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Legend of the track emulates King of the Road
= = SYDNEY, Sept 25 (AFP) - They have already made a film about the life of Haile Gebrselassie. And after his epic victory in the men's Olympic 10000m final there must surely be a sequel. On a night when Cathy Freeman had set the stadium alight with her 400m victory for Australia Ethiopia's Gebrselassie came as close as humanly possible to upstaging the Aboriginal heroine. And his perennial rival Paul Tergat once again found that he had landed the role of best supporting actor to the little big man of the track as the 27-year-old from Addis Ababa overhauled him in the closing strides. After a successful defence of his 10,000m title Gebrselassie is expected to fulfil his pre-Olympic claim that he will switch his attentions to the marathon, swapping the track for the road. The marathon is a discipline that is dear to the hearts of Ethiopians and was the preserve of Abebe Bikila who in 1964 became the first man to successfully defend the Olympic title in the most gruelling race of all. Bikila is Gebrselassie's only rival for the accolade of greatest ever Ethiopian sporting figure in a country with a rich endurance running tradition but now the 1.64m high (5ft 5in) runner is looking on course to eclipse even the legendary feats of the barefoot sensation of the Rome and Tokyo Games. Like many African long distance runners Gebrselassie learned his trade as a child on the school run. He would run 10km every morning from the mud hut he shared with his nine siblings to school. One brother Tekeye is an international class marathon runner while younger brother Belay is also a promising athlete but Haile's achievements have put them in the shade. But he was nearly lost to athletics when his father told him that he had no future as a runner and would be better advised finding a civil service job in Addis Ababa. But Haile ignored that advice and clandestinely continued training while living with his brother in the capital. He retains a certain child-like quality with a seemingly perennial smile fixed to his face - that is possibly because he has not had much experience of defeat. He has not lost a significant race since 1993 and successfully defended the title he won in Atlanta when Tergat again had to play the silver-medal winning bridesmaid to Gebrselassie, who lives in Holland during the season. His penchant for eclipsing Kenyans - the rivalry between the two nations on the track is one of the keenest in sport - is not limited to Tergat. Gebrselassie is the first man since another Kenyan Henry Rono to set world records at both the 5000m and 1000m distances and has notched 15 global landmarks in all. For good measure he set two more landmarks, becoming the first man to run under 13min in the 5000m and the first to break the 27 minute barrier at the longer distance. His film Endurance was made by Walt Disney and starred Gebreselassie as himself - but not even the sternest critic could describe him as a Mickey Mouse act.
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