About 17% of the women's field at NCAAs was made up of Kenyans, but there was not a single Ethiopian runner. Why are coaches not recruiting them, or do the Ethiopians simply have no interest in joining the US collegiate system? The talent pool is certainly as strong there as anywhere in the world.
Not a thread to bash any foreigners.
Whatever the reason, thank God. They don’t need to be ruined and corrupted by the vapid shallow ignorance of American consumer culture nor the racist elitist jingoism of American politics. They would be better off not knowing where America is on a map, let alone visiting this festering swamp hell hole.
We do kind of suck right now but its insane to say someone would be better off in a tiny country that as whole has almost starved to death multiple times and is dirt poor.
US colleges generally require students from non English speaking countries to demonstrate English proficiency to be accepted. Not all Kenyans speak English but a lot of them do, loads more than Ethiopians do.
About 17% of the women's field at NCAAs was made up of Kenyans, but there was not a single Ethiopian runner. Why are coaches not recruiting them, or do the Ethiopians simply have no interest in joining the US collegiate system? The talent pool is certainly as strong there as anywhere in the world.
Not a thread to bash any foreigners.
Ethiopian have more deep historic culture, their language Amkaric is the second semitic language in the world. Yoi dont see Ethiopian calling themselves Beatrix, Ruth or Kelvin.
They are less invaded by outside European culture.
They have a rising star Yenenesh Shimket, just 18 years old.
Sport is organized differently in thee two countries, maybe not as much now as years ago, but the Ethiopian federation always exerted more control over their athletes than the KAAA does with theirs. Ethiopia was a Marxist country for many years so there was a bit of unwillingness on their part to have their athletes go to the US and I imagine it would be more difficult for US coaches to recruit there than in Kenya, which is much more "western" than Ethiopia. As a one tine British colony, the school system is more like ours than Ethiopia's and English is much more common and easier to learn than in Ethiopia.
After spending time in both Kenya and Ethiopia, I found the same degree of difficulty in learning English in both countries.
About 17% of the women's field at NCAAs was made up of Kenyans, but there was not a single Ethiopian runner. Why are coaches not recruiting them, or do the Ethiopians simply have no interest in joining the US collegiate system? The talent pool is certainly as strong there as anywhere in the world.
Not a thread to bash any foreigners.
Worried about drug testing. Yes, even in the NCAA, but more broadly just being in the US.
Ethiopia is at least as dirty as Kenya, if not more so, but the Ethiopian government protects its runners from any drug busts, like Jamaica with its sprinters. Kenya is a former British colony and a functioning democracy so, though a corrupt 3rd world country, doesn't have the same ability or incentives to protect its distance runners.
Kenya’s democracy is so functional that they spent a half hour in Parliament demanding an official apology from Rojo.
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading p...
There is money to be made to support themselves and families via the global competition system. They don't have time or inclination to waste their talents competing for meaningless points for a school.
In addition to language the other main reason is that not all countries allow citizens to have freedom to do whatever they want. If you look at the stories of some African runners, they have escaped from their country.
Even Kenyan runners at one point were not allowed to run for money on the roads and track for $, only for national teams. When the ministry of sports allowed them to work with agents, that is when their dominance began.
There is money to be made to support themselves and families via the global competition system. They don't have time or inclination to waste their talents competing for meaningless points for a school.
If I get paid more money to score meaningless points for a school and earn a degree that gets me a nice post running job, that also suoports me and my family.
More Kenyan's learn english. They were still under British rule not all that long ago. You have to know a good enough amount of english to get into NCAA schools.
That being said, different schools have different admission standards and english abilities to get in. Notice how Ivy League, Big Ten, Stanford, Vanderbilt type schools don't have a ton of East Africans.
New Mexico has a TOEFL minimum IBT of 68, most Big Ten schools for example are 80 (some programs even higher)
Sport is organized differently in thee two countries, maybe not as much now as years ago, but the Ethiopian federation always exerted more control over their athletes than the KAAA does with theirs. Ethiopia was a Marxist country for many years so there was a bit of unwillingness on their part to have their athletes go to the US and I imagine it would be more difficult for US coaches to recruit there than in Kenya, which is much more "western" than Ethiopia. As a one tine British colony, the school system is more like ours than Ethiopia's and English is much more common and easier to learn than in Ethiopia.
After spending time in both Kenya and Ethiopia, I found the same degree of difficulty in learning English in both countries.
Did you find a comparable number of Ethiopians who could speak English as you did Kenyans? Are there as many opportunities to learn English in Ethiopia as there are in Kenya?
OSU's Guadie was born in Ethiopia. Apparently, he is now an Israeli citizen?
Adisu and his family moved to Israel when he was 3 years old, so it isn’t surprising that he is a citizen there. He was raised in Tel Aviv, where practically every single school, public or private, has a robust English curriculum (he speaks Amharic, Hebrew, and English fluently).
Michael Kipsugut Boit (born 6 January 1949) is a Kenyan former professional middle-distance athlete whose career spanned fifteen years. He is a professor at Kenyatta University in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science...
Not sure if anybody cares, but the guy that got second at D3 nationals the last 2 year is from Ethiopia. I don't believe he had any formal training or education before he came here at 18 speaking zero English. Attended a regular high school for 1 year in MN before moving to an alternative school and graduating at like 23 and attending college and competing.
Probably a lot of you will hate him because well he's African, but coming here with no formal education and not speaking English to being a 3 time all American (in D3) and being on the verge of getting a college degree is pretty impressive.
A good number of the Kenyans who compete in the NCAA become Americans! Were Ethiopia to allow more of their runners to compete in the NCAA and study in the US, they could be diluting their talent and dropping their medal count.
So Ethiopia makes it harder on their end.
US immigration policy is a bit xenophobic and favors individuals from 1) English speaking countries. English is an official language of Kenya, even if they are traditionally Swahili speakers. English is not an official language in Ethiopia, though is recognized as one of the leading "lingua franca" along with Arabic.
What we should be asking is why don't more Tanzanians and Ugandans run in the NCAA since English is an official language in both those nations.
