(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-24 09:28

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's world marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie on Wednesday explained the reason for his pullout from the Olympic marathon in Beijing this August, saying that on Sept 28 at the 2008 Berlin Marathon he wants to improve his own world record time for the marathon.

Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia reacts to a question during an interview with Reuters at the Beijing Sport University February 4, 2008. [Agencies]

Gebrselassie, one of the greatest long-distance runners the world has ever seen, also vowed to attend the Beijing Olympics even if he could not qualify for the men's 10,000m race.

"Every sportsman wants to attend Olympic events. So do I," he said.

He said he will be attending the Beijing Olympics even if he fails to attend as an athlete.

Gebrselassie broke the world record for the marathon (2:04:26) at the Berlin Marathon in 2007.

"This means that I cannot run the marathon at the Olympics in Beijing. You cannot run two marathons in the space of five weeks," he told Xinhua.

"Also, no athlete has ever broken a world record for the marathon at the Olympics.

"Athletes competing at the Olympics are running for gold medals, not for fast times," he said.

He said the reason that he is not running the marathon in Beijing is because he wants to write his name in the history books of world athletics by becoming the first athlete to run the marathon in under two hours and four minutes.

In March, reports by Reuters and a few other Western media said that the world marathon record holder intends to opt out of the marathon in Beijing because the city's air pollution might damage his health. Even so he said he would still attend the 10,000m event at the 2008 Games.

However, at a press conference on April 11, he said that he is not happy with the media which twisted what he had said. "I will check my physical condition and then decide. Every one of us may not feel comfortable if I lose."

"Some people try to exploit the situation and say what they want to say by taking some words out of context, and that was unfair," he said.

As such, he promised to exert his utmost effort to qualify at the 10,000m Olympic qualifier so as to take part in Beijing Olympics.

He set a world record in the Berlin Marathon last year and won two Olympic gold medals for 10,000m in Atlanta (1996) and Athens (2000). In addition to Gebreselassie, Ethiopia has a number of prominent long-distance runners including the Bekele brothers - Kenenisa and Tariku.

British women's world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe vowed to win her first Olympic gold medal in Beijing.

The 34-year-old has won golds at every other major championship but an Olympic medal of any color has eluded her.

"When I was a little girl it was always the Olympics that I thought of as the pinnacle," Radcliffe told BBC Sport.