Retired Marathon champ Gebrselassie having second thoughts
Retired Marathon champ Gebrselassie having second thoughts
Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie appears to be re-considering his decision to retire from athletics.
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| Double Olympic gold medal winner Haile Gebrselassie is reconsidering his decision
to call it quits |
The 37-year-old tearfully announced his retirement from the sport after pulling out of the New York Marathon with 10 miles remaining due to a knee injury.
The double Olympic gold medallist, regarded by many as the greatest long-distance runner of all time, was adamant that the time was right to call time on his career, telling a press conference: "I'm not going to run anymore. It's better to stop here."
The Ethiopian made the decision without consulting any of his coaching staffu00a0-- and hinted that he be about to make a dramatic u-turn after posting two messages on Twitter yesterday.
"What a disappointing weekend, I didn't plan to come back to Ethiopia this way. I wanted to succeed in New York," Gebrselassie wrote after returning to his homeland.
"Now it is time for me to think about a lot of things," he continued. "I still love running. I will always run. Just give me some time to think things over."
Compatriot Gebre Gebremariam, who won the men's race in New York in a time of two hours, eight minutes and 14 seconds, thinks Gebrselassie made the decision in the heat of the moment and is confident that he will race again.
He said: "When I get back home I will start to speak to him to try to make him think again. He has to run two or three more races. I think he will change his mind. "Haile is the king of athletics. He decided... after getting the injury. I think he was very emotional at that time."
