Hail Haile

[Outside Agent]

The greatest athlete of all time has retired. Actually, he retired last Sunday, but nobody saw fit to start a thread so I thought I'd oblige.

Haile Gebreselassie. World record holder at 5,000m, 10,000m & marathon. Four time World Champion and twice Olympic Champion at 10,000m. And all achieved at a time when there was a high volume of top class middle and long distance runners capable of chasing world records.

His victory in the 10,000m final in Sydney is, for me, the greatest race of all time.

And by all accounts, a genuine nice guy to boot.

[caja-dglh]

Hail Haile

A little sad the way he went - getting his knee drained to run the New York Marathon, only for the pain to get too much towards the end of the 3rd Borough (circa 16 miles). Very nice that his good friend went on to win.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Hail Haile

Rock and Roll.

An utter, utter legend of a runner, and an athlete of astonishing longevity. That he isn't an iconic figure of world sport is merely a fact about attention spans.

[linus]

Hail Haile

I don't know if he's the greatest athlete of all time, but he's definitely haile thought of.

[bovril]

Hail Haile

changed his mind...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/9190495.stm