The Telegraph, March 17, 2011
Haile Gebrselassie's dominance of long-distance running has put Ethiopia on the map. As he eyes more gold in 2012, many of his compatriots want him to run the country, too
On a plateau high above the city of Addis Ababa, at the top of Mount Entoto, the reason Ethiopia has long dominated distance running is writ large. It is here that champions are made.
All you can see, along the hardened mud paths that criss-cross wide, open grassland, is people running. In Addis, everybody runs everywhere: women sprint to the communal well to collect water, schoolchildren skip to school, men trot by on their daily search for work.
The best of them, the athletes destined for the world"s tracks, come up to Entoto every morning before daybreak. Dozens of them hurtle past at high speed.
Today, in the middle of them, is the tiny figure of the greatest Ethiopian athlete of them all, the manifestation of a nation's obsession.
Haile Gebrselassie, 5ft 5in and the fastest distance runner ever, could train anywhere in the world, but he chooses to do so here. And he has invited me up the mountain to learn the secret of his dazzling, 19-year domination of his sport. More reading on the Telegraph.co.uk
Haile Gebrselassie's dominance of long-distance running has put Ethiopia on the map. As he eyes more gold in 2012, many of his compatriots want him to run the country, too
On a plateau high above the city of Addis Ababa, at the top of Mount Entoto, the reason Ethiopia has long dominated distance running is writ large. It is here that champions are made.
All you can see, along the hardened mud paths that criss-cross wide, open grassland, is people running. In Addis, everybody runs everywhere: women sprint to the communal well to collect water, schoolchildren skip to school, men trot by on their daily search for work.
The best of them, the athletes destined for the world"s tracks, come up to Entoto every morning before daybreak. Dozens of them hurtle past at high speed.
Today, in the middle of them, is the tiny figure of the greatest Ethiopian athlete of them all, the manifestation of a nation's obsession.
Haile Gebrselassie, 5ft 5in and the fastest distance runner ever, could train anywhere in the world, but he chooses to do so here. And he has invited me up the mountain to learn the secret of his dazzling, 19-year domination of his sport. More reading on the Telegraph.co.uk
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