Haile gebrselassie biography of christopher

Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974

"Ras Tafari" redirects here. For the religion, see Rastafari.

Not to be confused with Haile Gebrselassie or Haile Selassie Gugsa.

Haile Selassie I, (born Tafari Makonnen or Lij Tafari; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (Enderase) under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930. Widely considered to be a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, he is accorded divine importance in Rastafari, an Abrahamic religion that emerged in the 1930s. A few years before he began his reign over the Ethiopian Empire, Selassie defeated Ethiopian army commander Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul, nephew of Empress Taytu Betul, at the Battle of Anchem. He belonged to the Solomonic dynasty, founded by Emperor Yekuno Amlak in 1270; Amlak's successors claimed that he was a lineal descendant of Menelik I, the legendary Emperor of Ethiopia who was supposedly born to King Solomon and Queen Makeda of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Sheba, respectively. Historians regard the Solomonic lineage claim as unfounded, created by Amlak to justify wresting power from the Zagwe Dynasty.

Selassie, seeking to modernise Ethiopia, introduced political and social reforms including the 1931 constitution and the abolition of slavery in 1942. He led the empire during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, and after its defeat was exiled to the United Kingdom. When the Italian occupation of East Africa began, he traveled to Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to coordinate the Ethiopian struggle against Fascist Italy; he returned home after the East African campaign of World War II. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1950, and annexed Eritrea as one of Ethiopia's provinces, while also fighting to prevent Er

British long-distance runner

Christopher Thompson (born 17 April 1981) is a British long-distance runner, who won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, on 27 July 2010 behind his compatriot Mo Farah. Prior to his 2010 medal win he had won the European U23 5000 m Championship in 2003. However he was initially unable to build on this victory, as he had substantial injury problems for a number of years. He is currently coached by Alan Storey.

Thompson ran at the 2010 Great Yorkshire Run in September and came close to victory, but was edged out by a second by AustralianCraig Mottram. He took on top African runners at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, but he could not repeat his podium performance of Barcelona; he finished in fifth place behind Ugandan winner Moses Kipsiro and the Kenyan team, making him the top non-African performer in the event.

At the start of the 2011 track season Chris Thompson ran the third fastest 10,000 m by a Briton with his time of 27:27.36 minutes at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California. He was the sole runner to challenge Haile Gebrselassie at the Great Manchester Run in May and finished as runner-up to the decorated Ethiopian. A heel injury interrupted his season and eventually ruled him out of competing at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. He returned to action in October at the Great South Run. At the 10-mile Portsmouth race he started quickly, but faded badly in the latter stages and ended up fourth. He praised the sensible pacing of Alistair Cragg (who overtook him for third place) and remarked "I didn't respect the course with my ambitions...I've learned a lesson about road running for the future".

He ran his first half marathon at the start of 2012, placing seventh at the New York Half Marathon in a time of 61:23 minutes. He came fourth a

© Copyright – 2012 – Athletics Illustrated

Although there is speculation about Haile “Gebr” Gebrselassie’s actual age — he maintains that he was born in 1973 — and on occasion people who know him personally, have let slip that he is older, like countryman Hirpasa Lemi, who said he and Gebr are the same age, born in 1967. That would make him 45. Regardless of the fact that his marathon performances have recently slipped from their world-dominating standard of just a few years ago, The Emperor is not done with his running career just yet.

Even though his best marathon performance from where he attained his world record time of 2:03:59 (Berlin 2008) has since been surpassed by Kenyan Patrick Makau, with his 2:03:38 also set in Berlin, in 2011, Gebr continues to be referred to as the greatest distance runner ever.

Personal bests:

1500m – 3:33.73
Mile – 3:52.39
5,000m – 12:39.36
10,000m – 26:22
Half-marathon – 58:55
Marathon – 2:03:59

Eskinder Nega of Ethiomedia wrote in 2010, “He is effortlessly telegenic. He has always been at perfect ease, with absolutely no trace of self-consciousness…”

Christopher Kelsall: What are your thoughts on the growing trend for marathons and half-marathons having “chase races”, where the elite women start a few minutes before the men?

Haile Gebrselassie: I love it, I always love chasing women.

CK: There seems to be some chatter in the running community about whether the half-marathon should be considered for a distance to be included at major games, what do you think? 

HG: I have never really thought about it, an interesting point though, but of course, the marathon is something so special.

CK: You have said that you love running and will continue. Are you going to continue to compete at the highest possible level after London 2012?

HG: I love running and I will always run for myself. And I always give my best at running and try to achieve the highest possible

Haile Gebrselassie, the most famous name in long distance running joins the head of the World Marathon Majors (WMM) leaderboard following his victory in the real,-BERLIN-MARATHON in 2hr 05min 56sec on Sunday morning. The WMM - a union of the top five global marathons - is three races through the first year of its inaugural two year series, and multi-world record holder and Olympic and world titleist Gebrselassie joins Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Felix Limo, winners of the Boston Marathon and Flora London Marathon earlier this year. The Ethiopian star and the two Kenyans all have 25 points, going into the final two races this year, The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 22, and the ING New York City Marathon on November 5.

Another famous Ethiopian, Gete Wami won the Berlin women's race. Wami, the world 10,000 metres champion from Seville '97, and Olympic silver medallist from Sydney clocked 2.21.34, and dominated the women's section in the German capital as easily as her compatriot had done in the men's race. Wami too now has 25 points, and joins the Boston and London winners, Rita Jeptoo of Kenya and Deena Kastor of the USA at the top of the WMM leader board.

The IAAF World Championships in Osaka 2007 will also count towards the inaugural WMM titles, and the two leaders (one woman, one man) at the end of next year will win an extra US$500,000, in addition to their individual race purses. In Berlin, Gebrselassie and Wami won 50,000 euros each ($64,000), with Gebrselassie taking a bonus of 30,000 euros ($38,000) for breaking 2.06.30. His time makes him the fifth fastest man in history, with the equal seventh fastest time.

�"My time was fine", said Gebrselassie. The newly crowned real, BERLIN MARATHON champ. �"Of course, you always try to run faster, but I know that I join the leader board and there will be other chances for records in future races."

For a very long time, it looked as if Gebrselassie had launched a