Quotes from Haile Gebrselassie

I'm retiring from competitive running, not from running. You cannot stop running, this is my life.

He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.

I'm lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife.

My father thought sport was something fun - he didn't know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: 'Good, you can support not just yourself but me too'.

What can you do if a part of it is uphill? You can't work out another route. You've just got to run the one they give you. But they tell me London is a nice course. Even the cobbles, I hope, are not very much of a problem for me.

Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country. For me sometimes it is difficult even to know who the athletes are who are competing at the highest level. There are thousands.

My father didn't think running was sensible. He told me running is just wasting time.

I haven't done a marathon for a long time. So we'll see. I will need good luck.

You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It's like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon - it's the same.

I think if you come first with a new world record, that is the best.

Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can't make planes or cars, we don't have the materials. We do what we can.

When we race in London a world record will be the last thing on our minds.

I remember in particular my first victory when I achieved a very fast time in what were perfect conditions but since then the wind has always been a factor against me.

In the marathon a crazy athlete can just keep pushing from the beginning, at a championship you don't need a time just to win the race.

When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers.

I want to avoid injuries by running only road.

If I don't train enough, of course I'm nervous.

First, do enough training. Then believe in yourself and say: I can do it. Tomorrow is my day. And then say: the person in front of me, he is just a human being as well; he has two legs, I have two legs, that is all. That is mentally how you prepare.

For me a day without training is like a day without eating.

I wanted to experience New York, to look up and see buildings.

It is not my duty to spend my money in my country, but it is what I want to do. There is nowhere else I would like to invest.

If your body is damaged, wounded, it can be fixed, but if inside, mentally, you are wounded you cannot fix it, it's hard.

That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa.

I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people's eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia.