Team Ethiopia

 

HAILE Gebrselassie, the greatest long-distance runner in history, is Melbourne-bound — for the Great Australian Run, a 15-kilometre road race around the streets of Melbourne on November 30 — and with him, he will bring some food for thought for all those elite Australian sportsmen who reckon they do it tough to achieve success. To find out just what makes him tick, we did some research about the Ethiopian runner, who this month became the first man to break two hours four minutes for the marathon (and, in all, has broken 27 world records). This is what we found out:

? Gebrselassie rises every day at 6am, drives 25 minutes to the Entoto Mountains, where he usually runs 20 kilometres with other Ethiopian athletes. (He goes to the mountains because the air is clean, there is no traffic and it is slightly cooler than in the city of Addis Ababa.)

? He then returns home to change and grab a quick breakfast.

? At 9am, he is in his office, personally supervising his business empire that includes being:

CHAIRMAN of the Great Ethiopian Run, a public fun run that has been a huge success in Ethiopia with 32,000 entries; and

BOSS of a construction company that builds cinemas, convention centres, petrol stations, schools, sports stores, cafes and fitness centres.

? He fInishes work at 4pm and heads to more training, either back to the mountains for some hard running or to the national stadium for a session on the track.

? He is home just after 6pm for time with his family or to prepare for any evening engagements, where he is in great demand.

ALL THIS by a bloke who:

? Is a devoted Orthodox Christian and presented his first Olympic gold medal to his local church as a token of thanksgiving for his special talent.

? As an employer, has given half of the jobs in his businesses to women in a part of the world where equal opportunity was once never heard of.

Not your regular superstar is our Haile.

(Gebrselassie will be competing against Australian elite distance runners including Craig Mottram in the November 30 race, which is open to the general public, from local joggers to fitness fanatics. What an opportunity for them!)

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