Saturday 3rd March, 2012 13 “Sunday night we had a conversation, and I suggested to him it’s better to stop,” Hermens said in a phone inter- view. “I suggested to him to take 2013 as a sort of kind of year for goodbyes, like a pop star would do.” But this is a tough one. Gebrselassie isn’t short of other things to do. He builds offices and schools in . He has his family. He receives visitors. This week, British comedian Eddie Izzard, who ran 43 in 7 weeks in 2009, trained with him in Addis Ababa. But running has been Gebrselassie’s life’s goal since he borrowed his dad’s radio as a 7-year-old to listen to a broadcast of distance runner Miruts Yifter win gold for Ethiopia at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Running got Gebrselassie to school — 12 miles (19 kilometers) there and back every day — and all the fame and fortune he has accumulated since. It is easy to imagine that Gebrselassie might feel, as other athletes have done, that retirement is, in Hermens’ words, “the big black hole.” “He’s addicted to the schedule, getting up at 5 o’clock on the morning, training, in the office until 4 o’clock, then another training, and then go home in the evening,” Hermens said. “I didn’t expect him to hold onto it. My feeling is that’s also a little bad — holding on to something you really like.” “He just wants to be the 21-year-old boy that could do everything he wants, with all his talents, to enjoy it, and go back to those days,” he said. “He’s just in a transition stage of trying to accept, too, that he’s not anymore one of the big boys. And we don’t know, maybe in a few months he will realize, maybe it will take longer.” Giggs adapted the way he plays football to compensate for his diminishing speed and endurance. Schumacher can cling to the idea that he’ll win again just as soon as Mercedes gives him a faster car. But running is far less forgiving. The stopwatch brutally exposes those who no longer have the pace. In the interview, Hermens talked in lukewarm terms of Gebrselassie possibly trying again at the Hamburg in April to qualify for or maybe even aiming for one of Ethiopia’s three spots in the Olympic The great . (Files) 10,000. But he must earn it. There seems no question of Ethiopia gifting Gebrselassie a place, or of him accept- ing it, if he’s not one of the fastest three. “He doesn’t like to be treated otherwise,” Ethiopian Athletics Federation President Bisrat Gashawtena Tirfie said in a phone interview. “He doesn’t like any favors.” Gebrselassie likes to say that age is only a mental Should Gebrselassie thing. But is his body still willing? In Tokyo, he com- plained of back pain. He dropped out of the 2010 New York City Marathon with an inflamed, fluid-filled right knee and from the 2007 with breath- ing difficulties. Gebrselassie seems to be digesting that the London say goodbye? Games may now be beyond him, tweeting this week: “It looks like my Olympic marathon dream is over.” But Hermens is giving him time. ment and embarked on another two tours of France — BY JOHN LEICESTER “He might go home and do track training next week in 2009, which turned out well, and 2010, which didn’t. and call me and say, ‘Hey, I see possibilities,’” he said. At Manchester United, 38-year-old Ryan Giggs contin- PARIS (AP) — For two decades, Haile Gebrselassie “There are still many options. Although, on the other ues to poke Father Time in the eye on a regular basis. enchanted fans of running with his mastery of the art. hand, probably he will get injuries from the track and so His match-winning goal last month in his 900th appear- Because he is such a unique athlete, because of his then we’ll get all the stupid excuses again — you know, ance for the English Premier League champion again infectious joie de vivre and because he is an all-around problem lungs, problem back.” showed how wise he’s been to keep going. admirable guy, it’s now somewhat stressful to see how “We all know at the moment he’s a legend,” he said. But the argument that Michael Schumacher should age and the wear and tear of a life that started on a poor “If he continues too long, then it takes away from his have remained retired will gain traction if the seven- Ethiopian farm are making the double Olympic champi- legacy.” time Formula One champion fails again this season, the on and four-time world champion in the 10,000 meters I, for one, disagree with that notion. Gebrselassie will third of his comeback, to win a race. look increasingly mortal. be remembered for his achievements no matter how Gebrselassie’s manager Jos Hermens, who first spot- The world records in the marathon, 5,000 and 10,000 bumpily his career may end or how drawn-out it is. ted the compact, fluid runner with a barrel chest at a that once were his belong now to others. With his 39th Steve Cram, a former world champion and Olympic cross-country race for juniors in Ethiopia in 1991, says birthday looming in April, Gebrselassie will never get silver medalist in the 1,500 meters, agrees. Cram had a there’s no single, correct way for an athlete to retire. them back. His ambition of competing at a fifth Olympic “good few years” toward the end of his career where he Still, he wants Gebrselassie to finish his career with Games, in London this July, appears to be fading. His was injured, wasn’t fit and didn’t qualify for champi- the same grace with which he runs. “I don’t want him to most recent marathon wasn’t close to good enough to onships, “but nobody comes up to me now and talks to think in five years ... I should have stopped earlier,” warrant a place on Ethiopia’s Olympic team. me about that.” Hermens says. Which all begs the question: Should Gebrselassie “All athletes — myself, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett — we all After Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon, Hermens suggested retire? It’s not that “The Emperor” of long-distance run- had periods at the end of our careers when things didn’t to Gebrselassie they should start planning his exit, per- ning suddenly has no clothes. But could he undermine go well. We all had two or three championships where haps with a farewell tour in 2013. Gebrselassie’s fourth- his reputation by competing for much longer? Having we weren’t contending for medals and things and it has- place time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 17 seconds, was more done so much right over the years, is he getting the end n’t damaged anybody’s reputation as far as I can see,” than three minutes slower than the sub-2:05s clocked by of his career wrong? Is there such a thing as a messy Cram said in a phone interview. three Ethiopians at the Dubai Marathon in January. retirement and, if so, can it tarnish the way in which an “In the long-term, what people do is look back on the That means they, not him, are likely bound for London, athlete is remembered? great things that you did in your career and Haile’s got a because Ethiopia plans to send its fastest marathoners The dilemma of how and when to stop isn’t, of whole list and he’s right at the top of the list of distance from 2012 — not necessarily its most famous — to the course, unique to Gebrselassie. Lance Armstrong must runners. So I can’t see that ever being taken away.” have wrestled with it, too, when he U-turned on retire- Olympics.

