Haile Gebrselassie Takes on the Big Apple: Talks About Abdi, The Marathon Distance, Dan Komen, and the Short Careers of Many Kenyans
by: LetsRun.com
August 3, 2007
New York , NY

Haile Gebrselassie is such a star in our sport that he had his own press conference Friday in the Big Apple in preparation for Sunday's New York City Half Marathon.

Sunday's field is a tremendous field and features the top marathoner in the World, Robert Cheruyiot (who has the inaugural World Marathon Majors title locked up), 2004 NYC champ Hendrick Ramaala, the top long distance runner the last 2 years, Abdi Abdirahman (exclusive interview with Abdi here), plus American star Alan Culpepper,  John Korir (road wins at Blooomsday and Bay to Breakers this year) and James Kwambai (2nd in Boston this year, 1:00:22 half best).

Haile however rightfully got his own press conference. You know he's a big star when Mary Wittenburg, the director of the NY Road Runners and NYC Marathon, is a bit star struck at all of his accomplishments as she introduces him. There may never be another runner like him.

Here are some of the highlights for some of you with limited time:

Haile G on the differences between the half marathon and the marathon:
"The good thing for the 10000m and 5000m athletes like me is, the half marathon is almost the distance you are training every day when you are preparing for the 10 or 5k."

And for those of you who have struggled with the marathon distance, take heart, Haile Gebrselassie (like Hendrick Ramaala yesterday) has tremendous respect for the distance:
Haile G on the Marathon:
"The marathon when you talk about the marathon, the marathon (is all after) 30k, 35k....When you run the marathon, you are running against the distance, not against the other athletes, not against the time."

On his competition this weekend. We're sure some of you perhaps thought American Abdi Abdirahman was a bit nuts for saying he was coming to NY hoping to beat Gebrselassie, but when Haile was asked who he thought might be his toughest competition he pointed to Abdi: " All of them are very good. If you ask me right now, (who is the best). I've checked (the results) Abdi is a good one, he's in really good shape."

Who Will Win the NY Half? Haile Gebrselassie 64.9% Robert Cheruiyot 14.2% Abdi Abdirahman 9.7% Hendrick Ramaala 6.0% John Korir 2.7% Other 2.2% James Kwambai 0.3%   Total Votes: 1771

Haile's career has been an incredible long one with success across a tremendous range of distances (he ran 3:31 indoors for a 1500m gold medal, and obviously had WR at 5k, 10k, and the half marathon). When asked to name some of his top competitors through the years besides Paul Tergat, he talked about some of them but noted how many of the top Kenyan runners do not have very long careers.

Geb on some of the short careers of the top Kenyans:
"Someone like (Daniel) Komen he was perfect for 2 or 3 years... In Kenya it is hard to stay (on top) very long because there are many runners from Kenya...."

He also acknowledged that Samuel Wanjiru, the world half marathon record holder is running very well, but once again pointed to the "the Kenyan problem where they don't stay (at the top) very long."

The long lengthy careers of Gebreslassie and Tergat are truly incredible. Maybe, Geb will make another memorably moment on the streets of NY on Sunday.

The race will be webcast live on the internet at 7 am eastern here on Sunday 8/5.

More NYC Half Coverage:
*LetsRun.com Interview With Abdi (Video and Text Recap)
*LetsRun.com Interview With Hendrick Ramaala (Video and Text Recap)