‘Sable would have been the winner if he had believed. But he must have thought, ‘oh it’s the Kenyans and very hard to beat’: Haile Gebreselassie

Two Olympic golds, four World Championship titles and 27 World records. That’s just a small snippet of long-dance legend Haile Gebrselassie’s sporting CV. The Ethiopian, who is considered one of the greatest long-dance runners of this generation, is now an entrepreneur who runs a chain of hotels among other businesses with over 3000 people working under him. Gebrselassie is in the capital to flag off the Vedanta Delhi Half marathon on Sunday. In an interaction with The Sunday Express Gebrselassie spoke about his love for Indian cinema, the similarities in cultures and why running is his favourite job.
Excerpts:
Your association with India began with you skipping school to watch Indian movies, right?
I will first tell you why Indian movies are so popular in Ethiopia. The people and culture are very similar. Family, the way of living and everything is very similar and that is why Ethiopians are crazy about Indian movies. Whenever I was late for school and did not want to get punished the teacher I used to go the movie hall. Punishment was a whack on the palm with a stick. The tickets back then were just 50 cents and since we had a commun system we were not allowed to watch western movies.
In 2004 you started your theatre. Do you play Indian movies now as well?
In the beginning, yes. But thanks to Ethiopian filmmakers who are creating content now, Ethiopian movies have become very popular now. My cinema hall is the first private theatre in the country after the commun system. Now many cinema houses have come up all over the country.
You have played a major role in the boom of filmmaking in Ethiopia. Did you have any cinema background or knowledge?
I was the one who started it (making Ethiopian films). It was my dream to have my own cinema hall. After the completion of my hall which has 400 seats with a very nice system that comes from Belgium. But then I realised there were no Ethiopian movies. After that, I just found a person who knew how to write a script. I asked him, ‘why don’t you make a film ?. I will allocate an amount for it. At that time that was a big amount. They shot the movie in 3-4 months and then I tried to show it to the public. The story was wonderful for me but the youngsters did not like it that much.
Then I met a very good actor and I told him why don’t you make a good love story or comedy. I supported him and he made a nice love story. And cinema started just growing and then I started supporting other people too. After three or four movies, people started flowing in and the hall was full all the time. People with money soon realised that cinema is the best business and now if you come to Ethiopia there are many halls. But mine was the first.
Gebrselassie is in the capital to flag off the Vedanta Delhi Half marathon. (Pic: Vedanta Delhi half marathon)
Your family wasn’t very supportive of your cinema business initially, right?
My family called me crazy. They said if you have so much money give it to the poor rather than throwing it away in this stupid way. I love movies. And it always started with Bollywood. There were no subtitles and sometimes we did not even know the original name of the movie. We had this one movie which I liked a lot and we used to call it ‘Elephant my friend’ (Hathi mere sathi a 1971 Bollywood hit starring Rajesh Khanna). My favourite was Mother India and still watch it. When you watch that movie it looks like it’s a story from Ethiopia.
You have always mentioned how important a role your family has played in your career as an athlete and now a businessman. Can you tell us more about it?
In Ethiopia when we talk about family it’s not only about the children and the parents. The uncle, the aunt, the grandparents, the nieces etc everyone is part of it. This is very different from the western world. For example, if you come to my house you will see even if we have a visitor we treat them like family. You cannot say oh you can’t stay with us. If I have any problem, my family members come to me to help solve it. The wedding in Ethiopia and India is very similar. Big wedding; a lot of music and dancing.
You are here to promote the Delhi Half marathon. Back home you organise similar events as well so how important are these competitions?
The Vedanta Delhi half marathon is kind of an attraction for people who want to think about sports and fitness as a part of their life. Before these kinds of events, I am not sure how many people ran outside here in India. We have a similar culture. I have organised such races in Ethiopia for over 20 years and before I started such events there, women running outside was almost forbidden. But after 20 years now it has become part of culture and fashion. Believe it or not out of 40,500 participants in the last 10k I organised, 60 per cent were women. It is about developing a culture. Now you go to any gym it is full and people are conscious about their fitness. Here in Delhi when people watch tv, on the streets, you will see many more women running around the city.
You called your rivalry with the Kenyans a peaceful fight. Did you expect an Indian to break the Kenyan deadlock in steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games?
No way. I did not expect Sable to finish close to the Kenyan athletes at the Commonwealth Games. I always told the Indians whenever I visited here that there is potential and talent to win long dance. Here in India, the lifestyle the food you eat, and the living conditions are similar to Kenya and Ethiopia. That is why an Indian athlete can win a race anywhere. The talent is there but the problem is Indians never realised it. It was more of a mental block. Once they know their ability believe me they can win anything. If you see that (Sable CG final) race it was so close. Sable would have been the winner if he had believed. But he must have thought, ‘oh it’s the Kenyans and very hard to beat’. But that’s not true.
Now you’re a top businessman and a very influential figure. But you keep saying running was the easiest job you had.
I am still running. I am doing my exercise before going to the office. Running was an easy job. Before breakfast, I need to have my run and that is a minimum of 10kms. I have to. I used to train 35km, so 10km is nothing for me even at 49. Why do I do it? Because I have to survive. It is not for competition. But a day without running in Haile Gebrselassie’s life is like a day without a meal.