The Forgotten Story

With all the buzz about Usain Bolt, I think that the world and media is greatly overlooking one of the biggest Olympic accomplishments in track and field. Who could I be talking about? Why no one of course except Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie.


Haile, a 35 year old marathoner, is not only a decade or so the senior of most of the fellow 10,000 meter runners against whom he competed, but also hasn't raced a 10,000 in quite some time. In fact, the Ethiopian olympic committee doubted his ability enough to make him compete in a time trial before allowing him to compete on the Olympic 10,000 team.

So, what is it that makes Haile so impressive? Well, Haile ran 27:06, which is 4:21/mile pace. Haile's marathon pace is around 4:44/mile, almost thirty seconds slower. 35 year old Haile finished 6th in a deep field, but it didn't seem like he was particularly upset with is placement. Haile went out and paced fellow countryman Kenenisa to a perfect victory and finished with his trademark smile.

Personally, I'm tired of seeing Olympic athletes crying over their silver medals. Haile was thrilled just to be there and I wish I saw more of that.