Its possible that the obsession with Kenyans has a lot to do with how many are over in the states. You don't see ethiopians running in college here.
Its possible that the obsession with Kenyans has a lot to do with how many are over in the states. You don't see ethiopians running in college here.
Just pee'd from laughing wrote:
pathfinder wrote:Well, let's see. If we wanted to talk about what's happening at the top of the distance running world, it would look kind of funny for the thread to say, "Just talked to our guy in Malta..."
What kind of wine are you drinking Mr. El Keniano?
Cheap!
Good one. Kiprop wouldn't hang out at the beach the day before the main event...
Vegas Las Man wrote:
I was talking with Kiprop on the Beach yesterday morning...
What are you talking about? Scrutiny? His post was admiration, not scrutiny! I'm cheering for Kiprop myself and I'm from same place as rojo. Kiprop is a naturally gifted runner with a huge pound for pound strength advantage. Not sarcasm. Real admiration with no scrutiny.
El Keniano wrote:
Just pee'd from laughing wrote:What kind of wine are you drinking Mr. El Keniano?
Cheap!
The best kind!
We are obsessed with Kenyans because we wish that we could be as fast as Kenyans, so we express our jealousy through suspicion of their success. Kinda like how the homophobic people probably are gay themselves, we like to hate what we actually want to be.
it's nothing new .. visit the Onion's "Out Dumb World"
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1GJUi-TZMymAPPxxfXO9sPOC4PyI&hl=en_US
Zoom in, scroll around and read their commentary on Kenya .. and this is well over ten years old now.
"Traditional greeting: On your left" still cracks me up.
"Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot finishes in both first and fifth place in the Boston Marathon, as he completes his celebratory "victory lap" around the 26.2-mile course ahead of all but three other participants."
LOL
El Keniano wrote:
I'm finishing a bottle of wine by myself so I guess now is a good time to ask about something I've never been able to understand in all my years of posting here: why is LetsRun so obsessed with Kenya? Even Kenyan media like the Daily Nation, the Standard, Citizen are linked more regularly than any American outlets. Ethiopia has great runners yet doesn't get a fraction of the scrutiny and I doubt we'll be getting updates from an "our man in Ethiopia" soon. I've certainly never seen an Ethiopian newspaper article linked here. I think this plays a huge part in the very intense anti-Kenya sentiment on this site which, by the way, is not limited to the message boards and has been creeping into some of your own articles.
Very simple.
1) In Kenya, people speak English and the newspapers are in English.
2) In Kenya, your press actually covers running regularly.
In the US on the NCAA scene, we used to link all the time to Arkansas newspapers as when John McDonnell was there, there were tons of track stories. But then most went to a paywall so now we link to Oregon articles all the time.
It's the same reason why we link way more often to The Telegraph and Independent (UK papers) than we do the New York Times or Washington Post.
While all are in English, #2 only applies to the UK papers.
I talked to Andy Arnold in Kenya this morning. ARnold was packing up to return to the states. Arnold said it's been hard to watch much of the olympics as it's on at like 3-4 am.
I asked him about what has surprised him in Rio. Arnold said that he wasn't surrpised by Kamworor's flop in Rio. He'd talked to a few Police coaches before the Olympics and they didn't think Kamworor was in great shape as Kam was battling some sort of injury. Arnold said that the one thing that stunned him was Ndiku's flop.
In terms of the 1500, Arnold said he talked to Kiprop last week. Kiprop told him, "It's an Olympic final - anyone can win." When talking about the other two Kenyans Kiprop was concerned about Manangoi's kick in the last 100 as he's got a great close. As for Kwemoi, Arnold said he was very strong and a threat if the pace was hot but he didn't think it would be hot.
According to Arnold, when talking about the non Kenyans, Kiprop said you never know what type of Makhloufi is going to show up. Kiprop said that Centro has shown himself to be in great shape this year. Kiprop said if you are with Centro with 100 meters left it's very dangerous as he's got great tactics and a great close but from 500 to 300 out not that strong.
Base on this, Arnold guessed Kiprop would want to be rolling from at least 250 out.
In terms of the marathon, Arnold said that many guys over there view Kipchoge as being unbeatable. Arnold said that he talked to Kipchoge a week or two ago for the first time and was blown away. "I've never met a guy more focused in my life. He had almost a monkish discipline," said Arnold.
Al lof that being said, Arnold said some guys were talking up Stanley Biwott for the upset as he used to race in Brazil a lot and is a proven hot weather runner.
I then asked him about Wesley Korir and he said that everyone just laughs and thinks his selection was some sort of political/publicity stunt.
CommentatorJerry wrote:
Rojo, this is just constructive criticism...feel free to ignore...
I found the top post virtually unreadable. All the "he" pronouns kept me scratching my head as to who said what. You're jumping from he (Andy Arnold) to he (Kamworor) to he (Kiprop). I'm sure it's all very intuitive to the original participants but it didn't translate easily into the written word for me.
Totallycorrect. I banged it out as I was walking out the door. I have retyped it (and edited the initial one). Here goes..
I talked to Andy Arnold in Kenya this morning. Arnold was packing up to return to the states. Arnold said it's been hard to watch much of the olympics as it's on at like 3-4 am.
I asked him about what has surprised him in Rio. Arnold said that he wasn't surrpised by Kamworor's flop in Rio. He'd talked to a few Police coaches before the Olympics and they didn't think Kamworor was in great shape as Kam was battling some sort of injury. Arnold said that the one thing that stunned him was Ndiku's flop.
