Bekele has always been seen as a runner with ridiculous talent who trained hard but lacked the dedication of Eliud Kipchoge.
During the years that he was demolishing world records and winning everything he was, in fact, one of the most dedicated and hungry athletes. Whether or not drugs were involved, he was the best and was athletics Jordan.
He then lost motivation. That is why he went downhill, he couldn't sustain the amount of training he was doing and this had bad effects on his performance. Look at Bernard Lagat, who runs far less and is much more focused on sustainability, Bekele is the opposite. Kimetto too.
When Bekele first came to the marathon, he ran a ridiculously fast time, the problem, it didn't mean anything. There wasn't a race at the end of the year in which he could demolish everyone, he didn't have a world record and in my opinion once again became demotivated.
In his post-race interview however, I saw that the flame had been reignited. There is now something to race for, Mo Farah has just dropped in his first proper marathon and the marathon is at its most competitive.
Watch Bekele become measured, clever and determined and he will be back.