page_title: Haile Gebrselassie
section_title: Later career
hierarchical_section_title: Haile Gebrselassie / Biography / Later career
caption_attribution_description: English: Haile Gebrselassie shortly before winning the 2005 Amsterdam Marathon
context_page_description: Haile Gebrselassie is a retired Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he won four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion.
  Haile had major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He broke 61 Ethiopian national records ranging from 800 metres to the marathon, set 27 world records, and is regarded as one of the greatest distance runners in history.
  In September 2008, at the age of 35, he won the Berlin Marathon with a
  world record time of 2:03:59, breaking his own world record by 27 seconds. The record stood for three years. Since he was over the age of 35, that mark stood as the Masters Age group world record until 29 September 2019, when fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele ran 2:01:41 at the age of 37. Gebrselassie's 10000 m Masters record has not been challenged since 2008.
context_section_description: Since leaving the track after the 2004 Olympics, Haile has focused on road racing and the marathon. His adult marathons to date include London 2002 (3rd place), Amsterdam 2005 (1st place), London 2006 (9th place), Berlin 2006 (1st place), Fukuoka 2006 (1st place), London 2007 (dnf), Berlin 2007 (1st place and World Record), Dubai 2008 (1st place), Berlin 2008 (1st place and another World Record), Dubai 2009 (1st place) Berlin 2009 (1st place), Dubai 2010 (1st place), and NYC 2010 (dnf).
  In 2002, Haile made his debut at the marathon at the London Marathon. He started the race with a very fast pace, within world record time. He was unable to hold it, however, as world record holder Khalid Khannouchi and Paul Tergat both eventually passed him. Khannouchi broke his own world record, while Haile finished third.
  In 2005 Haile went undefeated in all of his road races. This included a British All-Comers record in the 10K at Manchester (27:25), a win in the Amsterdam Marathon in the fastest marathon time in the world for 2006 (2:06:20), and a new world best for 10 miles in Tilburg Ten Miles race, The Netherlands (44:24). (His unofficial split of 41:22 at the 15K mark was 7 seconds faster than the official world best.)
  Haile started 2006 positively by beating the world half marathon record by a full 21 seconds, recording a time of 58 minutes and 55 seconds on 15 January. He broke the record, his first one on American soil, by running the half marathon of the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon. During the race he also broke Paul Tergat's 20 km record, both records having stood since 1998. (Haile passed the 20 km mark in 55:48.) That year also marked another victory for Haile as he shattered the 25 km world road record (albeit in non-IAAF ratified fashion) by 68 seconds in a time of 1:11.37. The race was organized where Haile and six other runners would run 5 kilometres and then cross the starting line of the 20-K Alphen race in Alphen aan den Rijn of the Netherlands.
  On 23 April 2006, he finished ninth in the London Marathon with a time of 2:09:05 (the race was won by Kenyan Felix Limo, who clocked 2:06:39). Haile referred to the ninth-place finish as "the worst race of my career". However, on 24 September he came back with a win in the Berlin Marathon in the fastest time of the year, 2:05:56. His time in Berlin made him only the fifth man in history to run under 2:06 for the marathon. This was followed by a win in the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan in 2:06:52.
  In London on 22 April 2007, Haile challenged the 2006 London Marathon winner Felix Limo, 2005 London Marathon winner Martin Lel, 2004 Athens gold medalist Stefano Baldini, 2006 New York Marathon winner Marílson Gomes dos Santos, and the then marathon world record holder Paul Tergat in what organizers anticipated would be an exciting race. However Haile dropped out at the 18-mile (29 km) stage complaining of a stitch and inability to breathe, which turned out to be an allergic reaction to the pollen in the air. This left the 2005 winner Martin Lel to come home in first place.
  One month later, Haile made a surprise return to the track for the first of two stadium races that summer. In the first, he ran a 26:52.81 in finishing fifth in a very competitive 10,000 metres race in Hengelo, The Netherlands. It was the first time a man over 30 ran the 10,000 m in less than 27 minutes. Then, on 27 June 2007, Haile launched an attack upon the world record for the one hour run, in Ostrava, Czech Republic. This record attempt was successful as Haile passed the hour mark at 21,285 metres (13 miles 397 yards), eclipsing the previous best of 21,101 metres, set by Mexican Arturo Barrios in La Flèche, France, on 30 March 1991. Furthermore, Haile covered 50 laps (20,000 m) in 56:25.98, another world best, well within the previous 56:55.6 also set by Barrios in 1991. These were his 23rd and 24th world records.
  Haile made his running debut in New York City when he won the New York City Half Marathon on 5 August 2007, in 59:24, breaking the previous course record by two minutes. His win in the Lisbon Half 
caption: Haile shortly before winning the Amsterdam Marathon
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