The marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie won’t be competing in the Beijing Olympic marathon, citing concerns over the environment.

Instead he his turning his sights to the 10,000 meters in a hope to win an Olympic medal. He has won the event at both the Atlanta and Sydney 2000 Olympics. Now aged 35 he faces stiffer competition from upcoming younger runners.

He came second to Sileshi Sihine in a race in Hengelo, Holland on May 24th. Sileshi Sihine won silver at the Athens games.

“I felt fantastic really,” Gebrselassie said following his second place run, “There was a possibility to run much faster but the pace in the first half was very slow. The pacemakers were not so good. So I am o.k. I was fine and I was good on the last lap.”