Quotes from Haile Gebrselassie

I have to change a lot of things before I become a good marathon runner.

I'm a runner first before anything else.

Schooling is so important.

My school was six miles away from where I lived on the farm. I had to walk and run, there and back every day, through gorges and over rivers. If I was late, there was a very big stick waiting for me.

Athletics is in my blood.

I find the business world hard.

Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well.

If you're planning only to make money and nothing else, you'll be broke.

When I wake up at 5 in the morning is it just to jog? Definitely not, I give it all of my efforts.

I will always listen to my coaches. But first I listen to my body. If what they tell me suits my body, great. If my body doesn't feel good with what they say, then always my body comes first.

Being a great athlete is something that requires a lot of training and dedication, it does not come as easily as some people may think.

Eradicate poverty. This is all that matters in my country. When I am out training I think about this a lot; when I am running it is going over in my mind. As a country we cannot move forward until we eradicate poverty.

Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that.

I was the kind of child who worked hard every day with the cows and sheep - I was a very aggressive boy.

Some people start a sport just to reduce weight, or some say, 'My doctor ordered me to run and do exercise', and for others, they run for completely different benefits. But it is not like that with sport. We need to eat, we need to rest, but also we need to run.

I used to run to school, 10k every day. And this at altitude, perfect preparation, really.

I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.'

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.

In my life I do a lot of things but I never forget my training.

Life is a kind of struggle. Life is a sort of fight.

When you promise something, you must fulfill it.

I wanted to be famous. I wanted people to talk about me.

This is what I wanted. They tell me that London is the best field in history. I wanted to be part of that. Because everyone will be there it will be a wonderful challenge for me. You can see the best runners, how they look, how they run. For me to beat the best is what counts.

You know, I want to help my country. Definitely I can help them, simply by winning races. Sure, they can follow my path to a good career. But for me it is not enough. I want to be more than that. In everything I want to be a role model.