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A second Olympic 10,000m. title for Haile Gebrselassie, to add to his
four World Championship titles, is how the great Ethiopian began his new
championship-winning decade, much indeed as he had left the previous
decade - unbeatable over twenty-five laps. His winning time of
27min.18.20sec. was slower than at the Atlanta Olympic Games, four years
earlier, but the circumstances were similar - a certain Paul Terget was
still trying his best to get the upper hand and once again failing
through no fault of his own.
The better man kept winning. Paul's time
of 27min.18.29sec. indicated he had closed the gap, but with Haile four
years his junior, one suspects that no matter what Terget had done in
the Australian capital, the champion would have matched and then
bettered it. Paul came very close to usurping the king as the above
photograph indicates, but great champions always seem to find the
greater will to win. As in Seville the year before at the World
Championships, third place went to Assefa Mezgebu of Ethiopia
(27min.19.75sec.).
At twenty-seven Haile was still a youngster compared
with some of the great middle distance runners of the past and there had
never been a middle distance champion to compare with this Ethiopian in
an age when the introduction of professional athletics increased the
competition as never before. (George Herringshaw)
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