Marathon medallist’s claim about Beijing Olympics purely personal
(Xinhua) – The Ethiopian ambassador to China said on Wednesday the world marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie’s statement about not to compete in the Beijing Olympic marathon is a personal decision made without consulting the country’s Olympic committee.
The Ethiopian runner told Reuters and a few other western media on March 10 that he intends to opt out of the marathon in Beijing because the city’s air pollution might damage his health. But he said he would still attend the 10,000 meters event at the 2008 Games.
“We don’t know what made him to make the announcement, and we don’t understand why he chose this time to say it,” the Ethiopian Ambassador to China, Haile-Kiros Gessesse, told Xinhua reporters.
Gessesse said Beijing has improved its air quality since it won the Olympic bid in 2001, when it suffered from more serious air problems.
“I think his claim is not quite convincing to the public,” the ambassador said.
He said only the Ethiopian Olympic Committee could decide who will play and who will not and the committee has not yet decided the final list of athletes attending the 2008 Olympic games.
11 thoughts on “Woyanne ambassador in China bad-mouths Haile”
weyane controls ethiopian wealth, but not the heart and mind of ethiopians. Like you see they, the are bullying haile to participate in the Beijing Olympics to please their chinese masters.
there is not such thing called personal freedom in woyane’s world. I couldn’t understand why Haile has not right to decide to run or not run!
In authoritarian regimes like Woyanne individuals don’t have the right to decide on their lives, their participation in sports.It is up to Haile to decide on his life not the Woyane Ambassador.The reason given by Haile is Convincing. There is nothing more valuable than ones own health.
I think Haile should concentrate on his athletic gift not poletics. At least not yet. Speaking your mind is one thing beig a pupet for the west is another thing. We all should understand and support China’s endevour for development.We have no reason to panic like the west. We need Strong China to balance the western influence and it is in our own national interest.
It is true and is a fact that the crimefamily is multi-millionaire and murderers too, and own and run a lot of heavy industries and many service sectors in Ethiopia as well as abroad. They must know that they don’t own the lives of Ethiopians. Haile has every right to decide on what is good and what is bad for his health and wellbeing. The crime family’s member, the ambasador in chinal spoke against individuals’s right and it is upto the crime family to decide who participating in the upcoming olympics. The question is, will the crime family sabotage Haile?
i think this time the Ambasador himself Run this Marathon,
Mr gessesse maybe haile gave you the chance this time for you to run . Be happy.shut your ff mouth please
አንድ ሰው የሀገር መልካም ገጽታ ብሎም ሀብት ከሆነ በሗላ ሃላፊነቱ ከራሱና ቤተሰቦቹ አልፎ ለሀገርም ይሆንና የሚናገረው ሁሉ ሀገርን የወከለ ይሆናል:: ስለሆነም ትንሽ ሰፋ አድርጎ ማሰብ ይጠበቅበታል::
Ones Personal rights are part of politics. Whenever one starts to decide for himself the totlitarians are not happy because they want to decide on each and everone’s life. To run for olympics is a two faced decision, personal and national. Here haile decided not to run for his personal health reasons. Even if the country wants him to run at the final analysis, he still can decide not to. So what is wrong with is decision, and the experesion of his decsion when and wherever he wants. Woyanes please sober up a little!
Haile has made a hasty decission when he announced his problem on running the marathon. He should have been carefull, that some interest group will use this to undermine China’s effort to organize the best marathon. On the other hand the woyane ambassador run a very bad marathon with his mouth. He expossed his governments will to control every ones right. including, the right to say, I am sick, I can’t run.
What do you expect from ‘Haile-Kiros Gessesse’!