Wilson Kipkemei Businenei (Uga) pulls off triple at WUG- 5,000m, 10000m, and 1/2 marathon

Native Son,

I have my ideas about this situation, but I dont want to be too much critical with AK.

Anyway, I think that the reasons are not those that normally Kenyans use for excusing.

a) To use during the last month coaches that till that period nothing had to share with the best runners is always a big mistake. They are not better than the personal coaches of the athletes, dont know anything about them, dont speak with their coaches and dont know international athletics, so cannot be a point of referement for the athletes during big Championships.

b) The most part of the athletes and of coaches speak too much, many times about something that they dont know. See the interviews before the main events : all the athletes say that are ready for gold, that they be a team, that everything is OK, that is time to beat Bekele or Shaheen, bla bla bla. This fact creates a lot of expectation in normal people, that think that what is in newspaper is the TRUTH. Of course, when the athletes are not able to reach the results that they are speaking about BEFORE, for Kenya this is a failure. One example : 10000m women, with Edith Masai "ready for gold". How is really possible to defeat athletes able running 30:15 alone and finishing last lap in 58 ? If Edith goes for a competition of 400m, is not able running under 57. So, she had a very good race, improved the National Record with 30:30, and the final result is that for Kenyan people she failed.

c) This pressure destroys the most part of the athletes. That is the reason because I preferred, this year, to send Moses Mosop in St. Moritz, and to train Rita Jeptoo with me in Iten instead going in the camp, because I wanted to keep them out of the pressure.

d) One of the normal accusations is that the athletes are not a team. But in an individual sport, an athlete, for winning, must be strong himself. What type of tactic can use a Country, being a team, when (Paris 2003) the Ethiopians are able running in 10000m the second half in 12:57 and the best Personal Record of the Kenyans in 5k is 13:03 ? Or Edith Masai with the two Dibaba, Adere and Defar ? Or Ezekiel Kemboi, Brimin Kipruto and Paul Koech against Shaheen ?

So, the first goal must be to improve in the individual ability, not to be a team. Also because the idea of a Team for Kenyan coaches is to train together with the same programme, and this is one of the biggest mistakes in Athletics. The programme must be something of personal, in order to improve the qualities of each one, and everyone needs something different. If 4 athletes go for the same training, really they used 4 different workouts, because the INTERNAL LOAD is different.

e) Regarding the managers, is absolutely not true that they burn the athletes. For example, Daniel Komen was in Kenya for training from Golden Gala (9 Jul) to Oslo (29 Jul) and the last meeting was asked directly by the kenyan coaches that have care of him in Kenya (Jimmy and Joseph Ngure). And, for example, I decided to put Mosop in 3000m in Madrid (16 Jul) and 5000m in Oslo (29 Jul) together with Gianni Demadonna, not for money, but because he needed to compete in order to have more experience in the final. If there is a coach, is not possible that is the Federation deciding HOW MANY RACES EVERY ATHLETE MUST RUN. Athletics is something technical and individual, so for each one there are different answers to the same question.

f) Its absolutely true that the Kenyan Coaches need to have different instruction, growing in their knowledge. For a lot of time Kenyans won very easy, and someone thinks that their training was very good for that reason. Really, their training was not different from now, but their rivals were different, because Ethiopians were not selected and prepared in good way. Already 28/25 years ago, Ethiopians had some athlete beating Kenyans (Miruts Yifter, Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde, Mohamed Kedir), but the 2 Countries didnt meet in top events for different reasons (boycotts and other). So, when the Kenyans were able to win easy, their rivals were Americans and Europeans, not Ethiopians.

Now, limited to 5 and 10k, the technical knowledge of Ethiopian Coaches is very much more advanced than of Kenyan coaches. The training system for Kenyans is very easy, and presents lack of many important elements of the preparation. This is the reason because Ethiopians are fast in the final, while for Kenyans to be fast is an exception.

g) So, the real problem is that in Kenya nobody (the Federation too) look at Athletics like a technical activity. In thier mind, athletes win because are strong, and lose because of the managers. But training is not something that everyone can do.

Thanks Dr. Renato.

I am sure AK is just circling the wagons inasfar as re-inventing its running success is concerned. It is painful to see a clear lack of strategy from our athletics body.

I hope it is not too late to salvage whatever is left.