Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, the world record holder in the marathon, announced that he was skipping the marathon event at the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics because of health reasons. Gebrselassie, an asthmatic, still intends to compete in the 10,000m race, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Paula Radcliffe, one of the favourites for the women’s marathon gold, will still compete but is training with a mask, along with others in the British Olympic team, as reported in the Telegraph.

Gebrselassie, who set the world record mark of 2 hr, 4 min and 25 sec in the 2007 Berlin Marathon, has set his sights to run a 2:03 marathon, according to his manager, Jos Hermans, in an interview reported on news24.com.

“Indeed it’s 99% sure. He doesn’t want to put his career in danger and he still wants to run at the 2012 Olympics in London.”

“His dream is to run in two hours and three minutes and to be the first to do that. It’s more important for him than to win another gold medal.”