By John Mehaffey
LONDON (Reuters) – Twice Olympic 10,000 metres champion Haile Gebrselassie will attempt the 16-year-old world one-hour record this year after making a surprise return to the track in the Dutch town of Hengelo last month.
The 34-year-old Ethiopian retired from track running to concentrate on the marathon after finishing fifth in the 2004 Athens Olympics 10,000 metres final.
In Hengelo he again finished fifth in 26 minutes 52.81 seconds, the eighth time he has clocked under 27 minutes.
In an interview on Thursday, Gebrselassie said he had run in the Netherlands to check on his speed prior to making an attempt on Arturo Barrios’s world one-hour record.
The Mexican, who is now based in the United States, covered 21.101 km in La Fleche, France, on March 30, 1991.
“I want to attack the world one-hour record soon, somewhere here in England or somewhere else,” he told Reuters. “This year I will try that. My speed is still there and everything looks okay.”
Gebrselassie, who set 17 world records and won four world 10,000 metres world titles in a row, was forced to pull out of an attempt on the world one-hour mark in Hengelo in 2002 with cramps in his right leg.
He was scheduled to have another crack at the record at the same venue last year but withdrew before the event. His Dutch manager Jos Hermens set a world record for the rarely run event in 1976.
Gebrselassie, who is in London for the launch of a Group 4 Securicor global sports programme on Friday, will not run in the Osaka world championships this year but plans to compete in the marathon at next year’s Beijing Olympics.
He then hopes to run at the 2012 London Games as well.
“I will be 39 in 2012,” he said. “The weather and everything is perfect. For me running is my life so why stop running?”