Haile finishing his legendary 1996 Atlanta Olympics comeback victory in the 10,000 meter run (Image courtesy of Getty Images) While he qualified to compete in the 5,000 meter run, he was unable to due to injuries caused by the hard Atlanta track made specifically for sprinters ( Kassegne). A runner named Paul Tergat challenged Haile in the final race of the 10,000 meters, where Haile won by only six meters, sparking a legendary rivalry between the two runners ( Olympics). In the 1996 Olympics, Gebrselassie was the man to beat, and in fact almost was beaten. Before this all happened, he placed fourth in a race in England (due to mismanagement of an injury), then bounced back and had a “Milestone Year” ( Kassegne). After these two world records were broken, he was an instant celebrity and was recognized throughout the world ( successstory). In 1995, he broke his own world record in the 5,000 meter and broke the 10,000 meter world record with a time of 26:43, which beat the previous record by nine seconds. In 1994, he set his first world record in Henglo, Holland, with a time of 12:56 in the 5,000 meter run ( Kassegne). Here is Haile running in the 1993 World Championships and breaking the world record (Image courtesy of Black Ottowa Scene)
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