Truemors
There's a problem with the selection committee that chooses where next to hold the Olympics - when they choose a country where even the athletes feel it's unhealthy to compete.
World record holder Haile Gebreselassie of Ethiopia looks set to miss the Beijing Olympics marathon as he fears his health could be endangered by the city's pollution, his agent said Monday.
According to his agent, Hermans, the issue for the famed runner, is the city's pollution - the marathon runner feels that he doesn't want to put his health and career in danger, and possibly have to forefeit in London four years from now.
"He will probably not the run the marathon in Beijing. It's not 100
percent sure but it looks like it because of the heat, humidity and the
pollution," Jos Hermans told AFP by telephone.
Selassie hopes to run the marathon in two hours and three minutes - breaking all records. Plus he desperately wants to win another gold medal.
He may still decide to run the 10,000 metres in Beijing, as long as he qualifies for the Ethiopian team - which I can't see as being too much of a problem.
Gebre Sellasie has become legion and inspiration among other runners.
He is not the only one worried about the long distance events, health and its runners in Beijing either. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also concerned and plans to call the marathons off, if the conditions do prove to be a danger to athletes' health.
The running marvel was born in Arsi, in Central Ethiopia and is currently regarded as "the greatest distance runner of all times."
It seemed that as each record was broken or made - Selassie would break it again. The man is extraordinary and he keeps raising the bar in long-distance running, to the point where other athletes are finding it difficult to keep up.
Arsi, Central Ethiopia has also produced other famed long-distance runners, such as Derartu Tulu and Fatuma Roba - excellent runners whom Selassie says were his inspiration.
However, even more famous than the latter two names are marathon legend, Abebe Bikila.
As a child, Selassie had to run ten kilometers each way to school every day. His fitness, natural abilities and love of running, gave him the initiative to enter the Addis Ababa marathon - without any formal training and completed the marathon in only two hours and forty-two minutes.
Fame crept up on Gebre Selassie in 1992, when he won the 5,000 and 10,000 metre World Junior Championships. Astoundingly, he continued on to win 10,000 at the Stuttgart World Championships.
An expectant and supportive world audience stood applauding in Hengelo, Holland in 1994, when Selassie set his first World Record in the 5000m in 12:56:96 in 1994 - winning a million dollars against rival Noureddine Morceli who dropped out in the middle.
He had broken the six year old world record set by Said Aouita. He continued on breaking records and setting new ones for the next few years, and broke the record in Zurich for the five kilometre race.
This brought Selassie's gold medal count to four. The years passed by with Selassie breaking quite a few more records and attaining "hero status" in the world of running and sport in general.
Pet Peeve: Reporters who call him Gebreselassie instead of his real name, Gebre Selassie.
Sources:
The Raw Story:
Ethiopia's Gebreselassie to Miss Olypics Marathon Over Pollution Fears
(no byline)
Ethiopians:
Haile Gebreselassie (Gabe)
(no byline)
Image Sources:
Ethiopians:
Haile Gebreselassie (Gabe)
MSN News
Ethiopia's Gebreselassie to miss Olympics marathon over pollution fears by
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