Ethiopia Marathon Trials Official Discussion Thread - Bekele Is Protesting His Exclusion, Can He Get in On Appeal?

All of this talk about the Ethiopian marathon team selection, but no mention of reigning Olympic silver medalist "X" man Feyisa Lilesa? There's even a pic of him on the LRC homepage today. Whatever happened to him?

Feyisa hasn’t been really training much since he won the nyc half in 2017,,,, he’s much more of a hero in Ethiopia to Oromo people than he is an elite athlete nowadays

critics comparing rupp's times to the fastest east africans might be mistaken. paced race times are not comparative to a race like the olympic marathon. i wish official pacing would be banned . it is boring. in prague rupp destroyed a 2:04 lemma, a kenyan marathoner in the last 2-3 miles. lemma has since run a 2:03:30 in a paced race (berlin 2019). japan in summer is very hot and humid. the world championships in osaka were horrible during the day and rupp has been good hot weather runner his whole career. if kipchoge and bekele are in the race he could get a silver or bronze. if only one is there he would be my bet to win gold as he won't get gapped on surges.

once he leaves the scene it may be a long dark winter for americans competing at his level unless magic happens. we should embrace him now instead of bringing up the drug tests he never failed.

desisafan wrote:

Feyisa hasn’t been really training much since he won the nyc half in 2017,,,, he’s much more of a hero in Ethiopia to Oromo people than he is an elite athlete nowadays

you seem to have some inside knowledge. Do you know if Bekele actually is healthy/training/fit?

Could be a set up! If they make him pull a shenanigan to get onto the team, then he can't DNF or he seriously loses face.

Has bekele made enemies in the Ethiopian federation ?

You would begin to wonder at this satge

Absolutely crazy depth in the ETH marathon team, still I feel like you can’t leave out Bekele from the team, he’s still the best runner ever and showed form in his last marathon.

Tron wrote:

desisafan wrote:

Well then as moisenet geremew is 2;02:39, he can also make the same appeal,,, and then mule wasinun as ranked 3rd by time, so the. Cancel the trials

well they are known to be injured so its a bit different right? Bekele's appeal states he is healthy (who knows if that's true)....but if he is it's a different situation than the other two.

Geremew not an injured one

Aussiestatman wrote:

Tron wrote:

well they are known to be injured so its a bit different right? Bekele's appeal states he is healthy (who knows if that's true)....but if he is it's a different situation than the other two.

Geremew not an injured one

yes, it's Legese who has gone faster than Geremew that's injured. I was going by time above so thought he was referring to Legese

Is link update?

Maximus1552 wrote:

Frankly, lelisa desisa and Kitata should be at the Olympics. Anyone with a brain knows that them healthy leads to top 3 finishes. I don't know (or care) who the third runner is. Bekele will likely drop out. If he refuses to run the trials then there's either a concern training wise or he's too soft to prove himself. The other 2 appear to be hurt. Otherwise I'd pick either of them over bekele.

Whereas I believe that Ethiopia should make its own decisions regarding country team selection, I agree with you entirely.

Those two gentlemen are fighters. They lay it or on the course and win or lose, you know they left nothing in them.

Bekele is very unpredictable. They cold include him in the team and he'd exit at the 35th mile.

It's a gamble with Bekele. If I were advising Ethiopia, and I am not, I'd urge them to pick Lelisa and Kitata. The third guy would be anyone.....including Bekele.

Bekele could win it too but that is a long shot.

Like I mentioned above, and their results today proved it, they are on the team..but I think Bekele is still a good 3rd choice if he can prove healthy and fit by let’s say mid June .,.if not, give to someone else

Bekele is very unpredictable. They cold include him in the team and he'd exit at the 35th mile.

It's a gamble with Bekele. If I were advising Ethiopia, and I am not, I'd urge them to pick Lelisa and Kitata. The third guy would be anyone.....including Bekele.

Bekele could win it too but that is a long shot.

Who cares if he exits at the 35th mile the race is 26