By Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
Berlin, Germany – In a recent interview in the German press Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, possibly the best long distance runner ever, reconfirmed his ambition to run in next summer’s World Championship Marathon in Berlin, and also described Usain Bolt as an athlete blessed with talent.
The Jamaica’s ‘Lightning Bolt’, the greatest sprinter ever seen, won three sprint gold medals at the Olympic Games with three World records (100m, 200m, 4x100m). In contrast the Ethiopian concentrated on improving his World record this season and opted to run the fast Berlin Marathon instead of the Olympic Marathon. In Beijing he was sixth in the 10,000m but then last month became the first runner to break 2:04 in the Marathon, by clocking 2:03:59 in Berlin.
Interviewed by German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in Berlin, Gebrselassie was asked if he had watched other events after his Olympic race in Beijing, especially Usain Bolt’s performances.
“No, I was there only for four days and then went back to Addis Ababa. But of course I did watch other events on television. People in Ethiopia are generally not interested in sprint events, but everyone including myself wanted to see Usain Bolt – especially after he had won the 100 metres. He was flying. Three gold medals and three world records, that is unbelievable,” said Gebrselassie.
Asked if he felt that Usain Bolt’s celebrations after his victories looked arrogant and what he says about doping suspicions Gebrselassie answered: “It is important that athletics is a clean sport. If someone is criticised just because he runs very fast then this is unfair. For me Usain Bolt is an athlete blessed with talent. Sprint mainly has to do with talent. Of course he did a show (after his victories), but I did not see anything bad. May be others don’t like it, but his joy came from his heart.”
Again and again Gebrselassie has stated that he did not regret his decision to miss the Olympic marathon, but he admitted that he made a tactical mistake in the 10,000m final in Beijing. “I should have attacked with two kilometres to go, it was a mistake not to have done that. Actually it was quite easy. I don’t know, why I did not try doing it.”
The three-time Berlin Marathon champion (the only one to have won this event three times in a row) Gebrselassie confirmed that he wants to run the World Championship marathon in Berlin next year.
“Berlin is my lucky city. Sometimes you have something like this in a career.” Gebrselassie had already run in Berlin in 1992 in an Ekiden, which Ethiopia won. In 1995 he established a 5000 m meeting record at the ISTAF meeting with 12:53.19. That record stood for 13 years.
Gebrselassie looks forward to comingback to Berlin in 2009. “Even if I would finish tenth next year people will still be shouting ‘Haile, Haile’,” said Gebrselassie, who confirmed that the Olympic marathon in London 2012 is his distant goal.