Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie was born on a farm near Asella in the Ethiopian highlands, one of ten children. School was ten kilometres away and he ran there and back every day, carrying his books under his left arm, which is why he ran for the rest of his life with that arm held crooked. His father thought running was a waste of time and wanted him in the fields. He idolised Miruts Yifter, the Ethiopian who had won two golds at the 1980 Olympics, and in 1992, aged 19, he won two world junior titles.

He was not physically imposing, and for years the story of his career was the story of a small man beating bigger ones by refusing to slow down. He won four consecutive world 10,000 metres titles from 1993 and the Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996. In Sydney in 2000 he beat Paul Tergat of Kenya by nine hundredths of a second after 25 laps, having run with an injured Achilles tendon.

He moved to the roads and set marathon world records in Berlin in 2007 and again in 2008, when he became the first man under two hours four minutes. In all he set 27 world records at distances from 2,000 metres to the marathon.

He invested his winnings in Ethiopia rather than abroad, building hotels, schools and businesses that employ thousands of people.