World record holder Haile Gebreselassie has confirmed in an interview with a Spanish newspaper that he will not run in the Beijing Olympics marathon because of the climatic conditions in the Chinese capital.
"I have no intention of committing suicide in Beijing," the Ethiopian, who suffers from asthma, told El Pais. "I know that several other athletes are starting to have doubts about this."
"It's purely a personal decision that I have taken to protect my health. I do not want to endanger my future. I do not want to kill myself in Beijing.
"The marathon will be impossible because of the pollution, heat and humidity," he said before confirming that he intended to focus instead on the 10,000m.
"I want to be an Olympic champion once again and also to compete in Beijing. That's why I have been trying to find a solution and that would be to once again compete in the 10,000m as I did at Atlanta, Sydney and Athens."
To do so, however, he will first have to secure his qualification as one of the three Ethiopian runners eligible to run in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Steve Redgrave, Britain's most successful Olympian, will run in the London leg of the Beijing torch relay.
The former rower's participation as one of the 80 runners in the relay, which will be held on April 6, was announced on Monday by Olympic sponsor Samsung. Redgrave, who won his fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, also ran in the Athens torch relay.
"With the Olympics in 2012 getting ever closer there is no better time for the general public to engage with the Olympic spirit, customs and tradition -- and the torch is a big part of that," said Redgrave, referring to the 2012 London Games.
Samsung said Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon will also run, along with four competition winners.
Only three other runners have been announced -- two-time Olympic champion Kelly Holmes, British broadcaster Trevor McDonald and actress Amara Khan.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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