YOMIF KEJELCHA JOINS NIKE OREGON PROJECT

Interesting, you'd think this would be bigger news. It is surprising, he obviously doesn't have confidence in what he is doing in Ethiopia.

Wow. I'm inclined to think that for a guy like him, the decision is more about the chance to move stateside than any potential training advantage.

With Mo gone and Galen a marathoner now, has it really just come down to Jenkins and Yomif as the NOP 5000 guys?

I'm probably forgetting someone wrote:

With Mo gone and Galen a marathoner now, has it really just come down to Jenkins and Yomif as the NOP 5000 guys?

Centro might move up soon.

I don’t mean to sound stereotypical or anything, but does he even speak English? I’ve seen a bunch of interviews from him with a translator but I’ve never heard him speak a word of English. However, this is an interesting move. Dude’s run 3:32, 7:28 and 12:53, so Jenkins and even Centro will probably benefit from having him around. He’s got monster range.

No one is excited about an Ethiopian doper joining a doping group.

Now this wrote:

I'm probably forgetting someone wrote:

With Mo gone and Galen a marathoner now, has it really just come down to Jenkins and Yomif as the NOP 5000 guys?

Centro might move up soon.

False.

Now this wrote:

I'm probably forgetting someone wrote:

With Mo gone and Galen a marathoner now, has it really just come down to Jenkins and Yomif as the NOP 5000 guys?

Centro might move up soon.

I doubt you'll ever see Centrowitz run the 5k in a IAAF or Olympic Championship.

Wow. This is huge. They have 2 Ethiopians under their belt, and I'm sure this is a move to have an image to replace the big image that they lost when Mo left. Considering Paul Chelimo is supposed to be the next big gun for american distance running. here is an american company training and polishing a foreign runner to be the best in the world.

I thought the Nike Oregon project was just going to focus on American runners, because american running has regressed. NOP seem to be focusing on foreign runners as of late, and what does that say about the status of american running when you get past the elites?

It does seem odd to me from a marketing standpoint that Nike would heavily invest in competition for the other American runners it is trying to promote. Mo made more sense to include for the sake of the UK market but I doubt thousands of Ethiopians will rush out to purchase Nike shoes if Al Sal makes him a world champ..

Dr. Coleman wrote:

It does seem odd to me from a marketing standpoint that Nike would heavily invest in competition for the other American runners it is trying to promote. Mo made more sense to include for the sake of the UK market but I doubt thousands of Ethiopians will rush out to purchase Nike shoes if Al Sal makes him a world champ..

Nike is a global company. While the average Ethiopian may not be able to afford Nike products, there are hundreds of thousands of Gulf State citizens who can. Ethiopian athletes are popular in that region.

Big Blue Marble wrote:

Dr. Coleman wrote:

It does seem odd to me from a marketing standpoint that Nike would heavily invest in competition for the other American runners it is trying to promote. Mo made more sense to include for the sake of the UK market but I doubt thousands of Ethiopians will rush out to purchase Nike shoes if Al Sal makes him a world champ..

Nike is a global company. While the average Ethiopian may not be able to afford Nike products, there are hundreds of thousands of Gulf State citizens who can. Ethiopian athletes are popular in that region.

NOP has certainly gotten away from its original premise of building up American runners to compete with the rest of the world. Since they brought Mo in, NOP has built up runners to beat Americans. You could argue that Mo on the team helped Galen, but Suguru and Kejelcha are hardly helping Americans get better. Which is fine, but it's a change from the original justification for NOP.

PrZ wrote:

I don’t mean to sound stereotypical or anything, but does he even speak English? I’ve seen a bunch of interviews from him with a translator but I’ve never heard him speak a word of English. However, this is an interesting move. Dude’s run 3:32, 7:28 and 12:53, so Jenkins and even Centro will probably benefit from having him around. He’s got monster range.

Was thinking the same but just realized that Sifan Hassan also speaks Afaan Oromo, the language that Kejelcha speaks.

Prow wrote:

Wow. I'm inclined to think that for a guy like him, the decision is more about the chance to move stateside than any potential training advantage.

Will we learn his real age? Har. It's kind of like Aden who according to his agent was 24 in the London 800 final while the media claimed he was 18. Now that Kejelcha is closing in on 30 he's looking to keep things going. And of course he'll still train for several months at altitude in Ethiopia to enjoy the advantages of altitude and a federation that will keep him safe from out of season testing.

Dr. Coleman wrote:

It does seem odd to me from a marketing standpoint that Nike would heavily invest in competition for the other American runners it is trying to promote. Mo made more sense to include for the sake of the UK market but I doubt thousands of Ethiopians will rush out to purchase Nike shoes if Al Sal makes him a world champ..

My only thought on all this is from a logical reason is that the NOP has added in athletes that are non-American (eg Mo, Hassan etc) that should be regular medal winners but for some reason they aren't and fixing them up and getting them winning, while surrounding them with up and coming American runners, which lifts their performance as well. If Salazar can get Kejelcha regularly running sub12:55 Jenkins might become sub 13. Also by adding in foreigners Nike protects itself from bias accusations.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Wow. This is huge. They have 2 Ethiopians under their belt, and I'm sure this is a move to have an image to replace the big image that they lost when Mo left. Considering Paul Chelimo is supposed to be the next big gun for american distance running. here is an american company training and polishing a foreign runner to be the best in the world.

I thought the Nike Oregon project was just going to focus on American runners, because american running has regressed. NOP seem to be focusing on foreign runners as of late, and what does that say about the status of american running when you get past the elites?

- I'm so with you .... don't understand what NOP is doing --- they are creating their own Army WCAP!

Big Blue Marble wrote:

While the average Ethiopian may not be able to afford Nike products, there are hundreds of thousands of Gulf State citizens who can.

Sure. Get them to do any sport at all, and then you might sell them shoes.

Ethiopian athletes are popular in that region.

Yes, as modern day slaves.

PrZ wrote:

I don’t mean to sound stereotypical or anything, but does he even speak English? I’ve seen a bunch of interviews from him with a translator but I’ve never heard him speak a word of English. However, this is an interesting move. Dude’s run 3:32, 7:28 and 12:53, so Jenkins and even Centro will probably benefit from having him around. He’s got monster range.

Dr. Coleman wrote:

It does seem odd to me from a marketing standpoint that Nike would heavily invest in competition for the other American runners it is trying to promote. Mo made more sense to include for the sake of the UK market but I doubt thousands of Ethiopians will rush out to purchase Nike shoes if Al Sal makes him a world champ..

My guess is it would look pretty good on NOP if he breaks the 5km world record in a NOP vest. They got medals with mo, maybe they are thinking of shooting a bit higher with this guy... plus it'd add someone to chase for Jenkins