In terms of the 1500, Arnold said he talked to Kiprop last week. Kiprop told him, "It's an Olympic final - anyone can win." When talking about the other two Kenyans Kiprop was concerned about Manangoi's kick in the last 100 as he's got a great close. As for Kwemoi, Arnold said he was very strong and a threat if the pace was hot but he didn't think it would be hot.
According to Arnold, when talking about the non Kenyans, Kiprop said you never know what type of Makhloufi is going to show up. Kiprop said that Centro has shown himself to be in great shape this year. Kiprop said if you are with Centro with 100 meters left it's very dangerous as he's got great tactics and a great close but from 500 to 300 out not that strong.
Base on this, Arnold guessed Kiprop would want to be rolling from at least 250 out.
In terms of the marathon, Arnold said that many guys over there view Kipchoge as being unbeatable. Arnold said that he talked to Kipchoge a week or two ago for the first time and was blown away. "I've never met a guy more focused in my life. He had almost a monkish discipline," said Arnold.
Al lof that being said, Arnold said some guys were talking up Stanley Biwott for the upset as he used to race in Brazil a lot and is a proven hot weather runner.
I then asked him about Wesley Korir and he said that everyone just laughs and thinks his selection was some sort of political/publicity stunt
El Keniano wrote:
I've certainly never seen an Ethiopian newspaper article linked here. I think this plays a huge part in the very intense anti-Kenya sentiment on this site which, by the way, is not limited to the message boards and has been creeping into some of your own articles.
Wow. I didn't see your thing about the intense anti-Kenyan sentiment.
Not true at all. The runners I most like in my own personal time as a fan are Kamworor and KIprop.
ttc wrote:
In the big international races, Centro will be in contention, until 450m to go. Then he's several meters back & moreso contending for a good place, than a win.
This is true in the past. But I think he has enough confidence in his form this year to hit the gas from a long way out.
Just pee'd from laughing wrote:
pathfinder wrote:Well, let's see. If we wanted to talk about what's happening at the top of the distance running world, it would look kind of funny for the thread to say, "Just talked to our guy in Malta..."
What kind of wine are you drinking Mr. El Keniano?
pathfinder I lol'd the Malta thing. Good Stuff!!!
I also laughed hard at that Malta joke.
El Keniano, I think part of the reason is that we are the best running nation in the world.
No nation on Earth dominates ANY sport the way we dominate distance running. NONE!
English is also another factor. I try to see what the Ethiopian media is saying about championships like the Olympics but I never find any.
The reasons you raised too are valid.......people wanting to bash Kenya.
Enjoy your wine bro. You deserve it! Give a toast for Faith, Jemima and Vivian.
I am looking at two more gold medals............Kiprop and Kipchoge .
Time is moving very slowly.
Right now, I am watchign Brazil try to get its first olympics gold medal (or any medal of any colour) .
El Keniano wrote:
I'm finishing a bottle of wine by myself so I guess now is a good time to ask about something
When the going gets tough, the thinskinned feel the heat!
Can't remember you complaining all these years...
NativeSon!
We were waiting for you!
kiprop watcher wrote:
Rupp has similar discipline and focus to Kipchoge. Except he ran the 10000m, which may have been a bad idea...
Salazar is Rups brain. You need to have a brain to have focus. Rup can't even focus of the children's toys he plays with in Park City.
Thanks man, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Kiprop was doing some body surfing and literally emerged before me as he stood up from the shoreline. Man, it's really true what they say about them, what a package!!!!!!! Honestly, he said that the body surfing relaxes him the day before a big meet and that the bull sharks have never bothered him. He's looking for 3:31 off of a slow early 400 and then the hammer comes down. Centro, according to him, might get the bronze, but gold, no way. I know that it sounds far fetched, but it really happened. What a cool dude to hang out with at the beach...and that package of his, geez!!!!!!!!
kiprop is focused too wrote:
Good one. Kiprop wouldn't hang out at the beach the day before the main event...
Vegas Las Man wrote:I was talking with Kiprop on the Beach yesterday morning...
keychain go jangalang wrote:
ttc wrote:In the big international races, Centro will be in contention, until 450m to go. Then he's several meters back & moreso contending for a good place, than a win.
This is true in the past. But I think he has enough confidence in his form this year to hit the gas from a long way out.
I agree- Centro has mentioned that in the past he didn't have the strength or confidence to follow a move from 300-500 out (like Mak in 2012 and 2015), which leaves his fighting for a bronze at the end.
The thing I'm most curious about is whether he will actually run for the win or run to medal?
If he runs to win and matches the move from Mak at 300 out (which is just what I think will happen again- who knows), I don't think he medals. If he runs for 2nd/3rd, I have no doubt he will medal.
HA, HA, HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that was funny and actually made me laugh out loud! Thanks for the pick me up, I needed it.
Vegas Las Man wrote:
Thanks man, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Kiprop was doing some body surfing and literally emerged before me as he stood up from the shoreline. Man, it's really true what they say about them, what a package!!!!!!! Honestly, he said that the body surfing relaxes him the day before a big meet and that the bull sharks have never bothered him. He's looking for 3:31 off of a slow early 400 and then the hammer comes down. Centro, according to him, might get the bronze, but gold, no way. I know that it sounds far fetched, but it really happened. What a cool dude to hang out with at the beach...and that package of his, geez!!!!!!!!
kiprop is focused too wrote:Good one. Kiprop wouldn't hang out at the beach the day before the main event...
Fufigi wrote:
NativeSon!
We were waiting for you!
Hi,
I am here. Still elated.
Today will be a great day.
Mr. Bad predictor returns, still elated about his terrible "guesses". You stink.
NativeSon wrote:
Fufigi wrote:NativeSon!
We were waiting for you!
Hi,
I am here. Still elated.
Today will be a great day.