From 1995 when he crushed the 5000 WR by 11 seconds.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8zWiJdiFpEHaile cited that race and 2000 Olympic 10,000 in an interview out in Athletics Weekly:http://www.athleticsweekly.com/featured/audience-haile-gebrselassie-37177/Haile was asked, "Of all of your achievements, is there one memory that stands out and will live with you forever?"
Haile G said:
My first big world record, the 5000m in Zürich 1995. I was flying that day. It was an amazing feeling. I broke the record by 11 seconds, with a last kilometre in 2:30 minutes.
But my most thrilling race was my gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sydney. I was injured at that time and I had almost cancelled the Olympics. But I did the impossible there to win, in a heroic race with Paul Tergat. My winning margin of nine hundredths of a second was less than the 12 hundredths of a second in which Maurice Greene won from Ato Boldon in the 100m in Sydney.