Haile Gebrselassie receives award

Haile receives Prince of Asturias award

Haile Gebrselassie, the famous long distance runner from Ethiopia, will receive the Prince of Asturias award for sport tonight. The Prince of Asturias Award is one of the most prestigious prizes that exists for sport in the world and is considered to be the Nobelprize for the Spanish speaking countries. It is awarded by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world, who make notable achievements in science, humanities and public affairs.

The jury  has  decided to confer the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Sports on the Ethiopian athlete Haile Gebrselassie for his sporting and human excellence. Considered the best distance runner of all time, his own people called him “Naftanga, the chief”. Raised on a farm, he had to travel twenty kilometres each day to school, a circumstance that served as his training and influenced the way he runs: with his left arm crooked as if still holding his schoolbooks. He always ran the most demanding of races with a permanent smile on his face. The athlete is also involved in humanitarian and mediation work in the many conflicts that have raged for years in Ethiopia

Past recipients have been Sergei Bubka, Hicham El Guerrugh, Hasiba Boulmerka, Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis,  Fernando Alonso, Rafael, Nadal, Brazilian Football Team. The award ceremony will be tonight in the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo in attendance of the Prince and Princess of Asturias.