| wineturtle |
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Kenya announces London Olympic Marathon squad Abel Kirui celebrates winning his second World Marathon title (Getty Images) Related content Nairobi, Kenya - Freshly minted London Marathon champions Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany will front Kenya’s Marathon team to the Olympics as Athletics Kenya (AK) announced the long awaited line-up on Wednesday (25). Two-time World champion, Abel Kirui, who slumped to sixth in Sunday’s race at the Olympics city as well as the Chicago Marathon title holder Moses Mosop complete the men's squad with Daegu gold winner Edna Kiplagat and silver medallist Priscah Jeptoo sealing the women’s trio. "We have selected the athletes based on their individual performances after the major Marathon races they have participated in this season with a lot of emphasis on experience," AK President Isaiah Kiplagat told a packed media conference. The selection of Mosop, who finished third at the Rotterdam Marathon in 2:05:02, was perhaps the surprise inclusion in a squad that was whittled down from 12 probables named by the federation in January. "If you look at the time posted by Mosop, although he was third in Rotterdam he has done much better than most athletes as well as Kipsang who was four seconds shy of the record in London hence we believe this is the best team to represent us in London," Kiplagat noted of last year’s Boston runner-up who breezed to 2:03:06. |
| bangalangadanga |
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source? |
| Howard and The Running Monkey |
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Wilson Kipsang Abel Kitui Moses Mosop Mary Keitany Edna Kiplagat Priscah Jeptoo While it is the marathon and sh!t happens 6 medals is possible 4 can be expected to medal 2 look like a lock- a lot of sh!t has to happen to not see two Kenyans on the podium |
| wineturtle |
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http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/OLY12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=64694
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| Oh please |
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I knew Mosop would get it after Makau DNFd. |
| Luca Toni |
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Can someone tell me who coaches these athletes? I don't follow the marathon too closely but saw on a comment on Flotrack that 5 of these have Italian coaches? Is it the same guy coaching all of them? |
| Queton C. |
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The great Renato Canova. |
| Tupac Kirui |
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Yo, Kenya's marathon team are ALL OGs, son. |
| Aghast |
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Kenya will not win gold because of the way AK ruined this selection process. |
| Polepolesana |
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coaches: Wilson Kipsang; selfcoached Abel Kirui; Renato Canova (I) Moses Mosop; Renato Canova (I) Mary Keitany; Gabriele Nicola (I) Ednah Kiplagat; Gilbert Koech (KEN) Prisca Jeptoo; Claudio Bernadelli (I) |
| rock meet hard spot |
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AK had a crazy tough decision, I wouldn't want to be the one making this call. I wonder if they factored in how the non-selected might do in the 10,000? |
| the BRObius strip |
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Kinda makes you wonder how Mutai would have fared if the weather had been cooler in Boston and how that effected the decision. |
| orbitboy |
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Yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to make the call. Kenya obviously has more than three deserving runners. Ethiopia, too. In the marathon, the Africans have kind of blown the whole 3-men-to-a-team concept out of the water. This selection is going to be argued for years. London might not end up being a fast race, then G. Mutai will run some ridiculous time next fall and then what? They should open the Olympic Marathon up a lot more. I don't see why you couldn't have a marathon field of the top 500 runners in the world, regardless of how many come from a particular country. |
| Formica Table |
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Hoping G. Mutai runs Berlin and hits 2:02:xx. Really a shame he wasn't selected, and I can't honestly see why Mosop got the nod. Still an incredible team, obviously. |
| Kenyan Coach 22 |
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Canova does not coach Moscrop. He is self-coached also |
| orbitboy |
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The only thing I'd do differently is trade G. Mutai for Mosop, but that being said, it wouldn't shock me at all to see Mosop win the whole thing. For all we know, Mutai may never run fast again. I wouldn't bet on it, but you never know. Look how many Kenyans have disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Duncan Kibet, Kwambai, and of course Wanjiru is dead. A year from now it may be someone we've hardly heard of who's the new king. |
| Kenyan Coach 22 |
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Interesting that the WR holder, who set the record in the past year, did not make the team. |
| captain and me |
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Yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to make the call. Kenya obviously has more than three deserving runners. Ethiopia, too. In the marathon, the Africans have kind of blown the whole 3-men-to-a-team concept out of the water. This selection is going to be argued for years. London might not end up being a fast race, then G. Mutai will run some ridiculous time next fall and then what? They should open the Olympic Marathon up a lot more. I don't see why you couldn't have a marathon field of the top 500 runners in the world, regardless of how many come from a particular country.[/quote] Why do people keep posting this sh*t. It's the Olympics, heck why don't they just do that for every event. It is a Games about COUNTRIES, not individual athletes. The IAAF(T&F) has a limited say into the format, as they are just one of many sports. I guess that the Bike road-race should also just have 100's of people in it as well, or the Triathlon, etc. There is a reason why 3 are allowed per country - as technically all three could medal (as has happened on occasion) - so what is the point of having more? There isn't a team race (like in the World Champs Marathon, which replaced the World Cup as an event in this regard) so why would more be required per country? Should the US be allowed more 400m people, or Jamaica more 100m people?How about the race-walk, you could have 100's of people there as well.If you change one sport/event's requirements then others would be allowed to do the same. On the whole the Marathon isn't more important than any other event, nor is T&F more important than any other sport. |
| orbitboy |
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I've never seen anyone post that sh*t before. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of it, but it's obviously not a very popular opinion.
The marathon is different. Always has been, always will be. Like I said, it's outgrown the Olympic format. The KA announcement today proves that. In some sprint events you'd end up with guys from four or five different countries in each event being the only qualifiers. That would be boring. The marathon, because of it's length, could accommodate many more participants if it was opened up. The marathon is a freaking spectacle and should be treated differently. If the marathon wasn't a bigger deal than any other event, then why was Ritz sobbing at the end of the trials? He'll make the team on one leg in the 10,000, and doesn't have a realistic chance for a medal in either event even if he's 100% healthy. He wanted to compete in the spectacle, that's why. Kenya deserves more than three guys in that race, that's all I'm sayin'. |
| cenotaph |
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Yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to make the call. Kenya obviously has more than three deserving runners. Ethiopia, too. In the marathon, the Africans have kind of blown the whole 3-men-to-a-team concept out of the water. This selection is going to be argued for years. London might not end up being a fast race, then G. Mutai will run some ridiculous time next fall and then what? They should open the Olympic Marathon up a lot more. I don't see why you couldn't have a marathon field of the top 500 runners in the world, regardless of how many come from a particular country.[/quote] Why do people keep posting this sh*t. It's the Olympics, heck why don't they just do that for every event. It is a Games about COUNTRIES, not individual athletes. The IAAF(T&F) has a limited say into the format, as they are just one of many sports. I guess that the Bike road-race should also just have 100's of people in it as well, or the Triathlon, etc. There is a reason why 3 are allowed per country - as technically all three could medal (as has happened on occasion) - so what is the point of having more? There isn't a team race (like in the World Champs Marathon, which replaced the World Cup as an event in this regard) so why would more be required per country? Should the US be allowed more 400m people, or Jamaica more 100m people?How about the race-walk, you could have 100's of people there as well.If you change one sport/event's requirements then others would be allowed to do the same. On the whole the Marathon isn't more important than any other event, nor is T&F more important than any other sport.[/quote] i agree with you but you could argue the marathon and track are the most "olympic" of the sports. the only event in the first ancient olympics was a single sprint race. then the marathon was created purely for the 1896 olympics back to topic: i cant argue with these choices although i still have skepticism over kirui being on the same level as the 2:03 crowd |