rojo wrote:
https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/1410623471508463622
Is Gidey not doubling: only running the 10000?
Story has been updated with quotes from Bekele's agent Jos Hermens. He was critical of EAF changing its selection procedure, said the Trials should have been held at sea level and thinks that Bekele deserves the third spot on the team ahead of Sisay Lemma, whom Bekele beat by two minutes in Berlin in 2019.
He also reveals that Bekele is not retiring -- he will be running a marathon this fall.
Hopefully Laura sacks off doing the 800 and just focuses on the 1500 now or she’ll fall short of medals I think.
This is very upsetting news for marathon fans. I can’t imagine how Bekele is feeling right now. Has there ever been a top runner that has been screwed over more than bekele by his own country?
FatScottishJogger wrote:
Hopefully Laura sacks off doing the 800 and just focuses on the 1500 now or she’ll fall short of medals I think.
Agreed. I've no idea why she's doing the 800. She was smoked by Hodgkinson at the British trials. I don't think she even makes the final in Tokyo, the 800 is too deep for someone who can't reliably run sub-2:00
This seems very unstable.
Why make a committee at all if they do not follow their instructions?
hl wrote:
This seems very unstable.
Why make a committee at all if they do not follow their instructions?
Ethiopia isn't exactly the most stable and non-corrupt place at the moment.
Based on the list of who will be in the 1,500, the following is the world power rankings in the 1,500:
1. Faith Kipyegon
2. Laura Muir
3. Gabriela Debues-Stafford
4. Freweyni Hailu
5. Elinor Purrier St Pierre
6. Winny Chebet
7. Rababe Arafi
8. Linden Hall
Those are the only women with sub-4:00 qualifying times, and I think it will take sub-4:00 to medal. You have to think that Faith Kipyegon is a heavy favorite for gold now and Laura Muir is a heavy favorite for one of the other medals. Any of 3-6 seem like a good bet for one of the other medals. Then, Arafi and Hall are good runners, but not quite sure if they are medal contenders. Honestly, this is one of the weaker events in the Olympic program this year.
JBaller33 wrote:
Based on the list of who will be in the 1,500, the following is the world power rankings in the 1,500:
1. Faith Kipyegon
2. Laura Muir
3. Gabriela Debues-Stafford
4. Freweyni Hailu
5. Elinor Purrier St Pierre
6. Winny Chebet
7. Rababe Arafi
8. Linden Hall
Those are the only women with sub-4:00 qualifying times, and I think it will take sub-4:00 to medal. You have to think that Faith Kipyegon is a heavy favorite for gold now and Laura Muir is a heavy favorite for one of the other medals. Any of 3-6 seem like a good bet for one of the other medals. Then, Arafi and Hall are good runners, but not quite sure if they are medal contenders. Honestly, this is one of the weaker events in the Olympic program this year.
Do we know if Hassan is doubling and running the 1500, because that throws a monkey wrench into the plans.
Hassan has said she is planning on the 5,000/10,000 double.
@rojo: it seems this way, but just to confirm...
No Gebrhiwet at 5,000 for Ethiopia? If so, huge mistake by him to run the 10 at the Trials instead of the 5. The third-placer was well back of 12:53 and 12:54 performances and he ran 12:49 a few days later after finishing out of the top 3 in the loaded 10,000.
We've updated the article with quotes from Jos Hermens. He slammed the Ethiopians but didn't rule out Bekele winning gold in Paris.
JG wrote:
Speaking to LetsRun.com, Bekele’s agent Jos Hermens criticized the EAF for its selection procedure.
“They told them he would be in the team before and then they come out with these trials,” Hemerns said. “…It was a whole discussion again. Without the trials, they would have told him a few months ago that he would for sure be on the team like they promised and there was no problem. It was just not a clear procedure and that’s happening more.
“…It’s always the same problem. It’s politics, it’s coaches, everyone has their own interest, many people talking together, don’t know what to do, how do we select? So Kenenisa, that’s why he sent the letter because he got kind of sick of it…It was all discussed behind everybody’s back. You can understand that every coach wants to have somebody in the team because it makes them money. It was a really political thing.”
Of course Hermens, as Bekele’s agent, also has a vested financial stake here as well. In fact, one of the reasons the EAF decided to stage a trials race in the first place was in order to quash any accusations of politics or favoritism and let the results speak for themselves.
But the decision to hold the trials was not announced until two months before the race, giving the athletes little time to prepare. Hermens added that he felt it was inappropriate to stage the trials race at 7,700 feet of elevation in Sebeta for a race that will be held in sea level in Sapporo (the Ethiopian track trials were held at sea level in Hengelo and organized by Hermens’ Global Sports Communication agency).
Hermens also revealed that Bekele contracted COVID-19 shortly before the Trials and said that while it did not affect him too much, he did have to take some time off and “probably would not have been in the right shape for the trial.” Hermens argued that Bekele deserves the third spot on the team ahead of Sisay Lemma due to his career accomplishments and Bekele’s head-to-head win against Lemma in Berlin in 2019, where Lemma finished third, 1:55 behind Bekele.
Hermens’s suggestion: Ethiopia should have named Bekele to the team with Lemma as the alternate. If Bekele felt he was not up to competing at his best, he would cede his Olympic spot to Lemma.
