Wanjiru says haile prevented him from running in Berlin

I know and love the Berlin Marathon. I think that Wanjiru is somewhat incorrect. Keep in mind that Duncan Kibet's PR is 30 seconds faster than Mr. Wanjiru, yet Haile "allowed" him to run. I don't buy it.

Haile G. cannot prevent another athlete from paying his or her entry fee and going to Berlin to run.

From what I've heard, (and I could very well be wrong) Berlin has the smallest budget for appearance fees among the 5 "Marathon Major" races. Chicago, London and NYC have the highest.

Berlin probably spent 75% to 90% of their budget, in each of the 4 years that Haile won, on the appearance fee for Haile himself.

From what I heard from others, in 2003, Paul Tergat gave up very significant offers at Chicago and NYC to focus on Berlin and getting the WR. He was paid about US$50k to show up. That's just what I've heard from very trustworthy sources. I might be completetly wrong.

As for Wanjiru, he's a great man and a great runner and I think that he'll have a real battle with Kebede for the WR in the coming years.

Jason

haha, YO wrote:

have it both ways wrote:

Wanjiru needs to either man up and enter Berlin w/no appearance fee or shut his yap.

Wanjiru has run a marathon for free, it's called the Olympic marathon. Where was Geb there? Nowhere to be seen.

Probably recovering from his 10k effort... he just ran another Olympic final (his fourth!) in the Bird's nest. The old Emperor was still good enough to keep some of the youngsters out of the Ethiopian Olmypic team and ran his second best time ever in a major final.

Didn't you watch that race? Do you really like running?

www.666energy.com wrote:

I know and love the Berlin Marathon. I think that Wanjiru is somewhat incorrect. Keep in mind that Duncan Kibet's PR is 30 seconds faster than Mr. Wanjiru, yet Haile "allowed" him to run. I don't buy it.

As for Wanjiru, he's a great man and a great runner and I think that he'll have a real battle with Kebede for the WR in the coming years.

Agreed on both of these points. Wanjiru claims that Berlin had no strong Kenyans but overlooks the fact that 2009's field included the second faster man of the year in Kibet.

Kebebe is definitely a threat to the world record and I can almost see him approaching it quite discreetly while Wanjiru goes around proclaiming himself Haile's successor. Not that I have a problem with that attitude of course - Sammy is an incredible athlete.

I would love to see kebede come out and challenge Wanjiru in 2010, since Kebede is only 8s slower than Wanjiru and he ran that in Fukuoka where as Wanjiru ran his with Kebede chasing (yes Wanjiru has beat down Kebede every time but your only as good as your last marathon and K was better in Autumn 2009). But dont forget 19 yr old Bazu Worku with his 2:06;15 junior record.

Wanjiru's running Berlin in September.

My hunch is that Geb will run NYC in November.

on the runs wrote:

Wanjiru's running Berlin in September.

My hunch is that Geb will run NYC in November.

More likely that Geb runs Chicago, no? Softer field, faster course... NYC is a marathon for racers.

I admire both Wanjiru and Geb hugely, but if I were to choose one way or the other, I'm probably a bit more sympathetic to Wanjiru on this debate.

It is sort of facile to say that Wanjiry could have run Berlin for free or paid the entry fee. He just does not know how long is running career will last: he literally cannot afford to miss a big pay-day that Berlin, by enlisting Geb, just can't pay him.

I can't really comment on whether or not the Berlin marathon actively discouraged Wanjiru from running, perhaps because of Geb's preferences. Certainly it is not inconceivable that Geb was reluctant to race Wanjiru, but compromised with Kibet. (I'd rate Wanjiru higher than Kibet - broadly Kibet has one stellar time from Amsterdam 2009 but I think that is trumped by Wanjiru's phenomenal HM times and his London 2009 win and Beijing 2008 win.)

I'm not criticising Geb for choosing to race Dubai and Berlin and chase times each year, but I would certainly rate him more if he showed up in London 2010 or indeed if he had showed up in London 2008 or London 2009 or Beijing 2008. Those races after all were expected to be and turned out to be the most epic men's marathon races the world has seen in the last couple of years and yet Geb chose not to participate while Wanjiru showed at all of them and won two of them. Does anyone think Geb would have won any of those races? I wish he'd been there.

That would surprised me, because I know that Mary has been after Geb for years (don't know to what extent Carey has) and my guess is that this NYC half announcement is part of a larger deal that includes the marathon. That's speculation on my part, at this point.

I agree with what you say about Sammy taking a pay cut. But why would you expect Haile to take a pay cut to run London? Certainly, the end of the career is much closer for Haile than Sammy.

I have no problem with these guys making the most money they can, whether that be winning races or chasing WRs. But I lost just a tad of respect for Sammy for bad mouthing Haile.

I wish races would quit paying the high appearance fees and put that money in the winners pot. Maybe you would get more of the top runners racing each other for a huge prize. I don't know.

