Haile Gebrselassie reaffirmed his intention to go for a third Olympic 10,000 metres gold in Athens next year despite failing to secure a fifth world title on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Ethiopian was beaten by Kenenisa Bekele and settled for silver, but losing to a compatriot nine years his junior has failed to dampen Gebrselassie's enthusiasm for the track after dominating long-distance running for a decade.
Bekele, twice the world cross country champion over both the short and long courses, but making his debut in a major track final, powered away from his rival on the final bend to win in a championship record time of 26 minutes 49.57 seconds.
The veteran world record holder, a role model for a generation of African runners, followed Bekele home just over one second later but said his time was good enough to convince him he could still challenge for major track titles.
Gebrselassie flirted briefly with marathon running when taking third place in London in 2001 on his debut at the distance -- a discipline he has put on hold for now.
"Believe it or not, because of the speed and because the time was good today, I will continue to run on the track," an always smiling Gebrselassie told a news conference.
"My sprinting is still there but not good enough to be in front of Kenenisa."
"What I did today...I'm so happy, especially as I remembered what happened in 2001 when I lost my title (to Kenyan Charles Kamathi)."
OUTSTANDING
The former champion paid tribute to Bekele, describing him as "an outstanding athlete". Then, in philosophical mood, he added: "The question is how can I copy my performances from before? It's very difficult for me to match three or four years ago."
Bekele, one of six children of a barley farmer who grew up in the Arsi region of central Ethiopia, returned the compliments but played down talk that he had been installed as the successor to one of the sport's all-time greats.
"I can't say at this time that I'm going to be like Haile," said Bekele, who first came to prominence in 2001 in Ostend when he won the world junior cross country title.
"He has won two Olympic golds and four world titles so to match him I must keep winning competitions like this."
Bekele defeated Gebrselassie on his track debut in Hengelo in June, clocking the then fastest 10,000 of the year.
He said the confidence from that performance confirmed he could compete on the track with the world's best.
"Having a good coach is important and we work very hard in training," he added. "If you do that then good results will come."
Bekele, who insisted on the eve of the championships he would only run the 10,000, said he would leave a decision on whether to also compete in the 5,000 in Paris to the Ethiopian Federation.
"There is not much for me to decide," he said. "The technical leaders of the team will decide if I run."
No athlete has ever completed the 5,000-10,000 double in the 20-year history of the world championships.
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