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Born to run

Victory comes with a price for Haile Gebrselassie, winner of the world 10,000 metres title for a fourth successive time.

Running on a hard mondo track in hot and humid weather, similar to the conditions he endured at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 1997 Athens World Championships, Gebrselassie sustained blisters on his feet that left them raw and bleeding at the end of Tuesday's race.

''I felt it around the 10th lap,'' recalled Gebrselassie. ''It always happens when I run in this kind of weather.''

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, his Dutch manager Jos Hermens watched as a sports doctor, Peter Vergouwen, tended to a circular wound on Gebrselassie's left foot where the skin had peeled away to expose raw flesh.

''It was worse in Atlanta,'' he said. ''At least this time, he doesn't have blisters on the underside of his feet. That's really bad.''

Gebrselassie appeared as concerned about the inconvenience he was causing Vergouwen as he was about the injury.

''I am sorry, we are interrupting you at night,'' Gebrselassie said, more than once in the Macarena Hotel room serving as Vergouwen's office.

When Vergouwen asked Gebrselassie if he intended running the next day, the Ethiopian replied that he would.

''For...?'' asked Vergouwen.

''About 30 minutes,'' replied Gebrselassie adding: ''Well, I have to warm up. I am flying early Thursday morning.''

Gebrselassie's main workouts during the preceding week had taken place in the mornings, before the hot Spanish sun began to take its toll, and he was already concerned about missing that Thursday session.

Hermens and Vergouwen finally convinced Gebrselassie he could afford to rest on Wednesday and lose a day of training.

He agreed, reluctantly, giving a glimpse of the determination that has helped carry him from the life of an eager young boy running barefoot in the hills of Ethiopia to that of a multiple world record-holder.

But when Vergouwen, working to bandage the wound and periodically asking his patient how it felt, fitted it to Gebrselassie's satisfaction, the Ethiopian responded by saying: ''Now it's perfect,'' and then quickly added: ''Now I can run''

Both Hermens and Vergouwen laughed, but Gebrselassie was only half-joking.

At a news conference later on Wednesday, Hermens explained that Gebrselassie's condition over the following week would determine his fitness for his golden league meeting scheduled for Brussels on September 3. The blisters had followed an achilles' tendon injury Gebrselassie had already been experiencing in his right foot.

Walking gingerly and clad in open-toed sandals, Gebrselassie said he was still in pain.

''It wasn't unexpected, with this kind of heat,'' he said.

Asked where he could be found on the afternoon of his last day in Seville before flying to his European base in the Netherlands, Gebrselassie did not hesitate.

''At the warm-up area,'' he replied. ''Training.''