Kenenisa Bekele Race Quotations

Yes it hurt, it was a hard race and he made me work with everything I had for the win.

It is for me a difficult race. I had never raced under 3,000 meters, so this is a very tough race for me. Maybe for the future it gives me confidence to improve. I'm not disappointed because it's my first time.

I was expecting him to do what he did and go early, he's done it before so it didn't come as a surprise. It hurt - it was a hard race and he made me work with everything I had for the win.

I was not trying to save any energy for tomorrow's race. The short race is the tougher race and this was the one I was concerned about.

Today's race was tough because of the wind. The wind made it hard to break away and I needed every ounce of strength to pull away from the other runners.

There are a lot of people who would like to snatch the title from me. I think the short race is tougher than the long one because it requires speed and there are a lot of strong athletes, but I'm confident I can win.

The race was very fantastic, ... Today, I had my brother with me. He did everything very good. Today, everything was perfect.

I've always liked the challenge of the shorter distance, and with no major championships for me in 2006 this is my chance. I like to run in the U.S. and I have heard a lot about this mile race in New York City.

It was a very close race. This course is flat and there was a lot of wind today and that was the reason.

I want to run both races. It's not easy to compete in both races and this year I want to complete the double race for the last time.

I knew I was in record shape coming into the race but sometimes the pace of the race doesn't go your way. The third lap slowed right down and I just couldn't get back onto the pace after that.

I really wanted to come here and see New York City. It's been an ambition of mine. This race is very short for me, but it's good for me, too. I know it's going to be tough, but I've come here to do my best.