END OF THE ROAD FOR HAILE?
Of course not, but the end of the championships road? Probably!
After winning a rain-swept Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon last Friday (Jan 16) in 2.05.29, the eighth fastest in history, Haile, reiterated that he will never announce a retirement (”because the day you announce it, that’s the day you retire”), but that he will not be running the World Championship marathon in Berlin this summer.
Having won the Berlin Marathon last Autumn in his world record 2.03.59, he strongly suggested that he would be back for the World Champs in his, “favourite city,” where he made his international debut in an Ekiden (about 100 years ago, it seems). But in Dubai, there was no mistake. Asked about Berlin this summer (as opposed to the marathon there at the end of September), he said unequivocably, “It makes no sense.
“I’ve run my World Championships. Now I’m running for times”. And who could argue with that? In World Championships, he won two junior titles in 1992, the first of four successive senior titles at 10,000 metres the following year; then two indoor indoor titles (including a 1500 metres), and a half-marathon gold; an assortment of silver and bronzes; and topped that with two successive Olympic titles; and 26 World records and bests, including the 1500m!
And he’s eager for more. And we may not have to wait long.
When he came to Dubai 18 months ago (to announce last year’s marathon), fresh from setting new one hour and 20,000m records on the track, he said he could do better at both, but that he also wanted to win back the half-marathon record that had just been taken from him by a young upstart, named Sammy Wanjiru!
And that’s where he, Haile will start, at the half-marathon in Den Haag (The Hague) in two months’ time, on March 14. In the same race two years ago, Wanjiru ran the world record 58.33. Since then, of course, the Kenyan, still only 22, ran one of the greatest Olympic marathons in history, crucifying the field in a heatwave, and winning in 2.06.32.
Haile is fulsome in his appreciation. “He (Wanjiru) was fantastic in Beijing. To run that fast in that kind of weather is unbelievable”. Of course the same could be said of Haile’s latest run, 2.05.29 into a headwind in the last 15k, with driving rain and temperatures plumeting to around 7 or 8C at the finish last Friday.
But Wanjiru has taken up the Kenyan baton from Paul Tergat who despite a ‘middling’ return in a national cross country race at the weekend, is probably past his best.
So what of a Haile-Wanjiru axis? Wanjiru has been announced for the super-fast Berlin course in late September, and talk is already of the world record attempt. “Why not in London?” asks Geb, pointing out that the Olympic champ is running there in mid-April. “Let’s attack each other,” he says with a broad smile. “I’ll attack his half-marathon record, and he can attack my marathon record”.
However, it has just been announced that Wanjiru will return to the Granollers ‘half’ in Spain in two weeks’ time. Haile won it in 2007 in 60.08, which Wanjiru improved to 59.29 last year. It sounds like it’s tougher than Den Haag, but Haile might just have a different target when the Netherlands race rolls round a month later.
Whatever the outcome, it’s on to the next record attempt, the ‘hour’ and 20,000m, in Hengelo on June 1. It was there, on what is virtually his ‘home’ track (when he’s in Europe), that he set his first world record, a 12.56.96 5000 metres, in 1994.
Eighteen months ago, he’d said he could run at least 200 metres further than the Ostrava record of 21,285m (passing 20k in 56.26.0). “I can run longer,” he insisted with a shrug on Friday evening, “but even two metres is a world record”. Touché.
He was ready to go home, and admitted that he would have three days off running, but that, unlike for the full marathon, for the ‘half,’ he’d have to go back to the track. “Things like two times two kilometres, or 10 times a kilometre; in 2.40 or 2.35, with one or two minutes rest”.
Incidentally, a belated word on Ethiopian names. Family names or surnames as we understand them in the West do not exist. The second name is what is called a patronymic, thus Gebrselassie is his father’s given name, as Haile is the runner’s name. Thus Tirunesh, Derartu, Kenenisa, etc. The father’s name and the grandfather’s, in the cases of women as well, is merely appended for our benefit. The same thing happens in Eritrea and Somalia. I recall Somalian Abdi Bile, World 1500m champ in 1987, reciting his full name back through 20 generations or so.
On a final, final note, one of the Dubai papers arranged an interesting stunt last week. They set up half a dozen guys from their sports desk to run on a treadmill at the 2.56 per kilometre pace that Haile needed to do to set a new world record. As a demonstration to the public of what a superman he is, it couldn’t have been better. The best of them lasted just over two minutes, the worst, 29 seconds!
January 20th, 2009 at 2:26 am
He might also consider having a go at the world 30 km record, taking in the 25 on the way. Yes, not as prestigious as the hour/20 km, but Seko’s are good records - the oldest men’s track records on the books. True, ‘only’ 2′ 58″ per km, but those 75 laps still take some running. Could HG tick them off @ 70?
For the ‘record’, the two successful attempts in which i was involved were genuine races, no hares…
January 21st, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Great article. Thanks, Pat.
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I totally understand why Haile in this day and age of big-time appearance fees will never run another world championship. To me, with the marathon, a big major like London is way bigger than the world champs anyway. Given his asthma, I can understand why he wouldn’t want to run London again.
But how about a real race? IBerlin last year was fantastic as it actually turned into a 2-person dual. Is taht too much too ask again? Given Wanjiru’s desire to be in Berlin and the fact that Haile is always in Berlin, will we see them both there this year? Let’s hope so. Obviously it’s going to be expensive to get them both.
If he’s looking for an easy, easy world record. He should just go for the 50k world record. It’s 2:43:38, which comes out to 5:16 per mile (going through the marathon in 2:18:11) and running an extra 4.85 miles.
We all call Haile G - the ‘greatest’ - but to me the one thing missing in his resume is the Olympic marathon title. I’m glad that in all public statements he talks about that as a real goal. I don’t think he’ll do it at his age but the fact that he’ll try is uplifting. I thought he should have been in Beijing regardless.
To fail isn’t to run and lose, to fail is to not try.