Kipchoge’s interview with Jon Gault was weird

when I listened to this I was cringing, but not because of Jonathan

Kipchoge talks in riddles, it's either cliche sayings or question-avoidance. It's not a language barrier, he just has never been a good interviewee and it's often painful listening to him talk because it's like getting information out of a stone.

The age questions are valid for someone who's "38" and on top of the game, and the hill questions are valid for running Boston, before also a hilly Olympic course in Paris.

The smirk at the end tells the whole story about what Kipchoge thought of Gault.

Agreed, he gets away with it because he's the GOAT. He likes to talk in a way that sounds very profound, but they are just a bunch of pseudo BS.

Compare Kipchoge’s Gault interview with the one that NN just put on their site.

Night and day.

you mean the vetted, scripted and edited interview is sleaker?

wow, what a hot take

I thought it was good interview in the sense that Kipchoge basically said he doesn’t over think things, listens to his coach, and will see what the future holds. Good lessons. Dude isn’t concerned about age or retirement, the course or competition. Just run, execute, repeat.

Horrible interview technique. "Do you this or do you that?" He's giving EK 2 possible answers to his dumb questions and making him choose one. Perhaps there's a different answer, JG?
Very amateurish

He sounds like Chauncey Gardiner.

Gault to Kipchoge: "Ummm Ummm Ummm Did FloJo dope?"

First I read the subject line and a number of replies.
Then I watched the interview.

It wasn’t bad.
The interview can only go as well as the person being interviewed.
If you have the same person interviewing Rupp and then interviewing Lagat, you will get vastly different interviews.
Rupp barely answers anything in detail and is bland. Lagat will give details and tell you everything with charisma.

Gault asked good questions. And he adapted well with the interview subject.

Do you prepare differently for a hilly course?

Has age changed your training?

Kipchoge replied that nothing changes. He trains the same for London or Boston. He trusts his coaches for training and injury prevention. He is a dialed in running machine. And he sounds like one when he talks.

JG asked all the questions I would have wondered about too, he did totally fine with the interview. Kipchoge just gave very short answers, however I also don't think was rude - he still took 6 minutes to answer all the questions until JG was done.

One substantive thing he did put a stake on the ground on was that it was “unproven” that training techniques need change with age.

Dude is doping

Yeah, not sure why people are busting on this interview. Both JG and EK were fine. Take home message from EK is that he’s got this. No, age is not having a major impact on his approach or training yet, and no, Boston is not “special” because of the hills. It’s just another marathon and he prepared to win just as he always does. EK is quietly confident, but he’s not guaranteeing a win, and it seems he respects his competition.

This was painful to watch. I agree with the OP that it was awkward. However, I don't think there was anything wrong with Gault's questions and he usually does good interviews.

It was just a weird combination of Kipchoge giving very short answers and the way the video was filmed, with the camera continuously filming Kipchoge's face closeup.

Kipchoge is the best marathoner in the world and not a sports commentator. Is there anything he could possibly say in an interview that would enhance your enjoyment of the race on Monday?

I am wondering now if Kipchoge can ever mentally recover from this interview. If he loses in Boston, it will be Gaults fault.

agree.

i think a combo of eliud being jet lagged and showing his true self being the case.

never injured? - common man! u are better than that! thats sign of him doing shady things. is he a human or robot? even the invincible billy boston rodgers got injured now n then (even if seldome!)

You mean like the legit journalist for one of America's top 5 largest daily newspaper who came up to us at the Olympics and says, "I love your work" and then asks us questions about track as he knows we live and breathe the sport?

There's a reason why they selected Jonathan for the interview. His work is respected and he covers the sport 365 days a year.

I get why someone started the thread. 6 minutes is a long time to be interviewing someone given short answers. And Jonathan was pressing for details and Kipchoge is really good at deflecting. Both with Jonathan and in the main press event Kiphcoge said something like, "The best time is the right tme" as to why he chose to run Boston now. What does that even mean? Jonathan is the only one to try to follow up on that.

Now, I totally get why Kipchoge didn't want to answer the questions. The questions were all aobut doubt - hills, age, retirement etc. Kipchoge doesn't want doubt in his head.

The reason why Kipchoge is the GOAT is he fouses on the process. As he said in the main event yesterday, he is a professional. He treats it like his job. He goes all in on the process, wins, and then repeats. Unlike most people, he doesn't think about x or y or get distracted. Just time to get back to work.