50 Fun Facts About Haile Gebrselassie

In which Ethiopian town was Haile Gebrselassie born on 18 April 1973?

He was one of ten children on a farm, and his mother died of cancer when he was six.

What caused Haile Gebrselassie's distinctive posture, with his left arm crooked?

He ran ten kilometres to school every morning and the same distance back each evening.

How far did the young Haile Gebrselassie run to school each morning?

And the same again home each evening, which shaped both his fitness and his crooked-arm running style.

How many Olympic gold medals did Haile Gebrselassie win, all in the 10,000 metres?

Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000; injury left him fifth in Athens in 2004 when he tried for a third.

How many world records did Haile Gebrselassie set in his career?

He also broke 61 Ethiopian national records at distances from 800 metres to the marathon.

What is Haile Gebrselassie's best-known nickname?

Others called him the 'Emperor of the Distance Running'; New African listed him among the 100 most influential Africans in 2011.

In which city did Haile Gebrselassie win the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 1992 World Junior Championships?

He also took silver in the junior race at that year's World Cross Country Championships in Boston.

How many consecutive World Championship 10,000 m titles did Haile Gebrselassie win between 1993 and 1999?

He added silver in 2003 behind Kenenisa Bekele and bronze in 2001.

Whose shoe did Gebrselassie step off at the bell in the 1993 World Championship 10,000 m?

The angry Kenyan surged to a 10-metre lead with one shoe, only to be run down on the final straight.

Whose 5000 m world record did Haile Gebrselassie break with his first world record, 12:56.96 in 1994?

He took almost two seconds off the mark; a year later in Zürich he ran 12:44.39, taking 10.91 seconds off Kiptanui's newer record.

Which Kenyan beat Haile Gebrselassie at the 1996 Zürich Weltklasse and took his 5000 m record in 1997?

Haile was suffering blisters from the hard Atlanta track; he beat Komen in Zürich in 1997 with a 26.8-second last 200 m, then lost the record nine days later.

In which Dutch town did Haile Gebrselassie set 10,000 m world records in 1995 and 1998?

His 26:22.75 in June 1998 was run with perfectly even 13:11/13:11 splits and took Paul Tergat's record; he later broke four world records in that stadium.

How fast was Haile's final lap in his solo 5000 m world record of 12:39.36 in Helsinki in 1998?

His pacemakers had faded six laps out and even the British commentators had counted him out; he needed a sub-four-minute final 1,600 m and ran 3:59.36.

In which 1999 film did Haile Gebrselassie play himself, chronicling his run to Olympic gold in Atlanta?

That year he also won the 1500/3000 m double at the World Indoor Championships and went unbeaten at every distance.

By what margin did Haile beat Paul Tergat in the 2000 Sydney Olympic 10,000 m final?

That was closer than the men's 100 m final; Haile's last 200 m of 25.4 seconds beat Tergat's 26.3.

Haile's Sydney win made him the third man to defend an Olympic 10,000 m title. Who were the first two?

Bekele and Farah later joined the club; Haile's attempt at a third title in Athens ended in fifth place after Achilles trouble.

Which annual mass-participation race in Addis Ababa did Haile conceive with Peter Middlebrook in 2001?

Brendan Foster, Richard Nerurkar and British ambassador Myles Wickstead later supported it.

Which countryman beat Haile to 10,000 m gold at the 2003 World Championships in Paris?

That closing 5000 m was the fastest ever in a global championship at the time; Bekele later took both of Haile's major track records.

Why did Haile finish only fifth in the 10,000 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics?

He said he would not have raced but for pressure from his country; Bekele won gold.

Where did Haile Gebrselassie make his marathon debut in 2002, finishing third?

He went out at world-record pace but was passed by Khalid Khannouchi, who set a new record, and Paul Tergat.

Which 2006 race did Haile call 'the worst race of my career' after finishing ninth in 2:09:05?

Five months later he won Berlin in 2:05:56, becoming only the fifth man ever under 2:06.

What forced Haile to drop out of the 2007 race in the British capital at 18 miles?

He complained of a stitch and being unable to breathe; Martin Lel went on to win.

How far did Haile run in his 2007 one-hour world record in Ostrava?

He beat Arturo Barrios's 1991 mark of 21,101 m and set a 20,000 m best of 56:25.98 on the way, his 23rd and 24th world records.

What time did Haile run to set his first marathon world record in Berlin on 30 September 2007?

It shaved 29 seconds off Paul Tergat's 2003 record on the same course and came during Ethiopia's Millennium celebrations.

