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You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It's like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon - it's the same.

Haile Gebrselassie

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Haile Gebrselassie
Age: 51
Born: 1973
Born: April 18
Athletics Competitor
Long-Distance Runner
Marathon Runner
Olympic Athlete
Asela
Haile Gebrselassie
Marathon
World
Exceptional
Cups
Soccer
England
Winning
Country
Ethiopia
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I find the business world hard.
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I will always listen to my coaches. But first I listen to my body. If what they tell me suits my body, great. If my body doesn't feel good with what they say, then always my body comes first.
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Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words.
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Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country. For me sometimes it is difficult even to know who the athletes are who are competing at the highest level. There are thousands.
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Life is a kind of struggle. Life is a sort of fight.
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What can you do if a part of it is uphill? You can't work out another route. You've just got to run the one they give you. But they tell me London is a nice course. Even the cobbles, I hope, are not very much of a problem for me.
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If your body is damaged, wounded, it can be fixed, but if inside, mentally, you are wounded you cannot fix it, it's hard.
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It is not my duty to spend my money in my country, but it is what I want to do. There is nowhere else I would like to invest.
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In the rainy season, sometimes to get to the first lesson we had to run really quick, because we had to cross the river to school and we'd have to go up and down the bank to find a place to cross because there is no bridge.
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My school was six miles away from where I lived on the farm. I had to walk and run, there and back every day, through gorges and over rivers. If I was late, there was a very big stick waiting for me.
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You must do as your people do. If my people are poor, I must be poor. People ask me, 'Why don't you find a personal coach or a private car?' I can't. Then I won't be part of my people.
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I remember in particular my first victory when I achieved a very fast time in what were perfect conditions but since then the wind has always been a factor against me.
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You know, I want to help my country. Definitely I can help them, simply by winning races. Sure, they can follow my path to a good career. But for me it is not enough. I want to be more than that. In everything I want to be a role model.
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Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.
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This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs.
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When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.
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He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.
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Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country.
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I want to go down in history.
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