when is kenenisa bekele going to move up to the marathon??

First he needs to race some 15k's and 1/2 marathons without getting hurt.

he can still accomplish things on the track. he ran 725 in 2007 so he still has the ability to break his own world records. he also ran 2625 solo at pre classic last year. based upon his olympic triumph (1257 leading the entire way) he can probably come close at either distance. if he continues to run the 10k through 2012 he can also become the first athlete ever to win the same running event in track and field at 3 straight olympics. edwin moses would have already accomplished this if not for the 1980 boycott. the marathon is also an unknown event for kb. there is so much competition for him there and so little at 5k/10k that he should stick with the track. he could show up to a marathon fit as hell, have a bad day and get beat by some relatively unknown guy who has a monster day (duncan kibet at rotterdam).

isnt it about time? wrote:

Especially considering the fact that marathoning is becoming exponentially more competitive with each major marathon as we saw with London, Beijing, and Rotterdam?

Why would that be incentive to move up? Geb moved up and just avoids everyone now. Kenenisa has no real reason to move up-he is kicking ass and taking names on the track right now and his first over distance race (15k) did not go as planned. Ok it was a stress fracture but still, not exactly a good sign.

I think kenenisa is not suited to the longer distances because of his stride (not low to the ground like a marathoner at all, he kicks himself in the butt every stride)-but then again people said that about Geb as well. I don't think he will be a 2:02/3 guy though, although 2:04-2:05 I think he can do.

Bottom line, he has no reason to yet.

The guy above nailed it. The dude just won double golds in very fast times and made it look easy. I wouldn't feel the need to move to 26.2 until people could beat me at 3.1 and 6.2. Although when he does run his first marathon...think of the appearance fee he'll command.

When he isn't the unquestioned best 5/10k runner in the world and can no longer close an honest 10k in 53.

Kbk is an extremely handsome double gold medallist in Beijing, AND gold medallist in Athens...and ELEVEN times World Cross-Country Champion....except for Mombasa....and had to take the mantle from Haile when he kicked his arse in Paris in 2003...and had to put up with H El Guerrouj leaving the sport when it was getting so exciting.

In conclusion, Kbk will move up when he damn well feels ready. Who makes the decision?

I'm calling him a genius in red shorts

x

his legs look too big to run the marathon well.

informed analysis wrote:

his legs look too big to run the marathon well.

Yeah. Chubby legs. Might be better off playing American Football. ;-)

His achievments on the track are remarkable but Olympic Marathon Gold is what makes the distance runner immortal.

makesnosense wrote:

I wouldn't feel the need to move to 26.2 until people could beat me at 3.1 and 6.2.

Or as the rest of the world would say: "...move to 42 until people could beat me at 5 and 10."

Don't you mean 42.19?

some runner wrote:

makesnosense wrote:

I wouldn't feel the need to move to 26.2 until people could beat me at 3.1 and 6.2.

Or as the rest of the world would say: "...move to 42 until people could beat me at 5 and 10."

No Way wrote:

Don't you mean 42.19?

Don't YOU mean 42.2 or 42.195? ;-)

Well, since he wrote 3.1 instead of 3.1069409059839681849251227241658, I just decided that 42 would suffice.

As long as we're being all anal-retentive here, Don't you all mean 26 miles, 385 yards?

That is the exact official distance of the marathon. In miles and yards. Not in meters.

He will move up once he has schooled Bolt over 600m ...

better idea wrote:

As long as we're being all anal-retentive here, Don't you all mean 26 miles, 385 yards?

That is the exact official distance of the marathon. In miles and yards. Not in meters.

No, it's 42.195 km. Nobody uses miles except for America, Liberia and Myanmar. Ninety-five percent of the world uses kilometres, as does any world body worth a damn.

IAAF rule 240 specifies that the marathon is 42.195 km. See page 185 in the rule book.

ming ding xiong wrote:

better idea wrote:

As long as we're being all anal-retentive here, Don't you all mean 26 miles, 385 yards?

That is the exact official distance of the marathon. In miles and yards. Not in meters.

No, it's 42.195 km. Nobody uses miles except for America, Liberia and Myanmar. Ninety-five percent of the world uses kilometres, as does any world body worth a damn.

IAAF rule 240 specifies that the marathon is 42.195 km. See page 185 in the rule book.

http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/imported/42192.pdf

Well, the distance was measured in London. And I am pretty sure they still used miles there, back then.

London still uses miles now, thank you dear.

Nutella wrote:

Marathon Gold is what makes the distance runner immortal.

What is this bizzare obsession with the marathon? A marathon gold is great but it isn't any better then a 5000m gold or a 10000m gold. Maybe it matters more to someone like Haile who already has a couple of track golds and is now a marathoner. Is Viren immortal? Is tergat immortal? How about Nurmi? Kenenisa could never run a marathon in his life and still be considered the greatest distance runner of all time based on his tremendous accomplishments on the track and 11 dominant xc titles.

Yeah!

I was thinking the same thing about Bolt. Why doesn't he move and do the 800m? Why stay in the event you are dominant at, it can't be very fun. Better move to somewhere where you're not so good. Shoot, maybe Bolt should even try pole vault.