Going to a prize money-only format would have the opposite effect. First, you could lock in Geb, Wanjiru or whomever. They could pull out at the last minute and you'd have no recourse.

Second, why would the top guys sign on to such a format? If Geb loses to Wanjiru, he's taken a big hit, not just at that race, but he won't be able command as much at future races. You have to pay the top guys enough that it's worth the risk of losing.

Finally, what happens when Geb or Wanjiru gets a bad side stitch or trips at 35km? They've put out a marathon effort and all they have is their per diem to show for it? If one race is offering $1mil for 1st and is prize money only, but another will may me $500,000 to start, plus bonuses if I do well, the guaranteed money is where to go.

Yo,

Are you functionally retarded? You accuse Geb of ducking Wanjiru, who was an up and comer at the time, by racing Sihine and Bekele?!?

You don't duck someone with no golds or WR's by racing a guy with a bucketload of each.

How do you even find your way to the bathroom to avoid crapping your pants when you're that stupid?

sincerely,

your embarrassed mother

POD!

Haile is the greatest ever but he is a ducker - he gave up cross country running entirely because of Tergat.

It's a bit much for some people on here to say Wanjiru should have foregone an appearance fee and run Berlin anyway - he is a professional athlete in the prime of his earning years - there's not a pro in the world who would've run in that situation.

While I doubt Wanjiru will achieve quite the legendary status Geb has he is still very young and who knows may turn out to be the best marathoner ever.

Geb is still at the top after almost two decades because of this: he is superlative in choosing his battles. He wastes no energy on races that will not further his goals. He realized that cross was not his thing, with his bouncy track stride and especially against the then overwhelming Kenyan team presence that escorted Tergat to many medals. So he took on Tergat on more even turf, and defeated him repeatedly on the track and took away his marathon record.

Geb has effectively dealt with several waves of Kenyan challengers, and Waahnjiru is just the most recent.

London is permanently off the table for Geb. He suffers from pollen allergies there (those of us who withstand this know how debilitating they can be). When you are the best you choose the playing field, not the other way around.

The WR's for 5K on up will remain in Ethiopia for decades to come. The Kenyans have the talent but not the discipline.

Haji wrote:

I agree with what you say about Sammy taking a pay cut. But why would you expect Haile to take a pay cut to run London? Certainly, the end of the career is much closer for Haile than Sammy.

I have no problem with these guys making the most money they can, whether that be winning races or chasing WRs. But I lost just a tad of respect for Sammy for bad mouthing Haile.

I wish races would quit paying the high appearance fees and put that money in the winners pot. Maybe you would get more of the top runners racing each other for a huge prize. I don't know.

Haile would not be taking a pay cut by running London. The London marathon are desperate for Haile. They would pay him what it takes. Their budget is phenomenal. Haile reason for not running London is not to do with the appearance fee he would get for running (or indeed the opportunity cost of not being able to race somewhere else).

ha ha, Yo mother wrote:

Yo,

Are you functionally retarded? You accuse Geb of ducking Wanjiru, who was an up and comer at the time, by racing Sihine and Bekele?!?

You don't duck someone with no golds or WR's by racing a guy with a bucketload of each.

How do you even find your way to the bathroom to avoid crapping your pants when you're that stupid?

sincerely,

your embarrassed mother

You must be the guy who skipped league finals back in high school to run the Turkey Trot, then you argued that the turkey trot had more competition, and accused all your teamates of being duckers.

So you are saying that the Olympic 10k had less competition than the marathon? Is that what you are saying?

And then you are comparing these two Olympic events to league finals and some Turkey Trot? Am I understanding you correctly?

I would surmise that your are a tiny child with a tiny brain who somehow figured out how to read and type. Please take no offense tiny child, as I find it remarkable that you are here stating your opinions!

gloom wrote:

So you are saying that the Olympic 10k had less competition than the marathon? Is that what you are saying?

And then you are comparing these two Olympic events to league finals and some Turkey Trot? Am I understanding you correctly?

I would surmise that your are a tiny child with a tiny brain who somehow figured out how to read and type. Please take no offense tiny child, as I find it remarkable that you are here stating your opinions!

I would agree with what a lot of people have said on this. If you call yourself a serious marathoner, then do the Olympic marathon. As for all these people saying that Wanjiru should just pay an entry fee like everyone else, are you crazy? Who is the best athlete right now? Clearly Wanjiru. For the Olympic champion and greatest current marathoner to be denied an appearance fee to any of the big 5 is ridiculous. Imagine if someone told Lebron he wouldn't receive anything because Kobe was already paid a bunch of money. Geb is still a bigger name, but Wanjiru does have a reason to be upset.

It seems to me that Geb is not concerned with racing anybody, he just wants to win and set records. However, this does not mean I am upset with Geb. He is doing what is best for his career, while Wanjiru is doing what is best for his, it is just a little unusual that Berlin got handcuffed to Geb the way they did, makes things look suspicious.