Quotes By Haile Gebrselassie

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.

Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words.

In my life I do a lot of things but I never forget my training.

This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs.

I have seen things few of my countrymen have. The first time I went on an aeroplane I couldn't work out how the lavatories worked up in the sky.

You know, I want to help my country. Definitely I can help them, simply by winning races. Sure, they can follow my path to a good career. But for me it is not enough. I want to be more than that. In everything I want to be a role model.

My father thought sport was something fun - he didn't know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: 'Good, you can support not just yourself but me too'.

I'm a runner first before anything else.

I wanted to experience New York, to look up and see buildings.

Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.

My father didn't think running was sensible. He told me running is just wasting time.

I used to run to school, 10k every day. And this at altitude, perfect preparation, really.

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.

Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can't make planes or cars, we don't have the materials. We do what we can.

Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.

I'm never satisfied.

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.

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.

I'm lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife.

I can't change everything by myself but I can be one of the people who are trying to change the situation.

If you are a really good marathoner, you have to run New York.

When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.

Life is a kind of struggle. Life is a sort of fight.

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.

The marathon always starts after 30K. That's where the problems start. You start without any problems, without any pain. All the pain comes after 30K. Sometimes, it's possible to have pain even in the finger.

At the moment I am a little bit politician, yes. I think that could be my next step. It is not because I want power, it is because of what I think I could do for the people.

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.

You know for me when I promise something I want to deliver. If you don't, you have to disappear.

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.

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.