Revealed

SHOW #17

Haile Gebrselassie – Marathon Man

One of the greatest long distance runners of all time, Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie dominated track running for years. With countless trophies to his name, the 34-year old has an unrivalled legacy, a two-time 10,000 meter Olympic Champion with 24 world records under his belt. However, his track career ended after the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens when he had to content himself with fifth place in the 10,000 meter final due to an injury . The disappointing result prompted Gebrselassie’s decision to concentrate on road running. Since then he has already broken two world marathon records.

This month’s Revealed follows Gebrselassie as he faces his next big challenge: the 34th annual Berlin Marathon. He will compete against 40,000 participants in an attempt to defend his title. He won the race last year in a spectacular 2 hours, 5 minutes and 56 seconds, making him the 5th fastest marathon runner of all time. This year’s goal: to beat the record set by Kenyan rival Paul Tergat in Berlin 2003 and knock more than 61 seconds off his time. And this is no mean feat; Gebrselassie faced health problems earlier this year at the London Marathon in April when he had to pull out of the race due to breathing difficulties. We join Gebrselassie in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, his homeplace and training ground. As he prepares for Berlin, he follows a rigorous daily exercise regime: running outside of the city twice daily. Were he to run in the center of town he wouldn’t get further than one block in an hour(!) because it is so crowded.

We seek to reveal a man and his country, at a significant time in his personal and national history. His eye is on the immediate prize at the Berlin marathon, but his long-term goal is set to improve the future of Ethiopia.