1.
All athletes need three things: commitment, discipline and hard work. Without that it's hard to keep running.
Haile Gebrselassie
2.
When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.
Haile Gebrselassie
3.
Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.
Haile Gebrselassie
4.
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
5.
I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.'
Haile Gebrselassie
6.
Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well.
Haile Gebrselassie
7.
For me a day without training is like a day without eating.
Haile Gebrselassie
8.
Some people start a sport just to reduce weight, or some say, 'My doctor ordered me to run and do exercise', and for others, they run for completely different benefits. But it is not like that with sport. We need to eat, we need to rest, but also we need to run.
Haile Gebrselassie
9.
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
10.
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
11.
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
12.
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
13.
I love running and I will always run.
Haile Gebrselassie
14.
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
15.
Age for me is just a number.
Haile Gebrselassie
16.
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
17.
I can't change everything by myself but I can be one of the people who are trying to change the situation.
Haile Gebrselassie
18.
When I wake up at 5 in the morning is it just to jog? Definitely not, I give it all of my efforts.
Haile Gebrselassie
19.
I know what I want when I start a marathon: to win! But what do you want? Make sure you're clear in advance and don't go out too fast.
Haile Gebrselassie
20.
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
21.
If you're planning only to make money and nothing else, you'll be broke.
Haile Gebrselassie
22.
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
23.
You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It's like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon - it's the same.
Haile Gebrselassie
24.
Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can't make planes or cars, we don't have the materials. We do what we can.
Haile Gebrselassie
25.
Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words.
Haile Gebrselassie
26.
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
27.
I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people's eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia.
Haile Gebrselassie
28.
When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.
Haile Gebrselassie
29.
In my life I do a lot of things but I never forget my training.
Haile Gebrselassie
30.
Like some high official, you have to tell your brain: 'Do it. Come on. I have to do it.'
Haile Gebrselassie
31.
Life is a kind of struggle. Life is a sort of fight.
Haile Gebrselassie
32.
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
33.
My father didn't think running was sensible. He told me running is just wasting time.
Haile Gebrselassie
34.
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
35.
When I had no shoes I was comfortable - I used to run barefoot. When I wore shoes it was difficult. To run in shoes was ok, but at the beginning of my career it was hard.
Haile Gebrselassie
36.
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
37.
I'm a runner first before anything else.
Haile Gebrselassie
38.
When you promise something, you must fulfill it.
Haile Gebrselassie
39.
When you talk about world record times, you have to understand that everything must be perfect the weather, the course, the temperature. It is not always enough to be in good shape.
Haile Gebrselassie
40.
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
41.
I have to change a lot of things before I become a good marathon runner.
Haile Gebrselassie
42.
If I don't train enough, of course I'm nervous.
Haile Gebrselassie
43.
I haven't done a marathon for a long time. So we'll see. I will need good luck.
Haile Gebrselassie
44.
Being a great athlete is something that requires a lot of training and dedication, it does not come as easily as some people may think.
Haile Gebrselassie
45.
Athletics is in my blood.
Haile Gebrselassie
46.
I'm retiring from competitive running, not from running. You cannot stop running, this is my life.
Haile Gebrselassie
47.
Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country.
Haile Gebrselassie
48.
What is important is to win.
Haile Gebrselassie
49.
I want to go down in history.
Haile Gebrselassie
50.
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
