(10,000m)

He has been called the world's greatest-ever distance runner, and while that may be over-stepping the mark, Haile Gebrselassie is certainly one of the greatest of all time.

The diminutive Ethiopian - he stands just 5ft 3in and weighs 8st 5lb wet through - has been on a different plane to his rivals over the last decade during which he has been virtually unbeatable over 10,000m, racking up four World titles at the distance along the way.

He bears comparison with both `Flying Finn' Paavo Nurmi, who dominated during the 1920s, and `Czech Express' Emil Zatopek, who did the same in the 1950s.

It is over both 5,000m and 10,000m that Gebrselassie has dominated the world, with the latter distance becoming his particular speciality.

Gebrselassie was born in Assela, Ethiopia, in 1973, the son of a poor farmer.

As a child he used to run six miles each way to and from school, and aged 16, never having been coached, entered the Addis Ababa marathon.

His time of 2hr 42min was nothing sensational, but it was fast enough for the teenager to decide to pursue running seriously. Honours followed swiftly and in 1992 was world junior champion in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

In 1994 he beat Said Aouita's seven-year-old world record for the 5,000m and in 1998 set his still-standing world record for the 10,000m - a time of 26min 22.75sec.

He has also held world indoor records at 3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m.

He added a second Olympic title last season in Sydney when he beat Kenyan Paul Tergat by just nine-hundreths of a second.

The winning margin was smaller than that in the 100m and fgorced Tergat to settle for his fifth consecutive major silver behind the Ethiopian.

This year an injury to Gebrselassie has seen him absent from Europe's major Grand Prix events, but few would bet against him in Edmonton.