FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE GREATEST?
Nineteen years ago, a skinny 15 year old did what millions of country kids
over the centuries have done. Haile Gebrselassie went up to the big city,
to seek his fortune. He was only in Addis Ababa a couple of days, just long
enough to run a marathon and struggle, half crippled from the effort, back
home to his village 175 kilometres away. He would start running again a
week later, when the pain subsided, and the dreams of success returned. But
even he could not have dreamed that what began with a 2hrs 48min marathon
round the back streets of Addis, admittedly at altitude, would presage a
career which, thus far has netted him 24 world records, the latest coming
in Berlin on Sunday morning, at that same marathon distance, but his time
some 44 minutes faster, in 2.04.26.
"It was the only race I could find," he said, recalling his first
tribulation an hour after his latest triumph. "I ran in street shoes, with
plastic soles, and only finished because there were no cars, there was no
other way to get back to the start. The next day, my brother put me on a
bus back to Arsela, but the bus stopped several kilometres from my village,
and I had to walk. I don't know how I did it". Nearly 20 years on, he still
grimaces at the memory, but we all know how he did it. With the same
resolve that has resulted in two Olympic golds, four world titles, indoors
and out, innumerable victories on road and track. Oh yes, and the little
matter of those 24 world records
If we were quibbling, we'd say that he should win the Olympic marathon next
year, in order to completely dismiss any doubts that he is the greatest
distance runner of all time. But a man who can take a world title at 1500
metres (indoors), as he did in 1999, 18 months prior to a second Olympic
10,000 metres title that he should never have won (of which more later),
coupled with this latest exploit on the streets of Berlin should go a long
way to bolstering his considerable claim to be 'The Greatest'.
He is certainly the greatest of this modern era, and there are really only
two men who can compete for that ulimate accolade. Emil Zatopek of the then
Czechoslovakia won four Olympic golds, three at the same Olympics in
Helsinki 1952, with an unrepeatable treble (even for a Gebrselassie) of the
5000, 10,000 metres and the marathon, the last one on his debut, no less.
It was Zatopek who coined the immortal summation of the marathon, "If you
want to run, try a hundred metres, if you want to experience another life,
try a marathon".
Asked about world records, Geb himself had said something similar prior to
this Berlin race. "In the 5000 and 10,000 metres, you are running against
the clock and the opposition. In the marathon, you are running against the
distance itself". It's no surprise that men like Zata and Geb should come
up with stuff like that. You have time to ruminate, if not in the marathon
itself, then in all the miles and kilometres that you do in preparation.
Because, no matter how good your back-up, or how many pals you can persuade
to accompany you on those treks, inevitably you do most of it by yourself.
It so happens that Geb and Zata share very similar characters, or rather
shared, since Zatopek died half a dozen years ago. Like Geb, he was open,
friendly, always happy to give succour and advice, in Zata's case, often in
the middle of a race. The only other runner who could put them both in the
shade was Paavo Nurmi. The Flying Finn, winner of nine Olympic golds, yes,
NINE, was by all acounts a remote, sullen, introspective character. Perhaps
that's why he is reported to have said at the end of his life that he felt
that it had all been a waste. Maybe, like those first astronauts after
going to the moon, when you've won nine Olympic golds, there's nowhere else
to go. Perhaps we should be happy we're not overachievers, huh? Geb seems
very happy to be an overachiever, that's one of the pleasures of sharing
his company as well as admiring his running. A smile is rarely far from his
face, and you can believe both him and that equally winning personality,
Paul Tergat, the Kenyan from whom he wrested the marathon record in Berlin.
On the same course in 2003, Tergat had run 2.04.55. Immediately after
watching Geb demolish it on television, Tergat rang his friend from Kenya
to congratulate him. "Sorry Paul," said Geb, and he meant it. They both
mean it when they call each other 'friend'. It says much for Tergat. He is
in the same situation as Bing Crosby, who when asked about Frank Sinatra,
replied, "He's the greatest crooner of his era. Pity it had to be my era as
well".
Tergat did manage something that Geb never did, in fact he managed to win
the World Cross five times, while Geb never won it once. But Tergat lost to
Geb in two of the greatest Olympic 10,000 metres races that this writer has
ever witnessed, in Atlanta 1996, and Sydney 2000. It was the latter race
which defined Gebrselassie for me. He had been badly injured some months
before, had only effected a comeback shortly prior to the Olympics, and
would have been in no shape to cope with Tergat, had the Kenyan thought to
reproduce the tactics of Atlanta, where he had run the second 5000 metres
over half a minute faster than the first half, in an attempt to run the
legs off Geb. But the Ethiopian was in prime form in Atlanta, and swept
past to victory. That must have laid the doubts in Tergat's mind. Never a
fast finisher, he worked and worked his speed in 2000, such that he felt he
could outsprint the Ethiopian in Sydney. Tergat ran steadily, and shot away
with 300 metres to run. Geb clawed it back gradually, and inched past to
victory. Again! But he admitted again after his Berlin Marathon victory,
"Paul would have won easily if had used the tactics of Atlanta". "He won
with his head that time," added friend and business associate, former
British marathoner, Richard Nerurkar, who travelled from Addis to support
his pal.
Speaking of pals, complimentary to a fault, Geb repeatedly thanked the
crowds in Berlin for helping him to victory. His estimates of the value of
their support ranged from, "Fifty per cent," right after the race, to, "60
to 70 per cent," at his press conference, an hour later. But, whatever help
you get from your friends, when you're a marathon runner, and a marathon
winner, and now, a marathon world record holder, deep down you know. It's
all your own work. And no one deserves it more.
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