Haile Gebrselassie (Amharic: ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, romanized: 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 and won the Berlin Marathon on four consecutive occasions between 2006 and 2009. He also earned four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion. He is considered to be one of the greatest long-distance runners of all time.
Haile had major competition wins at distances between 1,500 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 long-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 remains unchallenged since 2008. Due to his various achievements on track & road running events, many called him as the "Emperor of the Distance Running". Beyond his athletic achievements, he is a successful businessman, contributing to the development of his home country.
Haile was cited as one of the top 100 most influential Africans by New African in 2011. During the Hachalu Hundessa riots in 2020, Oromo mobs targeted the businesses and properties of non-Oromos. Haile's hotels and resort were burned and 400 employees lost their jobs. In 2021, in the midst of the Tigray War, he pledged to join the fighting against the Tigray People's Liberation Front.
He is often nicknamed The Emperor because of his achievements in distance running.
Contents
Athletics career
Early career
Haile was born one of ten children in Asella, Ethiopia. As a child growing up on a farm, he used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same distance back every evening. This led to a distinctive running posture, with his left arm crooked as if he was still holding his school books. Gebrselassie's mother died from cancer when he was six.
In 1992, Haile gained international recognition in Seoul, South Korea, when he won the 5000-metre and 10,000-metre races at the 1992 World Junior Championships and a silver medal in the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships held in Boston, the United States.
The following year, in 1993, Haile won the first of what would eventually be four consecutive world championships titles in the men's 10,000 metres at the 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999 World Championships. His win in 1993 was however his most infamous as he accidentally stepped on the heel of Moses Tanui's shoe at the bell, causing it to fly off his foot. After the contact, with just one shoe, an angered Tanui moved out to a 10-meter lead, only to have Haile run him down on the final straight. Also at the 1993 World Championships he ran in the 5,000-metre race to finish a close second behind Ismael Kirui of Kenya. In 1994 he won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Later that year he set his first world record by running 12:56.96 in the 5,000 metres, breaking Saïd Aouita's record by almost two seconds.
In 1995, Haile ran the 10,000 metres in 26:43.53 in Hengelo, the Netherlands, lowering the world record by nine seconds. That same summer, in Zürich, Switzerland, Haile ran the 5000 metres in 12:44.39, taking 10.91 seconds off the world record 12:55.30 (established by Kenya's Moses Kiptanui earlier in the year). Later that summer he won the 10k world championship with his final 200m being run in 25 seconds. This world record at the Weltklasse meet in Zürich was voted "Performance of the Year" for 1995 by Track & Field News magazine. At the same Weltklasse meet in Zürich in 1996, an exhausted Haile, suffering from blisters obtained on the hard track in Atlanta (where he had won the Olympic 10,000 metres gold), had no answer to the 58-second lap of Daniel Komen with five laps to go as Komen went on to win and just miss Haile's record, finishing in 12:45.09. In 1997, Haile turned the tables on Komen at the same meet. Coming off his third 10K world championship gold medal, Haile beat Komen in another Zürich classic on 13 August 1997, covering the final 200 metres in 26.8 seconds to break his 5000 metres world record with a time of 12:41.86. Komen, in turn, took Haile's record only nine days later when Komen ran a 12:39.74 performance in Belgium.
Middle career
The next year, 1998, saw Haile lowering the indoor world records for 2000 and 3000 metres, enjoying success outdoors by taking back both the 5000 and 10,000 metres world records, as well as earning a share in the Golden League jackpot for winning all of his races in the Golden League series that summer. In June 1998 in Hengelo, Netherlands, Haile set a 10,000 metres world record 26:22.75, breaking Paul Tergat's world record 26:27.85, running evenly paced 13:11/13:11 5K splits.
Just 13 days later, Haile took on the 5000 metres mark of Komen in Helsinki, Finland. Croatian pacemaker Branko Zorko took the pace out slowly, hitting 1000 metres in 2:33.91 and dropping out at the mile. Million Wolde and Assefa Mezgebu led Haile through 2000 metres in 5:05.62. His pacemakers could not maintain the pace, though, and Haile was left alone for a problematic solo effort six laps out. Hitting 3000 metres in 7:38.93, even the British commentators announcing the race counted him out. With four laps to go (8:40.00), Haile needed a sub-4-minute final 1,600 metres for the record. With one lap to go and in great pain, Haile took off, recording a final lap of 56.77 seconds and a final 1,600 metres of 3:59.36 (= 4:00.96-mile) to race to a 12:39.36 world record.
In 1999, Haile starred as himself in the movie Endurance. The film chronicled his quest to win Olympic gold in the 10,000 metres in Atlanta. On the track, he won 1500/3000 metres double at the World Indoor Track Championships, defended his Outdoor World Track Championships 10,000 metres title, and remained undefeated in all his races (which ranged from 1500 up to 10,000 metres).
In 2000, Haile again won all of his races, ranking first in the world in both the 5000 and 10,000 metres. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he became the third man in history to successfully defend an Olympic 10,000 metres title (after Emil Zátopek and Lasse Virén). The narrow Olympic victory over Kenya's Paul Tergat came down to a blistering final kick, with Tergat's 26.3-second last 200 metres being topped by Haile's even faster 25.4. The winning margin of victory was only 0.09 seconds, closer than the winning margin in the men's 100-metre dash final.
On 26 August 2001, he ran his first half marathon (16 wins out of 20) and won in 1:04:34. Also in 2001, Haile won the IAAF World half Marathon Championships and the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. In the same year, he conceptualized the Great Ethiopian Run with Peter Middlebrook, which was latterly supported by Brendan Foster, British runner Richard Nerurkar the British ambassador to Ethiopia Myles Wickstead.
