PRESS DIGEST
Haile Gebreselassie smashes an 11-year record
By Simon Turnbull , The Independent (London), February 16, 1998
AT THE home of the Gladiators, the television ones that is, Haile Gebreselassie emerged victorious from his battle against the clock last night. It proved to be a no-contest. By the time the dust settled on the National Indoor Arena track, the tiny Ethiopian with the giant distance running talent stood triumphant by a margin of 1.31 seconds.
The 2,000m indoor world record set by Eamonn Coghlan in Inglewood, California, had survived intact for 11 years. But in 4 minutes, 52.86 seconds of high-class high- tempo running Haile finally transferred it from the record ledger to the history books.
In doing so, he claimed the last men’s middle distance world record held by a non-African-born runner. It was the 12th world record to fall to the man who started his competitive running life in 99th place in the Abebe Bikila Memorial Marathon in Addis Abeba—at the age of 15.
The prevailing home-from-home atmosphere could only have helped him in his mission. From early afternoon, England’s Ethiopian community, many of them political refugees, transformed the centre of Birmingham into a small corner of East Africa, draping their yellow, green and red national flags outside the Malt House pub. “Go Emperor Go,” read the message on their T-shirts and their regal countryman did not disappoint as chants of “Haile, Haile” rang round the arena, accompanied by his favorite tune played over the tannoy, “Skat Man.”
It was just as well organizers of the Bupa Indoor grand prix had insured against the eventuality of a world record, costing them as it did a bonus payment of pounds 15,000. Of greater worth to Haile, however, will be the fact that he now holds more than one global best time again.
The other is the indoor 5,000m record and Daniel Komen, Haile’s East African nemesis, intends to revise that in Stockholm before jetting to Australia to chase the clock in the outdoor season down under.
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