Question of the Day: Guess How Many Top 100 Marathon Times in 1990 Were by Kenyans

90s

15 by men

10 by women

In 2016

96 by men

89 by women

Sorry, I just posted without looking at the answers. Great stuff!

ok so 3% improvement for the elites and 6% improvement for sub elites right?

well 2:03:00 now becomes a 2:06:36 without EPO....hmm and the WR was 2:06:52 for ten years?

yup im a firm believer in Retardo, EPO doesnt work

but why wrote:

is this obviously because of lack of government investment into athletics?

would a child in the 90s in Kenya or Ethiopia even considering running as a path for income?

what years were the turning point for east-african countries?

I wonder what running would be like today in the USA if it didn't exist in high school as track and XC and people were just left to discover it on their own

Kenyans were investing in athletics since the 60s. By 1990, running had a long history there. Only thing was they weren't able to dominate until the more recent scourge of EPO, and other PEDs.

pretty much if you subtract 3% from all WR you will see a nice pattern

3:26.00 becomes 3:29.18...seems about right

7:20 becomes 7:33

12:37 becomes 12:59

26:17 becomes 27:04

2:03:00 becomes 2:06:36

now this is saying 3% is the average gain for elites on EPO

now lets take a look at the WR's before the 1990's EPO era began

1500 -3:29.46 (said, and he most likely used steriods but thats the best it could do)

3000 - 7:29.45 (again said) but look who had it before that? 7:32 henry rono

5k - 12:58.39 (again said)

10k - 27:08.23 (and its not a kenyan!)

marathon - 2:06:50

wow hmmm interesting....you take WRs before 1990 and boom you add a 3% increase from EPO and you have the current WR's

where are you at Retardo

good , hit these doping apologists

with pure hard analysis . best i have seen in awhile.

like to see same analysis for sprint times from 2005 to present

showing some ped /something involved that wada / iaaf wont mention.

the numbers are painting the picture here

where is 2005 on data , doesnt make a difference . change records do nothin

never to mention all that nike money going to athletics kenya

over years specifically to dope . look at that ard documentary.

can you make it any more obvious .. are you awake yet .

never question why a country like kenya need so much epo in circulation

not many hospitals and not many western diseases and if kidney problems

less likely to get treated , so why need to bring all this stuff in and who is .

3:26.00 becomes 3:32.18

Until Susan Sirma won Kenya's first women's global medal (a bronze) in the 3000m at the 1991 worlds, Kenyan women were actually discouraged from running long distances. They were expected to drop out of school early to get married and raise children, not engage in manly pursuits such as running.

It was women like Sirma, Lydia Cheromei, Pauline Konga and Sally Barsosio that broke the distance-running ceiling for women in Kenya in the 1990s.

1991 was the year that Laurent FIgnon said it was no longer possible to win in cycling by riding clean. Interesting how Italians who perfected EPO usage in the peloton wound up as Kenyan running coaches and agents.

El Keniano wrote:

Until Susan Sirma won Kenya's first women's global medal (a bronze) in the 3000m at the 1991 worlds, Kenyan women were actually discouraged from running long distances. They were expected to drop out of school early to get married and raise children, not engage in manly pursuits such as running.

It was women like Sirma, Lydia Cheromei, Pauline Konga and Sally Barsosio that broke the distance-running ceiling for women in Kenya in the 1990s.

Marathon was unpopular for womens back in 1990. But not only in Kenya.

The East African female "boom" in longer distances in mid 90's was not due to cultural reasons ONLY.

wejo wrote:

Simple questions.

Of the top 100 times in the marathon in 1990, how many were by Kenyan men?

Of the top 100 times in the marathon in 1990, how many were by Kenyan women?

I'm curious also what you think the answers are for 2016.

I'll post the answers later.

i'm just putting in some gibberish here so you don't see other people's answers.

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Why aren't you including Ethiopians and other eastern African countries in the mix?

Marathon Fan wrote:

90s

15 by men

10 by women

In 2016

96 by men

89 by women

NO because by 2016 there had to be other eastern African born marathoners in the mix!

NotPopularJonesAgain2 wrote:

Why aren't you including Ethiopians and other eastern African countries in the mix?

Yeah, why? But for the boycotts of the 80s, I think Ethiopia had many of their firsts before Kenya. The women, especially were always a step ahead.

Now we know the answer the really interesting question is: why did this revolution occur? Why are kenyans superior marathonners at this moment? Can americans/europeans ever equal or beat these recent times? Are they doping? And if they are, is that the real reason why they are better? Will there ever be an era again where the americans/europeans dominate? Try to answer this...

Kenyans were focused on the track in the 90s. It was probably an economic decision on the part of the managers/agents. You can have your athletes run 6-10 track races in the summer or just two marathons. In the Olympics and WCs, you have three events to collect medals (5/10 and steeple).

but why wrote:

is this obviously because of lack of government investment into athletics?

would a child in the 90s in Kenya or Ethiopia even considering running as a path for income?

what years were the turning point for east-african countries?

I wonder what running would be like today in the USA if it didn't exist in high school as track and XC and people were just left to discover it on their own

90s is actually when it got started in Kenya and Ethiopia mainly thanks to Geb, but yeah a child in the 90s wanted to be runner in those countries