Later career
Since leaving the track after the 2004 Olympics, Haile has focused on road racing and the marathon. His adult marathons to date include London 2002 (3rd place), Amsterdam 2005 (1st place), London 2006 (9th place), Berlin 2006 (1st place), Fukuoka 2006 (1st place), London 2007 (DNF), Berlin 2007 (1st place and World Record), Dubai 2008 (1st place), Berlin 2008 (1st place and another World Record), Dubai 2009 (1st place) Berlin 2009 (1st place), Dubai 2010 (1st place), and NYC 2010 (DNF).
In 2002, Haile made his debut at the marathon at the London Marathon. He started the race at a very fast pace, within world record time. He was unable to hold it, however, as world record holders Khalid Khannouchi and Paul Tergat both eventually passed him. Khannouchi broke his world record, while Haile finished third.
In 2005, Haile went undefeated in all of his road races. This included a British all-comers' record in the 10K in Manchester (27:25), a win at the Amsterdam Marathon in the fastest marathon time in the world for 2006 (2:06:20), and a new world best for 10 miles in Tilburg Ten Miles race, The Netherlands (44:24). (His unofficial split of 41:22 at the 15K mark was 7 seconds faster than the official world best.)
Haile started 2006 positively on 15 January by setting his first world record on American soil. He ran the half marathon of the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon to beat Samuel Wanjiru 2005 record for the distance by a full 21 seconds with a time of 58 minutes and 55 seconds. During the race he passed the 20 km mark in 55:48, breaking also Paul Tergat's record for this distance which had stood since 1998. That year also marked another victory for Haile as he shattered the 25 km world road record (albeit in non-IAAF ratified fashion) by 68 seconds in a time of 1:11.37. The race was organized where Haile and six other runners would run 5 kilometres and then cross the starting line of the 20-K Alphen race in Alphen aan den Rijn of the Netherlands.
On 23 April 2006, he finished ninth in the London Marathon with a time of 2:09:05 (the race was won by Kenyan Felix Limo, who clocked 2:06:39). Haile referred to the ninth-place finish as "the worst race of my career". However, on 24 September he came back with a win in the Berlin Marathon in the fastest time of the year, 2:05:56. His time in Berlin made him only the fifth man in history to run under 2:06 for the marathon. This was followed by a win in the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan at 2:06:52.
Retirement
On 7 November, after dropping out of the 2010 New York City Marathon with an inflamed knee, Haile announced his retirement. Days later, he posted to his Twitter account that he was reconsidering his decision and wanted to run in the 2012 London Olympics. Haile had stated previously that after retiring he would like to enter politics, with scepticism from the public about his knowledge on politics and the unfamiliar culture of celebrities holding public office in Ethiopia. However he won his first race back in a 10k road race in Angola with a new course record of 28:05 and beat countryman Deriba Merga and the Kenyan Josphat Menjo who had run the fastest 10000m of that year.
Haile missed the 2011 Tokyo Marathon due to an injury, but won the half marathon at the Vienna City Marathon on 17 April 2011. About a month later Haile easily won the Great Manchester Run in England for the fourth time, finishing in 28:10. On 26 September he suffered a double setback when he dropped out of the Berlin Marathon (again suffering from respiratory difficulties of exercise-induced asthma) and saw his world records for 30 kilometres and the marathon broken by the man with whom he had been duelling, Patrick Makau. Haile was absent from the press conference later that day, but his manager Jos Hermens announced that while it was "the end of an era of record-breaking for Haile, it's not the end of his career". He returned to his winning ways at the Birmingham half marathon with a new course record and followed that up with a win at the Zevenheuvelenloop in November, taking his third career victory at the Dutch 15K race.
In 2012, Haile ran in the Tokyo Marathon and, after surging to the lead and putting a gap on the field with 6 km to go, faded and finished in 4th, in a time of 2:08:17. However, he bounced back to win the Vienna Half Marathon in 1:00:52, catching Paula Radcliffe who was given a 7:52-minute head-start. He was not selected for the Olympic marathon team, but after winning the Great Manchester Run with a fast time of 27:39, beating marathon world record holder Patrick Makau, world marathon leader Ayele Abshero and Olympic marathon medallist Tsegay Kebede, by a distance of over 100 metres, he decided to aim for a place in the 10,000 m race. He attempted to earn an Olympic spot at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo, the stadium in which he had broken four world records. However, in extremely hot weather he finished seventh with a time of 27:20.39, sixth amongst Ethiopians, and did not qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. However, he did appear at the opening ceremony as one of the eight flagbearers who brought the Olympic flag into the stadium. Another outing at the Fukuoka Marathon, however, saw him enter as the favourite but drop out at 32 km.
Business career
Haile Gebrselassie ventured into an entrepreneurship career in 1995, investing earnings from his sporting achievements that led to establishing companies. Until recent years, he has had 600 staff and offices every day. In 2010, Haile opened Haile Resorts in Lake Hawassa, and the resort quickly expanded to include destinations in Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region. He recently inaugurated the Grand Haile Resort in Addis Ababa headquartered in Lam Beret. Haile has a dealership for Hyundai cars in Ethiopia and started assembling Hyundai electric cars in 2020.
Haile owned Marathon Motors, a vehicle business that also assembles Hyundai cars, and which recently rolled off the first electric car from its assembly plant. Haile owned several businesses and is involved in real estate projects and owns four hotels, a coffee plantation. In 2015, there was estimated 1,000 employees and reached 3,000 employees across his investments in Ethiopia and beyond. Haile currently received 30 million birr revenue from various businesses.
Haile Gebrselassie is an ambassador for the German charity organisation "Menschen für Menschen", which is committed to the development of his home country of Ethiopia.