round. Once word of his extended stay got out, the fans started pouring over there, too. The spontaneous rush of Even with faulty game, Tiger realizes he just autograph seekers actually produced a slightly hairy moment as Tiger hustled down a walkway and through a door near the pro shop, signing as he went needs to show up in his ‘new hometown’ with police officers shouting and scram- bling to clear the way. Happens all the time to Tiger at tournaments all over BY DAVE GEORGE the world, but don’t look for anything like that to happen again at the Honda. PALM BEACH GARDENS — Tiger The goal for tournament staff will be Woods shot a one-over-par 71 in the to make the second round more welcom- opening round of the Honda Classic, ing to Tiger than the first. It’s a tall nothing special on a day when 67 players order, but then so was getting him to went lower, and declared “I didn’t get a commit to Honda in the first place. whole lot out of my round.” Surely that’s true, but from the look (Courtesy Palm Beach Post) and the sound and the tone of things at PGA National Thursday, Tiger must have been the only one at the sprawling resort to feel that way. Just about all of those fans who rolled in on all those buses came to the Champion course with one priority for the afternoon. Let’s get a look at Tiger. Let’s be a part of the earthquake of noise when he rolls in a birdie. Let’s try for an autograph, or for a split second of eye contact, or for chance to howl out something Tiger will hear and acknowl- edge. You know, “Get in the hole!” or “You da man!” Between Woods’ arrival at the club around 11.00 a.m. and his departure at the wheel of a black Mercedes at 6:25 Tiger Woods p.m., everybody got their shot at making some kind of connection with the 14- Jupiter Island, and practicing at the though, is Tiger’s participation, even time major winner, who is playing the Medalist in Hobe Sound, and connecting when he’s seven shots off the lead. Honda Classic for the first time as a pro- for the first time since his amateur days He’s the reason that tournament fessional. in 1993 to the Honda Classic. organizers predicted a Honda atten- Tiger didn’t have to make birdies to Asked after signing his mundane dance record of 160,000 for the week, make most of them happy, and it’s a scorecard to assess the fans’ reaction, some 50,000 more than last year. We’ll good thing because he only had three of Tiger lit up a bright smile for the first have to see if that guess was a little low. them to go with four bogeys. time all day and said, “it was incredi- There’s no reason why this boom Truth is, all he had to do was show ble.” shouldn’t continue, no reason why Tiger up, a sentiment that was expressed “It’s just pretty neat to be able to play shouldn’t make the cut. After all, Rory numerous times throughout the round in front of people like this. This is my Sabbatini shot a first-round 71 last year by shouts of “Thanks for coming, new hometown. I live here. For everyone and went on to win the tournament. All Tiger.” That message was delivered by to come out and support this event, obvi- that’s needed is for a few more of Tiger’s voices in the surging crowd, somewhat ously with the charities involved and putts to start dropping, like the 19-footer randomly and somewhat regularly, from the Nicklaus family, it’s a fantastic that rolled in for birdie on Thursday’s the moment Woods teed off until his event.” opening hole. He’ll need to make friends vanishing through a tunnel in the Right now, it’s the golf that is getting with the Bear Trap, too. Tiger bogeyed grandstands on No. 18 after a disap- in the way of an unforgettably good No. 15 on his first run through the mine- pointing par that helped to apply the time. Should Tiger miss Friday’s cut of field, missing the green long and left. dull finish on his round. low 70 players and ties, a ton of weekend “Obviously,” he said, “I’m going to For a superstar whose private life has ticketholders will be crushed. have to score better than I did today. been opened to rising and, most recently, The tournament is great either way, Hopefully I can shoot something in the falling levels of public scorn, the sensa- of course, with Davis Love atop the 60s and get myself within touch of the tion of being applauded and accepted leaderboard and a couple of 2011’s major lead.” and encouraged no matter the score on a championship winners, Rory McIlroy That’s right. He’s trying, as always, to given hole must feel like a genuine and Keegan Bradley, close enough to win the tournament. It’s what had him hometown bonus. If nothing else, Tiger come charging to the head of the pack. putting on PGA National’s practice seems genuinely glad to be living in What makes the 2012 Honda different, green for 35 minutes after Thursday’s