March 18, 2008

Haile Gebrselassie expects more athletes to follow his lead and drop out of some events at the Olympics because of Beijing's notorious air pollution.

The two-time Olympic 10,000-metre champion said on Monday he was disappointed about not competing in the marathon but that there was no way he would reconsider running the race at the games in August.

"My decision not to run in Beijing is definite. Now I have to decide whether to run the 10,000 metres," Gebrselassie told Efe news agency.