Game On: Kenenisa Is Going Try To Defend His Title

Sorry for the omission in the title: "going to try to" is what I of course meant...

haha YO wrote:

No doubt he is going to win.

I think there is doubt, but if it goes well, he may double, according to Hermens.

Sonofabitch, ladies and gentlemen. It is on.

Kind of hard to excel in a finals only race when he hasn't raced on the track in two years.

If he will be fit enough to win Worlds he should have been healthy enough to at least line up in one 5000 a month before Worlds to tune up.

I have doubts and would even say he is an under dog.

Even if he is favored higher than anyone else, I would take the field vs Bekele (pretty much take the field in any race).

If wins, it would be most impressive.

Saying "he is training well" is a pretty week response. Even Bekele would have wanted to enter some race this year to tuneup for Daegu. The fact that he will not race before Daegu strongly suggests that he has been compromised in his training in some way and that he will not be the 09' KB. Of course he can fall short of his 09' level and still be a serious threat to win so we will see.

chet wrote:

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFN1E77F1BS20110816

"He is going to Daegu and (will) run. He is training well," Jos Hermens told Reuters in a telephone interview.

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This should be one for the ages...

i remember originally he was supposed to run a race in july so it makes it all the more interesting (the 10,000 in Daegu)

ryan foreman wrote:

Saying "he is training well" is a pretty week response. Even Bekele would have wanted to enter some race this year to tuneup for Daegu. The fact that he will not race before Daegu strongly suggests that he has been compromised in his training in some way and that he will not be the 09' KB.

Of course he can fall short of his 09' level and still be a serious threat to win so we will see.

I have doubts that Kenenisa will be able to win, but Hermens' allusion to the possibility of doubling makes me think that Kenenisa knows he is fairly fit, and that Tariku and he have been pushing each other in training. However, although in almost every other race Kenenisa has been in (with the exception of 1500s, etc) I would pick Kenenisa vs. the field, I agree with toro that in Daegu I would pick the field, while knowing that I could well be wrong. I just wonder how sharp Kenenisa's kick is compared to the past...

P.S. Is it possible that Kenenisa's best bet might be to suggest to Merga beforehand that Farah might just be somebody he could you know, stay in close proximity to and hope his talented elbows might be of some assistance...

This just became the thickest subplot in a WC full of them.

KB is going for GOAT status.

And he'll put himself head and shoulders above Haile with double gold next year in London.

Can't wait for Kenny to run!

I'd have to agree that if he wins this, he is the GOAT. Especially after not racing for what, two years?

P.S. Is it possible that Kenenisa's best bet might be to suggest to Merga beforehand that Farah might just be somebody he could you know, stay in close proximity to and hope his talented elbows might be of some assistance...[/quote

Wasn't he exonerated of the Rupp/Sol debacle?

PhatTongue wrote:

P.S. Is it possible that Kenenisa's best bet might be to suggest to Merga beforehand that Farah might just be somebody he could you know, stay in close proximity to and hope his talented elbows might be of some assistance...[/quote

Wasn't he exonerated of the Rupp/Sol debacle?

It never went to a jury....but at any rate, I was joking.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was all just a ploy.

Things KB has going for him:

1. The guy is a winner, period. I'd love to know the win percent of all his races. I bet it's a significant majority.

2. No one has been in the same class as him at 10k or XC (Strength).

3. World Record, WC, Olympic record holder.

Things KB has going against him:

1. Long term injury.

2. No races in two years (aside from a single poor xc showing in the snow).

3. The fact that he didn't try to race at all prior to WC.

The way I see it playing out is that his talent and training will get him in the lead pack at the bell, but he will get out kicked due to rust.

To play devil's advocate, some have hinted at the fact that maybe injury isn't quite the right term for his two year absence. If that's true, and his training is top notch, then perhaps he will blow everyone away after all.

categorically wrote:

This just became the thickest subplot in a WC full of them.

KB is going for GOAT status.

And he'll put himself head and shoulders above Haile with double gold next year in London.

While i dont doubt that if he pulls off a double gold at London he will be named Greatest Of All Time. But if he wins just the 10,000m will he be GOAT? If that doesnt put himm up there will he be GOAT if he wins the 5k?

Opinions?

A third consecutive Olympic 10,000 Gold next year would put him in uncharted territory regardless of whether he bombs this year or not.

Any medal next year in the 5 or 10 would be big.

Team running wrote:

categorically wrote:

This just became the thickest subplot in a WC full of them.

KB is going for GOAT status.

And he'll put himself head and shoulders above Haile with double gold next year in London.

While i dont doubt that if he pulls off a double gold at London he will be named Greatest Of All Time. But if he wins just the 10,000m will he be GOAT? If that doesnt put himm up there will he be GOAT if he wins the 5k?

Opinions?

He already has a pretty good claim to greatest of all time.

He has won both the 5000m and 10000m in the same championships

He has both 5000m and 10000m WRs

He has by far more cross championships in both long and short course than anyone else

I love halie but does his sucsess in the marathon make up the ground he has lost to kb in the 5000m and cross country? Haile will always be one of the all time greats but KB took his crown in 2009.

I have to agree with the poster above... KB > Haile. Their track pedigrees are pretty similar but Bekele isn't done there yet and although Haile has the marathon WR he is no where near Bekele in XC. The world XC champs is probably the hardest race on the planet, other than maybe the Kenyan XC champs. Bekele won the long AND short course titles (2 races a day apart) for FIVE freaking years straight. That is straight up crazy. I say KB takes the 10k and brings Farah crashing back down to Earth. Then in London he takes the double before leaving the track and having a few years on the road.

Nobody knows what will happen at the World Champs. I think that Jos Hermens knows a little bit about running and maybe also about the form of Kenenisa Bekele - still he didn`t want to give any prediction.

Bekeles last race was in January 2010 - a bad one for him. I really would be surprised if he is in same good condition as in 2009. I think it will be very difficult for him to defend successfull his title(s).