The Greatest

"On top of all this, Gebrselassie's hearing things. One simple word over and over: Yichala, Yichala. It is possible, It is possible. Five meters out...now three, and this single word is still circulating in Gebrselassie's head. He can only feel Tergat by his side now; his vision is clouding, his ears are ringing. Then somehow he remembers, Lean, Lean. It's a beautiful dip, too: graceful and balanced with his arms out to his sides like wings. He's taken off; he's across the line first for an incredible nine one-hundredths of a second victory. It's a race that will never be forgotten. The day the world proclaimed this humble Ethiopian the greatest runner of all time."

 

A heart pounding excerpt from the prologue of Jim Denison's book on Haile Gebrselassie.