Haile Gebrselassie Quotes

It is not my duty to spend my money in my country, but it is what I want to do. There is nowhere else I would like to invest.

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

All athletes need three things: commitment, discipline and hard work. Without that it's hard to keep running.

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 promise something, you must fulfill it.

I wanted to be famous. I wanted people to talk about me.

I was the kind of child who worked hard every day with the cows and sheep - I was a very aggressive boy.

What can you do if a part of it is uphill? You can't work out another route. You've just got to run the one they give you. But they tell me London is a nice course. Even the cobbles, I hope, are not very much of a problem for me.

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.

My school was six miles away from where I lived on the farm. I had to walk and run, there and back every day, through gorges and over rivers. If I was late, there was a very big stick waiting for me.

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.

You lose the speed before the stamina.

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

If your body is damaged, wounded, it can be fixed, but if inside, mentally, you are wounded you cannot fix it, it's hard.

I think if you come first with a new world record, that is the best.

Athletics is in my blood.

I love running and I will always run.

Schooling is so important.

When I wake up at 5 in the morning is it just to jog? Definitely not, I give it all of my efforts.

I know what I want when I start a marathon: to win! But what do you want? Make sure you're clear in advance and don't go out too fast.

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.

If I don't train enough, of course I'm nervous.

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.

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

I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.'

Considering that the race is star-studded no runner will be willing to set the pace for the others. This is why a record will be almost impossible.

You need three things to win: discipline, hard work and, before everything maybe, commitment. No one will make it without those three. Sport teaches you that.

I haven't done a marathon for a long time. So we'll see. I will need good luck.

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

I remember in particular my first victory when I achieved a very fast time in what were perfect conditions but since then the wind has always been a factor against me.

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'.

What is important is to win.

He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.

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

Age for me is just a number.

I find the business world hard.

Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well.

I want to go down in history.

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

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.

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.

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

At the end of the day, people want to see how fast you run.