What was Haile's world-record time at the 2008 Berlin Marathon?

He averaged 2:56.5 per kilometre and cut 27 seconds from his own record; it stood for three years until Patrick Makau broke it.

How many consecutive Berlin Marathons did Haile Gebrselassie win?

2006 through 2009, plus three straight Dubai Marathon wins from 2008 to 2010.

Why did Haile withdraw from the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

He later admitted regretting it because the air was cleaner than expected; he ran the 10,000 m instead and finished sixth.

Haile's 26:51.20 for 10,000 m in May 2008 remains the world record for which age group?

He finished a close second to Sileshi Sihine; his nine sub-27-minute 10,000 m runs are matched only by Kenenisa Bekele.

Who inflicted Haile's first half marathon defeat, in The Hague in March 2009, ending a 9-0 record?

Kitwara ran 59:47 to Haile's 59:50; Haile had won the World Half Marathon title in 2001 and set a 58:55 world record in Arizona in 2006.

Where did Haile set his first world record on US soil, a 58:55 half marathon in January 2006?

He beat Samuel Wanjiru's record by 21 seconds and passed 20 km faster than Paul Tergat's 1998 best.

After dropping out of which race in November 2010 did Haile announce his retirement, then reconsider?

An inflamed knee stopped him; he then won a 10K in Angola in a course record and said he wanted to run the London 2012 Olympics.

Which Kenyan broke Haile's marathon world record on the day Haile dropped out of the 2011 Berlin Marathon?

Manager Jos Hermens called it 'the end of an era of record-breaking for Haile' but not the end of his career.

Which female star, given a 7:52 head start, did Haile catch to win the 2012 Vienna Half Marathon?

He ran 1:00:52 weeks after fading to fourth in Tokyo.

What role did Haile play at the 2012 Olympics after failing to qualify for the 10,000 m?

He had finished seventh in extreme heat at the Hengelo trial, sixth among Ethiopians.

How many times did Haile win the Great Manchester Run 10K?

His 2012 win in 27:39 beat Patrick Makau, Ayele Abshero and Tsegay Kebede by over 100 metres; his final competitive race was there in 2015.

What was Haile's first over-40 world record, set in Switzerland in September 2013?

Days later he was third at the Great North Run behind Kenenisa Bekele and Mo Farah.

In which race and year did Haile Gebrselassie finally retire from competitive running?

He finished 16th and told the BBC: 'I'm retiring from competitive running, not from running. You cannot stop running, this is my life.'

Which car maker does Haile Gebrselassie sell and assemble in Addis Ababa?

His Marathon Motors plant began assembling the electric Hyundai Ioniq in July 2020.

Under what name is Gebrselassie's coffee sold, including through Starbucks Reserve?

He became a small-lot coffee farmer after retiring and also owns hotels and resorts.

Beside which body of water did Haile open the first of his resorts in 2010?

The chain spread to Amhara, Oromia and the Southern Nations region; several properties were burned in the 2020 unrest, costing 400 jobs.

For which German charity working in Ethiopia is Haile Gebrselassie an ambassador?

He is also a mentor for the G4S 4teen programme supporting young athletes.

Which sporting body did Haile Gebrselassie later serve as president of?

He had topped the poll for the IAAF Athletes Commission back in 2003.

Haile Gebrselassie was one of how many children born to his family in Asella?

He was born on 18 April 1973 and ran ten kilometres to school each morning.

How many world titles did Haile Gebrselassie win indoors during his career?

He added the 2001 World Half Marathon title to four outdoor 10,000 m world championships.

By how many seconds did Haile lower the 5000 m world record in Zürich in 1995?

His 12:44.39 shattered Moses Kiptanui's 12:55.30 and was voted Performance of the Year by Track & Field News.

In how many seconds did Haile cover the final 200 m to beat Paul Tergat at Sydney 2000?

Tergat's 26.3-second last 200 metres was not enough as Haile won by nine hundredths.

What time did Haile run to win the Dubai Marathon in January 2008, then the second-fastest ever?

His manager had suggested a sub-2:04 world record was possible on the flat course.

Which Dutch 15K race did Haile win for the third time in November 2010?

He also won the Great North Run and set a Birmingham half-marathon course record that year.

Which electric car did Haile's Addis Ababa factory begin assembling in July 2020?

He has held a Hyundai dealership in Ethiopia since 2009.

How many of Haile's employees lost their jobs when his hotels burned in the 2020 riots?

Mobs targeted the businesses of non-Oromos; his investments had employed about 3,000 people across Ethiopia and beyond.