Haile Gebrselassie makes his third journal entry for the IAAF internet, this time by telephone from London, England, on the morning of the Norwich Union London Grand Prix, his first competitive outing since being beaten in Rome over 5000m on 11 July.

Haile reflects on the pressures of being away from home, a possible political career, Ethiopia’s Paris selections, and his search for more sprinting speed.

“Firstly I must say that I can’t believe it’s so hot in England! I have been coming here since 1993 and never did I think England could become quite as hot as this (30C+). In Ethiopia at the moment there is a lot of rain, so it seems Africa has come to Europe and Europe has gone to Africa. (laughs)

I am still enjoying the life on the Athletics circuit, and have plenty of motivation. Like tonight I would love to run something very special in London to thank all my fans in England.

Being away from home especially my wife and family is of course always difficult but in other ways there is less pressure when I am in Europe, as I am not bothered by business calls all the time. Back in Ethiopia I am bothered by the phone every five minutes!

Once you have a business and start employing people you have a responsibility, to pay salaries, to look after your workers, so I can never take these matters lightly but my family especially my wife takes care of most of the work, so I am quite lucky.

I am of course happy still to do my sport at the moment but I also think about the future and the importance of doing something for your country as well. If you want to make changes and make people’s lives better, it is no good just sitting down and talking, you need to get up and become actively involved (in politics). I want to help my people.

It would also be easy for me to invest my winnings and the money from my business somewhere abroad but what would be the point of that?! I am an Ethiopian and live in Ethiopia and want to give something back to the country for all the support it has given me. I want to set a good example to all Ethiopians who have done well personally, so hopefully everyone will want to invest in Ethiopia’s future.

But let’s get back to athletics. Since Rome I have been concentrating on speed training. I don’t think I was running bad before, the only trouble is that while I was good until the last 400 to 200 metres, I then lost form in all my races. The younger guys just finished faster. I wasn’t sprinting bad, just not as good as their younger legs! (laughs)

I hear that I have been picked for both the 5000m and 10,000m for Ethiopia, but as yet I haven’t seen any team list, so it is difficult for me to comment, but what I can confirm is that I am more looking at the 10,000m at the World Championships in Paris.

Anyway tonight will be my last race before Paris. I will return to Ethiopia immediately afterwards for two weeks and again concentrate on my sprinting which is the key to my running.

I plan to arrive in Paris on either 20 or 21 August.”

Haile