Bekele's tendency to refuse to shake hands with other runners??????????

Stoopid wrote:

Kiros you f***ing idiot, its Ignorant, not "Ignorent". Typical post from someone idiot Eritrean who is still probably picking fleas off himself and waited all day for the one computer in his village to free up.

I'm sure your command of the Eritrean language is perfect. How do you say "ass" in Eritrean?

Let me first say I feel for him having suffered such a tragic loss and he is truly a one-of-a-kind runner.

But more than once I have heard, even after he learned to speak English, that he refuses to shake hands with other athletes like Ritzenhein after World X-C and Broe after Boston.

What is the deal with this? He patted Cragg on the back. Does he only congratulate the ones who beat him?

He probably wipes his butt with his left hand too. Let's analyze this as well.

This is the dumbest comment that I have ever seen on this forum.. and that is saying alot. First of all how many races of Kenenisa Bekeles have you seen on american TV. How many cross country, OG, medal ceremonies have been broadcast on TV. In the post race.. cragg was hunched over and kenenisa was also spent... it was kenenisa that went over and patted him on the back.. Cragg realizes who that was and out of respect.. followed kenenisa and gave him a pat on the sholder as well.. what the hell was wrong with that..I think you hate kenenisa for what he is.. and thats not fair.You are a SAD little BOY

Kinshasha wrote:

Let me first say I feel for him having suffered such a tragic loss and he is truly a one-of-a-kind runner.

But more than once I have heard, even after he learned to speak English, that he refuses to shake hands with other athletes like Ritzenhein after World X-C and Broe after Boston.

What is the deal with this? He patted Cragg on the back. Does he only congratulate the ones who beat him?

1) He doesn't speak English in public or with people he doesn't know because he knows he has a thick accent and doesn't want to sound bad.

2) As to why he didn't shake hands probably:

a) he's still out of it or

b) when he gets on the track he's a cold blooded competitor without any friend, save maybe his closest compatriots. Arthur Wint said that about 2 time 800m gold medalist Mal Whitfield -- off the track he was the nicest guy, but on the track, not a kind word or handshake.

Nope, I think that "honor" belongs to you.

Three.

Very few.

This occurred after everyone had recovered.

So I ask why he has shunned American runners who have lost to him and shaken the hand of the guy who beat him.

I think you need to learn to read. I said:

"Let me first say I feel for him having suffered such a tragic loss and he is truly a one-of-a-kind runner."

If asking a reasonable question is sad, I shudder to think of the description you warrant.

Please, do not reply to messages with asinine blather, especially when you do not (or cannot?) read what was written.

trackhead wrote:

1) He doesn't speak English in public or with people he doesn't know because he knows he has a thick accent and doesn't want to sound bad.

2) As to why he didn't shake hands probably:

a) he's still out of it or

b) when he gets on the track he's a cold blooded competitor without any friend, save maybe his closest compatriots. Arthur Wint said that about 2 time 800m gold medalist Mal Whitfield -- off the track he was the nicest guy, but on the track, not a kind word or handshake.

Trackhead, your willingness to answer the question is refreshing. Thank you.

Perhaps we might now end this thread before another dope like "Ethio Boy" propogates his idiocy further.

I am going to go ahead and agree with Ethio Boy here, not on principle, but only because I don't like you, Kinshasha. I also think that your line by line analysis of Ethio Boy's post serves to prove his point that you are in fact a "sad little boy". It should also be noted, that the questions asked in Ethio Boy's post, I imagine, were rhetorical and didn't actually require the answers which you nonetheless provided. For your unflailing ignorance and inability to recognize rhetoric, I salute you.

Overexagerated wrote:

I am going to go ahead and agree with Ethio Boy here, not on principle, but only because I don't like you, Kinshasha. I also think that your line by line analysis of Ethio Boy's post serves to prove his point that you are in fact a "sad little boy". It should also be noted, that the questions asked in Ethio Boy's post, I imagine, were rhetorical and didn't actually require the answers which you nonetheless provided. For your unflailing ignorance and inability to recognize rhetoric, I salute you.

For your feeble attempt at insult and subsequent hypocrisy in analyzing my post after condemning for analyzing another, and for your inability to read, I DEPLORE you.

