Gebre eyes London Olympic gold
World record holder Haile Gebrselassie has targeted the marathon title at the 2012 London Olympics, some 12 years after his last Olympic gold medal. The former Olympic and four-times world champion over 10,000 metres told reporters ahead of the Berlin...
World record holder Haile Gebrselassie has targeted the marathon title at the 2012 London Olympics, some 12 years after his last Olympic gold medal.
The former Olympic and four-times world champion over 10,000 metres told reporters ahead of the Berlin marathon that he was running out of aims.
"I have two plans," the 36-year-old said.
"Breaking the world record is one thing and to win the Olympic title (in 2012). This is a very important thing for me. I have no other distance, only marathon."
Gebrselassie, who won Olympic golds in 1996 and 2000 in the 10,000 and four consecutive world titles over the distance, has set consecutive world records in 2007 and 2008 in Berlin on what is considered the fastest marathon course in the world.
Gebrselassie, who opted not to run the marathon at last year's Beijing Olympics because of concerns about pollution, will be 39 by the time the London Games come round.
Kenyan Duncan Kibet will give Gebrselassie a stiff challenge today after becoming the second-fastest marathon runner, clocking a time that was only 28 seconds off the Ethiopian's world record of 2 hours 3 minutes 59 seconds.