Haile Gebrselassie Top 45 Quotes

Haile Gebrselassie is a well-known Ethiopian long-distance track and road runner who was born on April 18, 1973. During his career, he has won two Olympic gold medals and four World Championship crowns in the events. Later, he won four world titles indoors and was crowned World Half Marathon Champion in 2001.

Furthermore, he breaks 61 Ethiopian national records ranging from 800 meters to the marathon, as well as 27 world records, making him one of the best distance runners in history. He embraces each new challenge that distinguishes him. The 68 quotes below may be useful to you. Check it once.

1. “When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.”― Haile Gebrselassie

2. “Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.”― Haile Gebrselassie

3. “When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.”― Haile Gebrselassie

4. “You lose the speed before the stamina.”― Haile Gebrselassie

5. “I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people’s eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia.”― Haile Gebrselassie

6. “You need three things to win: discipline, hard work and, before everything maybe, commitment. No one will make it without those three. Sport teaches you that.”― Haile Gebrselassie

7. “Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well.”― Haile Gebrselassie

8. “LIFE IS A KIND OF STRUGGLE. LIFE IS A SORT OF FIGHT.”― HAILE GEBRSELASSIE

9. “If your body is damaged, wounded, it can be fixed, but if inside, mentally, you are wounded you cannot fix it, it’s hard.”― Haile Gebrselassie

10. “You must do as your people do. If my people are poor, I must be poor. People ask me, ‘Why don’t you find a personal coach or a private car?’ I can’t. Then I won’t be part of my people.”― Haile Gebrselassie

11. “What can you do if a part of it is uphill? You can’t work out another route. You’ve just got to run the one they give you. But they tell me London is a nice course. Even the cobbles, I hope, are not very much of a problem for me.”― Haile Gebrselassie

12. “I used to run to school, 10k every day. And this at altitude, perfect preparation, really.”― Haile Gebrselassie

13. “I will always listen to my coaches. But first I listen to my body. If what they tell me suits my body, great. If my body doesn’t feel good with what they say, then always my body comes first.”― Haile Gebrselassie

14. “When you promise something, you must fulfill it.”― Haile Gebrselassie

15. “What is important is to win.”― Haile Gebrselassie

16. “The marathon always starts after 30K. That’s where the problems start. You start without any problems, without any pain. All the pain comes after 30K. Sometimes, it’s possible to have pain even in the finger.”― Haile Gebrselassie

17. “SINCE I ACHIEVED SOMETHING, RUNNING HAS EXPLODED IN MY COUNTRY. FOR ME SOMETIMES IT IS DIFFICULT EVEN TO KNOW WHO THE ATHLETES ARE WHO ARE COMPETING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. THERE ARE THOUSANDS.”― HAILE GEBRSELASSIE

18. “This is what I wanted. They tell me that London is the best field in history. I wanted to be part of that. Because everyone will be there it will be a wonderful challenge for me. You can see the best runners, how they look, how they run. For me to beat the best is what counts.”― Haile Gebrselassie

19. “I think if you come first with a new world record, that is the best.”― Haile Gebrselassie

20. “He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.”― Haile Gebrselassie

21. “In the rainy season, sometimes to get to the first lesson we had to run really quick, because we had to cross the river to school and we’d have to go up and down the bank to find a place to cross because there is no bridge.”― Haile Gebrselassie

22. “This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs.”― Haile Gebrselassie

23. “My father thought sport was something fun – he didn’t know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: ‘Good, you can support not just yourself but me too’.”― Haile Gebrselassie

24. “I’m lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife.”― Haile Gebrselassie

25. “YOU KNOW, I WANT TO HELP MY COUNTRY. DEFINITELY I CAN HELP THEM, SIMPLY BY WINNING RACES. SURE, THEY CAN FOLLOW MY PATH TO A GOOD CAREER. BUT FOR ME IT IS NOT ENOUGH. I WANT TO BE MORE THAN THAT. IN EVERYTHING I WANT TO BE A ROLE MODEL.”― HAILE GEBRSELASSIE

26. “At the moment I am a little bit politician, yes. I think that could be my next step. It is not because I want power, it is because of what I think I could do for the people.”― Haile Gebrselassie

27. “Eradicate poverty. This is all that matters in my country. When I am out training I think about this a lot; when I am running it is going over in my mind. As a country we cannot move forward until we eradicate poverty.”― Haile Gebrselassie

28. “That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa.”― Haile Gebrselassie

29. “I haven’t done a marathon for a long time. So we’ll see. I will need good luck.”― Haile Gebrselassie

30. “I have to change a lot of things before I become a good marathon runner.”― Haile Gebrselassie

31. “When we race in London a world record will be the last thing on our minds.”― Haile Gebrselassie

32. “I wanted to experience New York, to look up and see buildings.”― Haile Gebrselassie

33. “I love running and I will always run.”― Haile Gebrselassie

34. “It is not my duty to spend my money in my country, but it is what I want to do. There is nowhere else I would like to invest.”― Haile Gebrselassie

35. “I have seen things few of my countrymen have. The first time I went on an aeroplane I couldn’t work out how the lavatories worked up in the sky. Haile Gebrselassie

36. “Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.”― Haile Gebrselassie

37. “In the marathon a crazy athlete can just keep pushing from the beginning, at a championship you don’t need a time just to win the race.”― Haile Gebrselassie

38. “THE MORE YOU ARE GETTING OLDER, YOU LOSE A LITTLE SOMETHING. OF COURSE THERE IS ANOTHER ADVANTAGE, BECAUSE OF YOUR LONG EXPERIENCE YOU CAN USE IT.”― HAILE GEBRSELASSIE

39. “Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words.”― Haile Gebrselassie

40. “My school was six miles away from where I lived on the farm. I had to walk and run, there and back every day, through gorges and over rivers. If I was late, there was a very big stick waiting for me.”― Haile Gebrselassie

41. “I can’t change everything by myself but I can be one of the people who are trying to change the situation.”― Haile Gebrselassie

42. “Schooling is so important.”― Haile Gebrselassie

43. “I find the business world hard.”― Haile Gebrselassie

44. “First, do enough training. Then believe in yourself and say: I can do it. Tomorrow is my day. And then say: the person in front of me, he is just a human being as well; he has two legs, I have two legs, that is all. That is mentally how you prepare.”― Haile Gebrselassie

45. “Like some high official, you have to tell your brain: ‘Do it. Come on. I have to do it.’”― Haile Gebrselassie