Years before the 1996 Olympics, when his only idea of the outside world came from a static-laced radio broadcast, the boy named Haile Gebrselassie decided to run. He ran six miles to school and back, his books tucked under his arm. He worked hard in the fields and was known to still be chopping firewood or threshing wheat when his brothers had given up.

After the chores were done, he would run. Across fields, over hills, down gullies, on dirt roads or cowpaths. He would do anything to keep running. Overcoming a world of hardship, personal pain and every challenge in his path — this son of an Ethiopian village farmer crossed the finish line to win the gold medal…