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I know what I want when I start a marathon: to win! But what do you want? Make sure you're clear in advance and don't go out too fast.

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
Make
Marathon
Advance
Fast
Winning
Sure
Clear
Start

More quotes by Haile Gebrselassie

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Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well.
Haile Gebrselassie
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First, do enough training. Then believe in yourself and say: I can do it. Tomorrow is my day. And then say: the person in front of me, he is just a human being as well he has two legs, I have two legs, that is all. That is mentally how you prepare.
Haile Gebrselassie
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I have to change a lot of things before I become a good marathon runner.
Haile Gebrselassie
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The more you are getting older, you lose a little something. Of course there is another advantage, because of your long experience you can use it.
Haile Gebrselassie
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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.
Haile Gebrselassie
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In the marathon a crazy athlete can just keep pushing from the beginning, at a championship you don't need a time just to win the race.
Haile Gebrselassie
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When I had no shoes I was comfortable - I used to run barefoot. When I wore shoes it was difficult. To run in shoes was ok, but at the beginning of my career it was hard.
Haile Gebrselassie
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For me a day without training is like a day without eating.
Haile Gebrselassie
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I love running and I will always run.
Haile Gebrselassie
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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.
Haile Gebrselassie
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That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa.
Haile Gebrselassie
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Some people start a sport just to reduce weight, or some say, 'My doctor ordered me to run and do exercise', and for others, they run for completely different benefits. But it is not like that with sport. We need to eat, we need to rest, but also we need to run.
Haile Gebrselassie
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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.
Haile Gebrselassie
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Like some high official, you have to tell your brain: 'Do it. Come on. I have to do it.'
Haile Gebrselassie
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I used to run to school, 10k every day. And this at altitude, perfect preparation, really.
Haile Gebrselassie
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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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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.
Haile Gebrselassie
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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.
Haile Gebrselassie
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I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people's eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia.
Haile Gebrselassie
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Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.
Haile Gebrselassie