What just happened? An examination of Kenenisa Bekele's bizarre day at the 2018 Amsterdam Marathon

Rabo. wrote:

[quote]fritsiexx wrote:

EPO induced scroat, that is the asterisk that will beside his 10k and 5k records.

The problem is Hermens, but Hermens knows all the dead bodies in Bekele's closet so he can't get rid of him. Hermens owns him.

Banana Bread wrote:

Why are you talking like that. I guess so many people here think it is a joke. They like to laugh at bad things happening to Bekele to make themselves feel better about there former "D1 days"(I'm probably been to nice here).

Stick to your word and go away. You said you would never post if he didn't at least break the course record. He DNF'd as many predicted. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

How involved has Canova been? I'm curious to hear what he has to say and what he thinks needs to happen.

stfu JS wrote:

Stick to your word and go away. You said you would never post if he didn't at least break the course record.

Proof?

stfu JS wrote:

How involved has Canova been? I'm curious to hear what he has to say and what he thinks needs to happen.

Bekele's aerobic house is built on sand and that sand has already passed through the hourglass.

It's EPO time biatches!!

Tron wrote:

rojo wrote:

That was crazy!!

Bekele had the lead in the race between 29 and 30k but was dropped by 31. Then he was still on 2:07 pace with less than a km to go when he dropped out.

We doubt many of you saw it so we typed up a quick article with GIFs of the most important action:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2018/10/examinaton-kenenisa-bekeles-bizarre-day-2018-tcs-amsterdam-marathon/

Maybe it’s the spandex shorts...

That must have been first time I’ve ever seen him wear them

He seemed very uncomfortable with them, to be fair. He kept tagging at them the entire race. I think Jos made him wear them because they seem to work for Kipchoge.

Dirt For Desert wrote:

Quick translation of the article:

Hermens sees worldstar Bekele fade away. "It's total chaos with Bekele"

I am frustrated and feel utterly powerless. It is very chaotic dealing with Bekele. So much goes wrong in his marathoncareer. He only started preparing for this marathon seven weeks ago. No chance at all that that goes well. I suspected that he would DNF. I am really close to stop working with him, but it's a good kid. He is a son to me. We work together since like forever. Bekele has a serious flaw that is displanning. It hurts me to see him like this. Compared to Kipchoge he is like the exact opposite. Bekele is 36 and not a baby anymore, it is time to take responsibility.

Tough words.

Hermans is a jerk. He has talked that way of Bekele for many years, and is probably the REASON for Bekele's disappearing motivation.

I would personally not do well with that type of "encouragement."

Note: Hermans was constantly yelling at Bekele when he first fell back, and then dropped out of the race.

Sounds like bit of an a$$. Although Bekele does need to take responsibility for his training.

El Keniano wrote:

Maybe it’s the spandex shorts.

Those things are quite binding.

I would never choose to wear them for a marathon.

Colorful excuses wrote:

Dirt For Desert wrote:

He only started preparing for this marathon seven weeks ago.

Utter BS.

The excuses come like clockwork after every marathon and this time Jos has been so kind as to provide two for free: seven weeks of preparation and stepping on a stone.

Did Kenny accept one of those drinks Hermens was offering him?, if he did he would have been disqualified anyway, seem to remember reading somewhere that drinks, gels, etc taken along the way form other than the official stations was not allowed. You'd think Hermens would've known this.

Remember he was allowed to do it with Gebreslassie back in the day, but not allowed now.

Offline wrote:

Old, fat and done wrote:

Bizarre, considering he was in 2:02:34 shape LoL

With an "amazing" 40k tempo. And here I'd expected great things. What a gip.

Well, he just ran another amazing 40k tempo in 2:00:37.

This is true.

dead bodies=skeletons?

You can’t have someone on a bike encouraging and coaching you along. That’s considered “assistance”. Total BS.

I laugh at everyone saying 10K and HM translate to a faster marathon. No they don’t. Marathon predicts marathon. He’s not a marathoner. Sorry Jos, no big marathon pay days for you from Bekele.

"Kenenisa became very undisciplined on taking his injections. Only SEVEN weeks of microdosing- it's not enough!

I am *this close* (holds fingers 3mm apart) to cease being his overbearing father-figure."

If you read the article right when it was published, please realize that since then we spoke to Jos Hermens and the article has been updated.

I watched this expecting Bekele run around a 2:05. I wouldn't say he's done but there is definitely some confidence issues he needs to address. A new coach would go a long way. I'm sure he could be in better shape too.