British athletics icon Sebastian Coe has paid tribute to Haile Gebrselassie describing him as probably the greatest athlete of all time the day after the 37-year-old Ethiopian announced his retirement.The marathon world record holder, who won Olympic gold in the 10 000m in Atlanta and Sydney, made his decision after limping out of his first New York Marathon with a knee injury.
Coe, who won the Olympic 1 500m title at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and successfully defended it four years later at Atlanta said: "We will wait a long time before an athlete dominates over so many distances and across such an extraordinary time period as Haile Gebrselassie has done.
"The litmus test for a successful athlete is longevity at the very highest level and he had that in abundance.
"There is nothing he couldn't do - and he did it with style. I believe he is the greatest athlete of the last 50 years and arguably the best of all time."
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