Monday, October 16 Gebrselassie's decision is a plus
	By Jeff Hollobaugh Special to ESPN.com
	For years, Haile Gebrselassie has indicated that he would dabble in the marathon after he wrapped up his track career. That would come after Sydney, we understood. Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who defeated Paul Tergat of Kenya in the 10,000 meter final, has decided not to start running marathons. Hold on, the great Ethiopian runner now says. The marathon will have to wait, perhaps for a long time. He clarifies, "I still want to run the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters because I know I can still run fast." How fast is he thinking? He already holds the world records in both, and he is unbeaten in the 10,000 the past seven years. While others have won two gold medals in the longest track race, none of them can claim to be a better championship runner than Gebrselassie, who has achieved the remarkable feat (albeit not available to his predecessors) of winning four world titles since 1992. Yet what perhaps motivates Gebrselassie is the brilliance of his Sydney victory, capped by a stunning sprint finish that brought him the gold with just centimeters to spare. He pulled off the victory despite losing precious training sessions to a persistent Achilles tendon injury. What could he have done if he were healthy? For now, that question is on the back burner. An inflamed bursa in his right foot has kept him out of the post-Olympic road races he had planned to hit, including what would have been his first half-marathon, at Britain's Great North Run. When he is healthy, he will return to the track, surely with an eye on competing in next summer's World Championships in Edmonton, Canada. His manager, the former distance great Jos Hermens, says: "Haile wants to run under 26 minutes for 10,000 meters. The plan now is to do that before thinking about the marathon." What's the hurry? Marathon fans are already bemoaning Gebrselassie's delay in getting to the 26.2-miler. Many of them are operating under the assumption that Gebrselassie will be the greatest ever, naturally. Perhaps that's a mistake. Not all great 10,000-meter runners make great marathoners. Many great names -- Ron Clarke and Henry Rono among them -- never got around to trying it at all. Since the days of Hannes Kolehmainen, who won the Olympic 10,000 in 1912 and the marathon in 1920, there has been only one 10,000-meter king who proved equally adept at the marathon. That honor would go to Emil Zatopek, who won the 5,000, 10,000 and marathon in the 1952 Games. A number of very solid 10K runners have made great marathoners. Carlos Lopes of Portugal won 10K silver in the 1976 Games and captured the marathon gold in 1984. Perhaps more common have been athletes such as Frank Shorter who weren't world-beaters in the 10K but rose to the top in the longer run. In this day of specialization, we are seeing more and more top marathoners who have nothing in the way of top-flight 10K credentials. World record holder Ronaldo da Costa of Brazil has never broken 28 minutes on the track and wasn't able to get out of the heats in the 1996 Olympic 10,000. In fact, of the 12 men who have broken the 2:07 barrier in the marathon, only three, Portugal's Antonio Pinto and Kenyans Moses Tanui and Ondoro Osoro, have been world-class 10,000 meter runners. The rest are so obscure in the 25-lapper that digging up their personal records is the statistical equivalent of "Where is Waldo?" I'm a huge Gebrselassie fan, but I think it does the long run an injustice to assume that he can step up to the grueling event and make mincemeat of the existing records. Those guys are specialists these days, unlike the ones that Kuts faced on the streets of Helsinki 48 years ago. Considering Gebrselassie's injury history, I think it is appropriate for his coaches to conclude that the increased training load for the marathon might not be in the best interests of his body. Understandably, he wants to wait until he is completely finished on the track before he gambles on a distance that could easily generate career-ending injuries. I can't say that I blame him at all. Grand Prix Fizzle Sometimes the calendar can be cruel to track and field. The later in the year the Grand Prix Final is, the more it suffers. Even with big money on the line, the IAAF's crown jewel event did not come off as the grand finale of this season, but rather as an afterthought to the Olympics. This year's Final took place in October. Bad news. Put it in Qatar, a country that most of us couldn't find if our national security depended on it, and it suffered from a de facto news blackout. The lead story coming out of the meet -- according to the IAAF's release -- concerned Yuriy Belonog. That encouraged most copy editors in the United States to give a little more space to high school sports in their Friday editions. Belonog, a Ukrainian shot putter, had hopes of becoming the overall Grand Prix champion. True, it seems. I had to look it up, but I can confirm it now. It seems funny that the Grand Prix champ could possibly be a man who hasn't snagged a headline all year. Belonog needed to win the shot put in Qatar, but the three best Americans -- Andy Bloom, Adam Nelson and John Godina -- thumped him. Godina threw 70-7 and placed third. No one missed C.J Hunter. They ensured that 400 hurdler Angelo Taylor would score the $200,000 prize for topping the overall standings. Unfortunately, more headlines were made by Maurice Greene skipping the meet -- and a possible $500,000 payout -- because he was tired and wanted to go home after Sydney. Listen to me, Maurice: Even if you don't need the money, consider that had you put in 10 seconds of work you could have given a half-mill to your favorite charity. Think of the kids back in Kansas City who could have used the opportunities a gift that size would have provided. Marion Jones won the 100 in 11.00 to Chryste Gaines' 11.09. She passed on the long jump rematch with the other Olympic medalists, though it's not as if she had anything to lose there. Gail Devers had her matchup with Olga Shishigina in the 100 hurdles, but the results were anticlimatic. Devers won in 12.85 while the Kazak failed to finish. Darren Campbell of Britain won the 100 in 10.25, Noah Ngeny won the 1,500 in 3:36.62 (Hicham El Guerrouj stayed home), and Mark Richardson won the 400 in 45.20. The best track race belonged to Angelo Taylor, who needed a 48.14 to top the 48.18 of Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily in the hurdles. Cross country under way Now that track is done until the indoor season, we can focus on the cross-country season. NCAA coaches have identified the top teams in their polls, and the names are nothing new. On the men's side, Arkansas, Stanford and Colorado lead the Division I forecasts. The women's leaders are Stanford, Colorado and BYU. The Cardinal squads of Vin Lananna looked especially good last weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational, crushing top fields on both the men's and women's sides. A 23-point victory for the Stanford men topped Arizona by 93 points, while the women scored 35 points to finish more than 100 ahead of Michigan. Individual victories went to Notre Dame's Luke Watson (23:56 for 8K) and Dartmouth sophomore Sheela Agrawal (17:05 for 5K). The prep cross-country scene gives every indication that this year's FootLocker showdown will be one of the best ever. Alan Webb ran a record-shattering 14:37 at the Hagan Stone Invitational in North Carolina, a performance some are calling the best on the East Coast in 17 years. In Michigan, an undefeated Dathan Ritzenhein won the Portage Invitational in 14:42. On the girls' side, Christa Benton of Florida, a FootLocker finalist last year, ripped a 17:27 to win the St. Petersburg city title. In North Carolina, Julie Lassiter-Lucas ran 17:38 to win the Wendy's Invitational. Meanwhile, Rockford put three under 18 at the Portage meet, led by Linsey Blaisdell's 17:47. Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.		ALSO SEE Jeff Hollobaugh archive