One of greatest distance runners ever just stops | Other | Idaho Statesman
With 10 miles to go, on the downhill portion of the Queensboro Bridge heading into Manhattan, one of the two or three greatest distance runners of all time began wobbling, then pulled over to the side and simply stopped.
Haile Gebrselassie was done - not just with Sunday's New York City Marathon if he can be believed, but with competitive racing forever. If so, it would be like Babe Ruth disappearing from baseball with barely a trace.
A day earlier, fluid was drained from the 37-year-old Ethiopian's right knee after an MRI revealed tendinitis. Yet so strong was Gebrselassie's hold on the sport up until that moment, even though his struggles were apparent, all the other elite racers were still shadowing him.
The moment he faltered, they took off.
"I said, 'Haile, c'mon,' but he couldn't move," recalled his countryman, Gebre Gebremariam, 26, who slowed briefly before going on to win the race. "He just said: 'I can't, Gebre, you have to go on.'"
By the time he arrived at the finish line, though, Gebrselassie sounded even more convinced.
"When I announce this, maybe everybody becomes a little bit shocked. I don't want to complain anymore after this, which means it's better to stop here," he said, fighting back tears.
"I never think about to retire," Gebrselassie added. "But for the first time, this is the day."
With time to reflect, Gebrselassie may yet change his mind. He set more than two dozen world bests in every event he competed in from 3,000 meters through the marathon, for which he still holds the record, and twice won Olympic gold in the 10,000 meters. Just days ago, Gebrselassie was talking about running in the 2012 London Olympics.
But the one thing he's been talking about steadily, and putting his money where his mouth is, is what Gebrselassie calls his "other job" - a network of schools, sports clubs and businesses in Ethiopia employing hundreds in one of the world's poorest nations. Back home in Addis Ababa, Gebrselassie, the son of a farmer who became wealthy beyond imagination, is hailed as "The Emperor."
"They'll be excited about the winning," Gebremariam said about his countrymen. "But I think everybody's worried about his stopping. ... So I think in Ethiopia he has to change his plans. He has to continue to race."
New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg joked afterward, "I told Haile that we're not accepting resignations today."
But a moment later, she mused, "He lives in a whole different world than most professional athletes today. He doesn't have machines to help deal with injuries. He didn't jump in cold baths. This is a guy who has such natural talent that he's never dealt with any of that. ...
"This is the kind of athlete that when you've performed to the highest of highs, he may very well decide that it's enough."
More than once, Gebrselassie could have done that against a backdrop better suited to call it a career, most recently at the 2004 Athens games. There, he was celebrated not just as an athlete who set marks at every distance that were faster than when he arrived, but as a mentor who inspired everyone who competed against him.
Gebrselassie limped home a disappointing fifth in the 10,000 meters. But his courageous run was all the gold and silver medalists, Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine, could talk about afterward. Dropped by the leaders seven laps into the race, he caught the lead pack with a mile to go, only to get dropped again in a blistering sprint to the finish.
"We were hoping to take the first three places," Bekele said quietly, the joy of his win tempered, "but Haile wasn't able to keep up."
It happened again Sunday, but just as in Athens, Gebrselassie was less interested in collecting tributes than handing them out. Shortly after his announcement, he began inquiring about when Edison Pena, the rescued Chilean miner who decided to run the marathon, was likely to finish.
Gebrselassie had lingered at the airport after his flight arrived in New York to greet the Chilean and he hoped to give him a congratulatory hug. Gebrselassie could have been jealous about all the attention and the fuss over Pena, who was, after all, essentially a novelty act. But that would have been out of character.
Asked to assess Gebrselassie's impact on both the sport and his countrymen, Gebremariam thought for a moment.
"Haile is special. Haile," the young Ethiopian paused, "is very king."
Comments
Post a Comment