Gebrselassie regrets opting out of marathon
14 hours, 19 minutes ago

Buzz Up Print
By Vivi Lin

BEIJING, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie regrets pulling out of the 42-km race at the Olympics over fears that Beijing’s air pollution would damage his health.

“I’m surprised. What do you expect from me? I was here in February, I didn’t see no blue sky,” the Ethiopian runner told Reuters on Monday in China’s capital, where the sun was shining in a slightly hazy sky.

“Since I came here everything is perfect. They should tell us,” he added with a laugh.

Asked if he was now sorry not to be running in next Sunday’s marathon, he chuckled again and said: “Don’t push me. Yes.”

Gebrselassie, a 35-year-old who suffers from asthma, announced in March that he would not participate in the marathon and called on China to deal with Beijing’s pollution problem, saying it would be a hazard to athletes.

International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge said last year that endurance events such as the marathon or long-distance cycling races could be rescheduled if efforts to clear Beijing’s polluted skies were unsuccessful.

As it turned out, the opening days of the Games were marred by smoggy skies but the weather has cleared for the second week.

“It’s really good for everybody, good for all … to keep such clean air, that’s fantastic,” Gebrselassie said.

Gebrselassie ran in the men’s 10,000m in Beijing on Sunday, an event in which he has twice won an Olympic gold medal. He finished in sixth place, behind fellow Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine, who took gold and silver respectively.

“Getting sixth in 10,000, it was not bad,” he said.

“The only problem I had yesterday … was just the last 250 metres, the last 300 metres. I have no more sprint. My training is mostly for a marathon.”

He said he may return to the 10,000 metres and is also keen to run in the marathon at London’s 2012 Olympics. (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Ed Osmond)


http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/t...s&type=lgns

If he participates in the contest and wins a medal, he may not dare to accept it because according to some western media, the medals have poisonous substances in them. It's a bad luck for American and Chinese athletes who are the main victims because they receive more medals.

Stupid idiot, serves him right.

Stupid b1tch ! Serves him right lol....

Yeah, too bad.
Breathing the same Beijing air did give his fellow Ethiopians an unfair advantage, as the results showed.

He did not see the sun but his friend did (gold) lol

Ethiopian life expectancy is 49.23, Chinese is 72.88, it is either Ethiopian breath more polluted air or Chinese are immune to pollution. If the latter is the case, never dream of using chemical weapons on Chinese, too tough in resisting lethal gases that renders any such warfare effectiveless to Chinese.

Ethiopia produces the best long distance runners, they can beat other competitors barefootedly. With adequate gears and training, they can run even faster, but the pity is they have more access to western media propagandas than to western gears and training, unfair.

We do have to do something about the pollution in China though. It's getting to a point where we must act fast to prevent further damage. I want the later generations to live in a country with pristine water, clean air and green forests. Nobody wants to live in smog covered cities with weekly acid rain.