Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie is one of the world’s best athletes, but he pulled out of the Beijing Olympics because he’s saving himself for London 2012. Panting for breath, Voyager catches up with this fast-mover at his home in Addis Ababa

HE IS THE ATHLETE who has broken world records and who still continues to challenge himself, yet this summer Haile Gebrselassie pulled out of the Beijing Olympics. Referring to his asthma, he told Reuters: “The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42km in my current condition.” He hopes to compete instead in the 2012 Olympics in London.

Considered by many to be the best distance runner of all time, over the past 15 years the Ethiopian athlete has won two Olympic golds, four world titles and gained 15 world records over five distances, from 3,000 to 10,000 metres. Last September the 34-year-old also set the new world record for the Berlin Marathon at 2 hours 4 minutes, 26 seconds. Earlier this year he won 26 seconds. Earlier this year he won the Dubai Marathon – and created another record as it was the fastest time ever won in Dubai (2:04:53).

Gebrselassie was born to a humble peasant family in the highlands of central Ethiopia. From an early age he rose before dawn to begin a daily routine of milking, collecting manure for the kitchen fifire and shepherding the family’s herds of animals – all before walking 10km to school. Growing up without electricity and with the nearest drinking water a three-hour walk away, it was little wonder this small boy, one of 10 children, dreamt of a better life.

“I imagined that one day I would become an important, famous person and would travel all over the world,” he explains, almost 30 years on, as he sips a cup of tea in the kitchen of his expansive mansion on one of the hills that surround Addis Ababa, the country’s capital.

At the age of seven, Gebrselassie found the inspiration he needed: a radio broadcast of the 10,000m at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games in which the Ethiopian Miruts Yifter won the gold medal. “That was a decisive moment in my life,” he recalls. “I decided that I would become the best athlete ever seen, so I started running everywhere, even to school. I let my mind drift, imagining I was running far away from the wheat fields and hardship.” His childhood running left its mark: even as an adult, he ran with his left arm crooked, the effect of holding school books under his arm. Gebrselassie’s first trainer was his older brother, Tekeye, who was a marathon runner. “When I was just 14, he signed me up for my first 1,500m race in the Asela stadium, where I competed with much older boys,” Gebrselassie recalls.

“I’ll always remember how they laughed at me when they saw me on the starting line, as I was so little and puny. And then the surprise on their faces when they saw me break away from the group on the second lap to win the race on my own.”

Reaching his early 30s, having won everything on the track, Gebrselassie might have been expected to retire from athletics and enjoy life with his four children. Yet he took on a new challenge: the marathon.

“Before, I ran exclusively to win, save and ensure a better life for myself. But recently my mentality has changed,” he says. “Now I earn more money from affairs that are unconnected to athletics, so I run because my body and mind need it. Over the years I’ve become too slow for track running and the natural thing was to change to marathon running. Although I still feel the competitive spirit, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose.” Of course, he usually wins.

“Everybody expects Haile to keep on breaking records,” says his friend Richard Nerurkar, a British ex-marathon runner who lives in Addis Ababa. This same hunger for success has led him, in his first season as a marathonrunner, to achieve major victories in the prestigious marathons of Berlin and Fufoka. His time of 2:05:56 in Berlin allowed him to enter the exclusive group of only five athletes capable of running a marathon in under 2:06. One of the group’s leading lights is Kenyan Paul Tergat, who held the world record of 2:04:55 until last year. The rivalry between the two runners goes way back and includes the historic final of the 10,000-metres in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, where the Ethiopian beat the Kenyan after an extremely close call. Tergat had to accept the same result in the finals of two World Championships and in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.

Last year Gebrselassie took part in only two competitions: the London Marathon, and the World Championship in Osaka. Unlike the previous year, he trained with the rest of the Ethiopian runners, rather than sticking to his own regimen. He joined his colleagues from the national marathon team (most of whom were in their 20s) at the Tadek training grounds, just outside Addis Ababa, before dawn. Overseeing them was Ethiopian team coach Dr Woldemeskel Kostre.

“From the first day, Haile seemed special,” recalls Dr Kostre, who discovered Gebrselassie. “I knew that breaking records wouldn’t be a problem for him. I believe everybody thought the same.”

After training, Gebrselassie returns to his other preoccupations – his businesses. “I feel privileged to have travelled the world through my experiences; this makes me feel a responsibility towards the people of this country,” Gebrselassie says as we drive back into town after training. We reach one of his buildings, located by the airport, and named after his wife, Alem.

From his eighth-floor office Gebrselassie runs two types of business: “One provides me with money; the other gives personal satisfaction,” he says. The former is his real estate businesses, and a new company to import trucks and construction machinery. Both are largely in the hands of his wife and brother, a postgraduate economist.

“I concentrate on my schools projects; there are two at the moment, one in Asela and the other in Bahar Dar, with over 1,000 students,” enthuses Gebrselassie. “Education is the key to changing poverty in Ethiopia.”

This social sensitivity is not new, says Jos Hermens, the Dutch manager who has taken care of Gebrselassie’s career since the beginning. ”I’d only just met him, when he was 17, when he told me firmly that he wanted to become the best athlete in the world so he could help his compatriots from his privileged situation,” says Hermens.

“I’m not a charitable institution,” Gebrselassie points out. “Nobody should expect me to go around giving my money away. What I mean to do is to create work for as many people as possible.” It is this approach that has led many of those near him to see him as a future president. However, it’s not an ambition he shares: “I can do more through my own private initiatives.” These include collaborating on all kinds of campaigns with numerous organisations that approach him for help.

Gebrselassie and Richard Nerurkar created the Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa (for amateur and professional runners) in 2001. It’s a platform from which to spread important health messages to the population, especially about AIDS, as well as to help to change perceptions about the country.

“Haile is such a hero to Ethiopians,” says Nerurkar. “His appearances in events, interviews and campaigns abroad make him the best unofficial ambassador for Ethiopia. He manages to exert influence on things concerning the economy and the country’s development.”

• BEST FOR SHOPPING
  “The Merkato market. You can buy everything, really everything here.”
• BEST CAFE BAR
  The Olympic Café [owned by Haile Gebrselassie’s brother]. Bole Road, Addis Ababa, + 251 (0)11 662 2936
• BEST HOTEL
  The Sheraton, Taitu Street, PO Box 6002, Addis Ababa, + 251 (0)11 517 1717; www.starwoodhotels.com
• BEST RESTAURANT
  “Habesha is a very nice restaurant with good Ethiopian food.” Bole Road, Addis Ababa, +251 (0)11 551 8358
• BEST PLACE TO GO FOR A RUN
  “Intoto is about 20 minutes’ drive outside Addis on top of a mountain. It’s very beautiful, and perfect for running.”
• BEST PLACE TO RELAX
  Addis Ababa Golf Club + 251 (0)11 320 1893