(AFP) ADDIS ABABA: At the age of 35, Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie has won all the honours in long-distance running but is risking his status by lining up in a competitive 10,000m showdown in Beijing.
So is one of Africa’s greatest athletes of all time poised to climb further up the Olympic firmament or could it be one race too far for a star overtaken by his legend?
Irrelevant, says Gebrselassie, putting on his trademark smile as he tells AFP he hopes to still be vying for gold in 2012 …and, why not, in 2016.
“I am too young to retire,” he remarked, as he trains on the newly-refurbished Addis Ababa national stadium track, which hosted the African championships in May.
Gebrselassie, who won the 10,000m gold medals in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000 knows very well the big task he will face against the younger runners in the Chinese city, where pollution fears forced him to pull out of the marathon event.
Four years ago in Athens, Gebrselassie finished fifth in the race won by his compatriot and heir-apparent Kenenisa Bekele who is threatening to surpass his mentor as the next great distance runner to emerge from the African nation.
The 26-year-old Bekele holds both the world records in the 5,000m and the 10,000m which he snatched from Gebrselassie.
Even his own countrymen have given him little chance of making an impact in Beijing.
But win or lose, Gebrselassie has already cushioned himself for a good life, away from athletics after he hangs up his running shoes.
Known as the Little Emperor, he is an avid patriot and hopes to go into politics after his retirement.
“I would like to serve my country in the political arena in the future,” he said. “But I need to mature and learn more.”
The diminutive athlete has already shown some leadership qualities in running his huge business empire inside the country.
From sports marketing to cinema to the hotel industry, he has used his huge earnings to change the skyline of the capital city of Addis Ababa, where a massive construction boom is taking place.
“He has contributed a lot to the country – his businesses offers employment to hundreds of his people,” said Kibrom Gebrezgi, a self-confessed fan of the athlete.
“Who knows, maybe he will repeat his success as a political leader as he has done in athletics,” he added.
Gebrselassie has come a long way from where he grew up in the fertile Arsi region of south Ethiopia.
One of 10 children, he used to run to school but his father did not approve of his aspirations to be become an athlete in later life.
It was only after his victory in the World Junior Championships in Seoul in 1992 that he was allowed to continue running, and he has repaid their patience in full.
His family now live on a sprawling mansion on a hill overlooking the capital, a far-cry from the tiny village of Assella where he grew up. Gebrselassie and his wife Alem have four children – three girls and a boy.