Ethiopias Haile Gebresellassie officially retires

Ethiopian running great Haile Gegresellassie officially retired from running on Sunday November 22 at The Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa.

The annual race organised by the Great Ethiopian Run NGO attracted a record 40,000 runners, an improvement from the 36,000 runners of last year’s race.

The huge turnout was expected after Haile said he would make an appearance for a special occasion.

The special occasion was Haile running barefoot for the full 10km race in honour of double Olympic champions Ethiopian great Abebe Bikila.

Bikila shocked the world in 1960 when he won the Olympic gold in Marathon in Rome, running barefoot.

Gereselassie says this is it now, it is official retirement  and we will never see him compete in athletics again.