this is great!
this is great!
I know he's a legend but the guy is a poor loser who quits almost anytime someone beats him. Seen it so many times now. Some of His quotes are awful, cocky and all talk which give him excuses and take away from the success of others. SUPERSTAR? yes. Great role model? NOT NECESARILY.
Gastroc kid wrote:
No surprise really:
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/10/breaking-kenenisa-bekele-withdraws-from-virgin-money-london-marathon/https://twitter.com/LondonMarathon/status/1312044777324642305
Oh no!
I've been waiting for this race "all my life. Ha ha ja ha!
This is sad!
Very sad!
The race will be bland. No excitement at all.
As I said. One can never bet on Bekele.
Now, I understand it is an injury but still, you can never bet on this guy.
I hoe he has another 2 or 3 good marathons.
Time is not his (as we say in Kenya).
incredible what a career he has had considering the lack of discipline in his training. Is anybody surprised about this?
What a disappointment.
Rosebud wrote:
I'm surprised people still have high expectations for Bekele at this point. Long distinguished careers do come to an end.
I tend to agree.
Time is calling.
GaryOak wrote:
Bekele is out of the London marathon.
discus.
I forgot about this [devastated] thread.
Yes he has.
ltsrn wrote:
I've been so pumped for this race for a long time, I always thought Kipchoge would come out on top but not without a fight from Bekele. Super disappointed. Now we just have to watch Eliud Kipchoge kill everyone which is boring.
Too damned bad.
I was pumped.
Nonetheless this is the marathon and Kipchoge, while a heavy favorite, is not a lock
This is obviously very disappointing, but for those saying the race will be boring because Kipchoge will easily win, clearly you don’t remember just last year when Wasihun and Geremew went toe to toe with him for 24+ miles. It was an insanely exciting race last year, and BOTH Wasihun and Geremew are back this year. As far as I’m concerned, this should still be a great race to watch.
if bekele knew about the injury from before travelling and it's not a fresh thing, the reason to still get on the plane and be there until such late withdrawal must be that the organizers paid him to play along so they could milk the 'rivalry' and get as many people to know about the event as they could
I believe he'll be back, but he must know that joshua is almost certainly taking the 10000m wr and he's a similar level talent with better work ethic so he can actually expect to get a legal sub2, which is very unlikely anymore for kb
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/30/a9/1030a9f848cf16e795f3a3f35fa86323.jpg
Someone check on BananaBread please!
Mzungu in Iten wrote:
Crazy...i heard on sources that Eliud Kipchoge wants an opening split of 60:30-60:45 if rain abates. I wonder if it has anything to do with it
Kipchoge had set that when he went out to Berlin in 2018 he wanted to not only get the WR but put it out of reach. He obviously didn't quite to that since Bekele managed to run 2:01:41.
Bekele or no Bekele I'm pretty sure Kipchoge once again wants to put the WR out of reach. If he's in the same form he was in at Berlin 2 years or in Vienna, he most likely will be capable of doing so.
I was looking forward to at least the possibility of Kipchoge getting a challenge, but now it's just going to be a glorified time trial for him (which it likely would've been anyway).
Still should be worth watching
George213 wrote:
Rosebud wrote:
I'm surprised people still have high expectations for Bekele at this point. Long distinguished careers do come to an end.
This. He never stringed together 2 good marathons, and father time is undefeated. Perhaps it's time for him to move on and there's no shame in that. He's still the GOAT.
It sounded like Bekele was struggling with his fitness in the past couple of months. The calf injury could have been an issue for a while and he couldn't get it cleared up in time for Sunday's race. He most likely shut down his training in order for it to heal and traveled to London in the hope it was going to be ok. Nonetheless, going into this race anything less than 100% would serve him no purpose. He only has so many fast races left and wasting an effort at less than full throttle would be useless.
"Go Run One"
NativeSon wrote:
Rosebud wrote:
I'm surprised people still have high expectations for Bekele at this point. Long distinguished careers do come to an end.
I tend to agree.
Time is calling.
+2
I never had the impression that he would actually run this race.
Bummer.
I'm not really surprised by the responses on the board, but nobody seems to be willing to allow the possibility that he's telling the truth.
It is totally believable that he was hoping to race, but just had a nagging little injury that wouldn't resolve by race day.
I think any competitive runner can relate to this.
Sure, he's close to the end of his career, but I feel like he still has 1 or 2 more solid performances in him.
Has anyone literally checked on banana bread? Is he literally okay?
That's basically the showdown gone forever. Bekele is old and injury prone. There's no major that either of them will contest next spring (unless you think they'll show up for Tokyo). Will Bekele show up for the Olympics? Possibly but I doubt it. By the time both are fit and ready, Bekele will be a masters athlete
Not to speculate on his motivation, which only he is privy to, but a calf problem from the last fast sessions before the race has stopped many an aging runner prior to a marathon. The same thing happened to me last fall from a fast last 13 of a 20+ miler and an 8M track tempo. I took the last week or so off but my calves were tight before the race and I could only run it at 2:46 pace until my calf went out entirely around 24M and I had to run/limp it in in 2:54. There are three possibilities: he may just be out of shape and this an excuse or trying to get in shape, he went too hard too soon and got the injury, or he was in outstanding shape until the injury. His top days have been few for years now but on his game he showed he could still compete with anyone with that 2:01:41.
Yes I scrolled through looking for Banana Bread.
Silence.
Mourning.
Internetsherlock wrote:
Would he run Tokyo Olympic? All Hope is not lost
He won't be selected at this rate
He will be back. If he wanted he could still run at marathon at a pace that is faster than most of the trolls 800m pace here and iq. There is no point running though and making the injury worse. It was a good idea not to run in Tokyo last year and it proved successful when he went to Berlin 6 months later. Bekele could run the WR next year in Dubai or something. His injury sounds like it isn't as bad as the stress fracture he had last year so I'm sure he will get back in shape soon. He said himself that he will be back next year. He won't give up like idiots think. The race this sunday isn't even a real race anyway so who cares.