“I think Kenenisa deserves, with his career, if Kenenisa is ready, you know he’s a medal contender. If he’s not, then he will be honest, so they should have picked four, maybe and I think you should pick them as much as possible from the marathon [results], but of course that was difficult because there were not that many marathons. [Kitata] is in the team, that makes sense. And also the winner of Doha (Desisa) because he was pretty good in the warm weather. I think the first two, there’s not a lot of discussion about that. It’s more the third place.
“And then if you have four people, you could, say, prepare all four, and if Kenenisa [isn’t fit, he would withdraw]. Kenenisa, he has already three gold medals. So he should only go there for a gold medal, or at least for a medal and a clash with Eliud. Now he was not in that kind of shape before the trials, okay.”
Bekele is 39 years old and has not raced since March 2020, but Hermens said that he is in “all right” shape at the moment and plans on running a fall marathon. Hermens said that Bekele is currently based in the Netherlands, which is where he spent some of his buildup ahead of Berlin in 2019 to receive medical support and nutritional guidance.
As for Bekele’s plans beyond 2021, Hermens said, “it really depends on him.”
“I can see him going until Paris, but that’s his decision, if he has the motivation to do so,” Hermens said. “Kenenisa is something special. He can still be Olympic champion in Paris, in my eyes. He’s an incredible talent, the years don’t do that much to him. But it’s more, he really has to decide to do it. That’s something nobody knows exactly. Probably [he doesn’t even know yet].”
Complete shambles. Really feel for Bekele who keeps getting screwed over. Hope he can respond with a WR in the fall, but you just know he really wanted that shot at another Olympic gold.
Ohhh mannn here we go again .. What In the world is up with these officials... Greed greed politics ,it will be the thing that will eventually consume them ..was really looking forward to Bekele run .
cramberrys wrote:
Complete shambles. Really feel for Bekele who keeps getting screwed over. Hope he can respond with a WR in the fall, but you just know he really wanted that shot at another Olympic gold.
everyone is working against him. he would still have the records too if it wasn't for their miracle shoes. what he should do is race a marathon the same day of the olympic marathon so he can drop a WR on all their faces. maybe it would give them a wakeup call.
JBaller33 wrote:
7. Rababe Arafi
She is at least 9 years finalist of almost all finals but never medalist.
Someone yesterday, said that she lack confidence.
It will difficult for us to find a freak like Hasna Benhassi:
https://aujourdhui.ma/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/hasna-benhassi-je-pense-que-jai-le-droit-detre-malade.jpgvery sad news. This could have been the most glorious marathon showdown of them all. But hey with Bekele gone the chances of a Japanese medal just got a lot higher.
JBaller33 wrote:
Based on the list of who will be in the 1,500, the following is the world power rankings in the 1,500:
1. Faith Kipyegon
2. Laura Muir
3. Gabriela Debues-Stafford
4. Freweyni Hailu
5. Elinor Purrier St Pierre
6. Winny Chebet
7. Rababe Arafi
8. Linden Hall
Those are the only women with sub-4:00 qualifying times, and I think it will take sub-4:00 to medal. You have to think that Faith Kipyegon is a heavy favorite for gold now and Laura Muir is a heavy favorite for one of the other medals. Any of 3-6 seem like a good bet for one of the other medals. Then, Arafi and Hall are good runners, but not quite sure if they are medal contenders. Honestly, this is one of the weaker events in the Olympic program this year.
Yeah I don't. think 6-8 are true contenders. Winny Chebet is good but has never shown 3:55-6 capability. You are missing the 2nd placer at Ethiopian Trials, Welteji. She just PB'ed in the 800 with a 1:59.46 and is listed as 19 years old. She won Gold at World Juniors and looks quite young. Could be a factor.
THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:
JBaller33 wrote:
Based on the list of who will be in the 1,500, the following is the world power rankings in the 1,500:
1. Faith Kipyegon
2. Laura Muir
3. Gabriela Debues-Stafford
4. Freweyni Hailu
5. Elinor Purrier St Pierre
6. Winny Chebet
7. Rababe Arafi
8. Linden Hall
Those are the only women with sub-4:00 qualifying times, and I think it will take sub-4:00 to medal. You have to think that Faith Kipyegon is a heavy favorite for gold now and Laura Muir is a heavy favorite for one of the other medals. Any of 3-6 seem like a good bet for one of the other medals. Then, Arafi and Hall are good runners, but not quite sure if they are medal contenders. Honestly, this is one of the weaker events in the Olympic program this year.
Yeah I don't. think 6-8 are true contenders. Winny Chebet is good but has never shown 3:55-6 capability. You are missing the 2nd placer at Ethiopian Trials, Welteji. She just PB'ed in the 800 with a 1:59.46 and is listed as 19 years old. She won Gold at World Juniors and looks quite young. Could be a factor.
Just went off of qualifying times on World Athletics site, and they didn't have Welteji's updated. I see that she went 3:58.93 in Hengelo, so, yes, she is definitely a contender, and this event seems primed for an up-and-comer to medal. Maybe Winny Chebet has one last good race in her?
