foster, British runner Richard Nerurkar the British ambassador to Ethiopia Myles Wickstead.

On 30 August 2003, Haile topped the polls when elected as a member of the IAAF Athletes Commission. Also in 2003, at the World Championships in Paris, Haile was involved in one of the most remarkable 10,000 metres races of all time while gaining a silver medal behind countryman and protégé Kenenisa Bekele. The last half of the 10,000 metres final at the championships was completed in a staggering 12:57.24 (12:57.2 for Bekele and 12:58.8 for Haile). According to the IAAF, “Not only was this split the fastest closing 5,000 metres in the championships, but it was also the fastest 5,000 metres in a global championship surpassing the 12:58.13 Salah Hissou recorded when he won the 5,000m in Sevilla’99.” (This remark remained true until a week later when the World Athletic Championships 5,000 metres medalists (including Bekele) all ran faster than the second 5,000 metres split in the previous week’s 10,000 metres.) “The difference between the closing 5,000 metres splits (12:57.24) and the 5,000 metres World record (12:39.36) was 17.98 seconds, which is a record. The previous best of 18.4 seconds (13:31.4 for the closing 5,000 metres when the World Record was 13:13.0) was recorded in the 1976 Olympics.”

In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Haile sought to become the first man in history to win three straight Olympic gold medals in the 10,000 metres. He was unable to do so, however, he finished fifth in a race won by his compatriot Kenenisa Bekele, who had broken both of Haile’s major track world records, the 5,000 metres and the 10,000 metres records. Shortly before the Athens games, Haile was unable to train for three weeks due to inflammation of his Achilles tendon. The injury was severe enough that he would not have competed otherwise but did so because of significant pressure from his country. This loss of the final period of training likely cost him a medal.

Since leaving the track after the 2004 Olympics, Haile has focused on road racing and the marathon. His adult marathons to date include London 2002 (3rd place), Amsterdam 2005 (1st place), London 2006 (9th place), Berlin 2006 (1st place), Fukuoka 2006 (1st place), London 2007, Berlin 2007 (1st place and World Record), Dubai 2008 (1st place), Berlin 2008 (1st place and another World Record), Dubai 2009 (1st place) Berlin 2009 (1st place), Dubai 2010 (1st place), and NYC 2010.

Note:

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.