ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia's two-time Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie on Friday declared himself fully fit and ready for another shot at the 10,000 metres in Beijing.

The Ethiopian legend, who has been battling with calf and tendon injuries returned to training at the Addis Ababa national stadium on Friday to prepare for probably his final Games outing after winning gold medals in 1996 and 2000.

"I'm feeling very fine at the moment. I just started taking part in sprints and I'm preparing very well to take part in Beijing," he told AFP in an interview.

Gebrselassie opted out of the marathon, in which he holds the world record of 2:04:26, for health safety reasons fearing the heavy smog in Beijing.

He concedes that the 10,000m will be a tough race considering the strong challenge from his younger compatriots, Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine and a host of Kenyans.

"The competition will be fierce", said Gebrselassie. "It is not just Kenenisa who will mount the challenge but also several athletes from Kenya and other countries."

Ethiopia's best performance at the Olympics came in 2000 in Sydney where their eight-medal haul included four golds.