Portal:Sport of athletics/Selected biography/8

Haile Gebrselassie (Amharic: ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, haylē gebre silassē; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian former long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Championship titles over the 10,000 metres. Haile triumphed in the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he earned four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion.

Haile at the Olympic hunger summit in London, August 2012

Haile had major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He broke 61 Ethiopian national records ranging from 800 metres to the marathon, set 27 world records, and is regarded as one of the greatest distance runners in history. He won the 2008 Berlin Marathon with a world record time of 2:03:59, breaking his own world record by 27 seconds. The record stood for three years. Haile's 10,000 m Masters age group world record has not been challenged since 2008.

He was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2011. (Full article...)