I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.'

The more you are getting older, you lose a little something. Of course there is another advantage, because of your long experience you can use it.

You know, I want to help my country. Definitely I can help them, simply by winning races. Sure, they can follow my path to a good career. But for me it is not enough. I want to be more than that. In everything I want to be a role model.

Eradicate poverty. This is all that matters in my country. When I am out training I think about this a lot; when I am running it is going over in my mind. As a country we cannot move forward until we eradicate poverty.

I'm retiring from competitive running, not from running. You cannot stop running, this is my life.

Considering that the race is star-studded no runner will be willing to set the pace for the others. This is why a record will be almost impossible.

Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can't make planes or cars, we don't have the materials. We do what we can.