I deplore the both of you for getting all wrapped up in a running message board.

i'm really confused about all of this, perhaps you could elaborate. you've seen three races of bekele's, heard some other rumors, and you're making sweeping generalizations about how he doesn't shake hands? i don't recall anything about not shaking ritz's hand and where did you hear this about broe?. he tends to speak with his competitors after races (witness any of his european meetings, both on the track and on grass). i can't say i'm too concerned about whether he shakes hands. apparently i don't speak to the same people as i've never heard anyone describe him as anything other than respectful and courteous. and this comes from meet organizers, officials, competitors, media, and fans.

and it wouldn't suprise me if the reason he "refused" to shake broe's hand after boston was that he was so upset with himself over his mistake that he was oblivious to what was happpening. i know i've been accused of being a dick to others after bad races.

A good point.

Ritzenhein expressed surprise and disappointment in Runner's World when he asked Bekele about his training after the World X-C championships a few years back and Bekele completely ignored him.

Granted, he may speak broken English, but I think a polite acknowledgement would have done (he had just WON the race, so he had no reason to be disappointed).

As for Broe, one of the spectators at the meet who filmed the race observed that Broe went up to Geneti after the 3K and shook his hand, then went up to Bekele and tried to shake his hand but Bekele just stared at him and walked away.

This could be explained by his disappointment if he did the same to everyone.

HOWEVER, he DID congratulate Cragg, so his inability to speal English or his anger at his race should not have prevented him shaking hands with one runner and completely ignoring another.

I am not making a comment about his personality because I am sure he is a great guy and he has really suffered immensely as of late.

I am merely making an observation and asking a question because I did not understand why such a polite guy would ignore a well meaning competitor post-race.

Trackhead cleared that up a bit but it still seems strange.

But in 2001 (when Ritz ran world juniors against Bekele) Bekele did not speak any English. He just started sometime in 2003.

trackhead wrote:

But in 2001 (when Ritz ran world juniors against Bekele) Bekele did not speak any English. He just started sometime in 2003.

yeah, that's why i was confused about the ritz thing.

i think the cragg thing is really easy to explain: bekele was walking by him right after the end of the race. real easy to just give the guy a pat on the back. as for the broe thing, i find the story difficult to swallow. if broe himself said it, yes, but how does this guy know bekele "stared at him" (implying that he was aware of his presence)? this seems a pretty thin record to find a "tendency" on. i've seen him speak to/acknowledge others after races. granted this was always after wins. maybe he's a sore loser. maybe he has a grudge against broe for spiking him in the Olympic 5K. maybe he just doesn't like americans. you've found one race where he seemingly snubbed one runner. gonna need a little more than that to make a case.

I shook his hand along with a few others -- no problem while he was stepping off the track.

From what I can tell Bekele pats Cragg, an Irishman, on the back and refuses to acknowledge the Americans, Ritzenhein and Broe. The only logical conclusion that I can come to is that Kenenisa is opposed to U.S. occupation of Middle Eastern countries and he is punishing AZmerican track fans (George Bush?) by not congratulating American runners on their mediocre races. He obviously hopes that his cold heartedness towards Broe and Ritzenhein will make George Bush and Condoleeza Rice rethink their involvement in Iraq and order American troops to recede

Kinshasha wrote:

Let me first say I feel for him having suffered such a tragic loss and he is truly a one-of-a-kind runner.

But more than once I have heard, even after he learned to speak English, that he refuses to shake hands with other athletes like Ritzenhein after World X-C and Broe after Boston.

What is the deal with this? He patted Cragg on the back. Does he only congratulate the ones who beat him?

I also don't shake hands. I am neither sad, nor a little boy.

I am ME!

African runners in general exhibit humility. There is nothing wrong with Bekele not shaking hands. He is no snob, neither is he narcissistic. HE values everyone and doesn't behave like Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis who wouldn't shake hands. He is probably still distraught about losing his significant other.

Papa Smurf wrote:

From what I can tell Bekele pats Cragg, an Irishman, on the back and refuses to acknowledge the Americans, Ritzenhein and Broe. The only logical conclusion that I can come to is that Kenenisa is opposed to U.S. occupation of Middle Eastern countries and he is punishing AZmerican track fans (George Bush?) by not congratulating American runners on their mediocre races. He obviously hopes that his cold heartedness towards Broe and Ritzenhein will make George Bush and Condoleeza Rice rethink their involvement in Iraq and order American troops to recede

Papa, you are out of order!