because he wasn't 13 in the 5000m 2003 race???
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41
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El Keniano wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
I agree that it sounds ridiculous, but I am just going by my source who is a Kenyan former elite runner who has more information than we do about the age of Kipchoge. I have little reason to disbelieve him. Kipchoge is an absolute outlier. However, I don’t think we will ever know his true age. By the way, age vagueness in Kenya is very common and as an example my source, the former Kenyan elite runner, told me that he’s 35 years old but when I checked his profile on world athletics it had his birthdate down as 1980 which would make him now 42 years old. This does not mean that my source is a dishonest person, but simply that in Kenya “mistruths” with regard to age are acceptable, ostensibly for pragmatic reasons.
God, I hate the way people pontificate about Kenya as if its some stone age pre-literate society with no records. It's so racist. What's worse, is the people who usually do this speak so authoritatively as if they know what they're talking about without ever having set foot. It's the only country where people purport to know more than the natives.
You know, Eliud's age because he's referenced it multiple times in interviews. Yet somehow, you believe this anonymous, mysterious former elite Kenyan runner because he told you what you wanted to hear.
I am sitting on the fence about Kipchoge’s age. Maybe he is only 37 or 38 years old, but I don’t think we can rule out the other scenario, that he is older. In any case, 37, 38 or 44 years old Kipchoge will go down in history as one of the best of all time. This is the essence and perhaps we should stop speculating about his age which serves no useful purpose since we will probably never know the full story. I only started thinking about Kipchoge‘s age when my Kenyan friend, former elite runner, mentioned that he was quite a bit older than advertised, and I have no reason to doubt him. What would motivate this Kenyan runner from stating that Kipchoge is older than his advertised age? Jealousy? Probably not, because as far as I can gather, no one has a bad word to say about Eliud Kipchoge.
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Birkoboy wrote:
That's what's really great about Kipchoge,all the fat lazy yanks said for years he was age doping and was never 18 when he was trouncing people,yet now how can they say he is not 37 as that would mean he's really in his 40's and that would be more impressive than his 18yr old self.
Your logic doesn't work the way you think it does.
We're saying he's old, which is amazing that he's still throwing down this times in his mid-40s. That still means he was 22+ in his college years.
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GOATHalf wrote:
If I didn't know him and just saw him in the street I would think he is 49-51 yo.
That's being generous. I'd think at least 70.
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Kipchoge is actually 44 but self identifies as 37. We need to respect his decision and not arbitrarily judge him on the age assigned by his doctor at birth! In his heart he feels younger.
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He may look like day old sh*t now, but when he won the WC 5k, he definitely looked like a teenager
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Ghost1 wrote:
I agree that it sounds ridiculous, but I am just going by my source who is a Kenyan former elite runner who has more information than we do about the age of Kipchoge. I have little reason to disbelieve him. Kipchoge is an absolute outlier. However, I don’t think we will ever know his true age. By the way, age vagueness in Kenya is very common and as an example my source, the former Kenyan elite runner, told me that he’s 35 years old but when I checked his profile on world athletics it had his birthdate down as 1980 which would make him now 42 years old. This does not mean that my source is a dishonest person, but simply that in Kenya “mistruths” with regard to age are acceptable, ostensibly for pragmatic reasons.
As posted earlier, if around 43-45, that means he won the 5000m world championship at age 13.
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Mathematics brother
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Kenyan Teammates wrote:
. The same year, my college teammate who went to school with him growing up said he was two grades ahead of him.
BS story to make yourself feel special.
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Kipchoge over El G and Bekele in 2003:
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Birkoboy wrote:
Kenyan Teammates wrote:
When he won the World Champs 5000m in 2003, he was supposedly 18. The same year, my college teammate who went to school with him growing up said he was two grades ahead of him. This guy was a college sophomore at the time.
That's what's really great about Kipchoge,all the fat lazy yanks said for years he was age doping and was never 18 when he was trouncing people,yet now how can they say he is not 37 as that would mean he's really in his 40's and that would be more impressive than his 18yr old self.
Exactly. The age doping accusations have all backfired now.
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Classic Yellow LRC Shirt wrote:
Kipchoge over El G and Bekele in 2003:
One of the greatest distance races ever run.
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EK and KB had the same agent and were working together to take down El G.
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Ghost1 wrote:
I agree that it sounds ridiculous, but I am just going by my source who is a Kenyan former elite runner who has more information than we do about the age of Kipchoge. I have little reason to disbelieve him. Kipchoge is an absolute outlier. However, I don’t think we will ever know his true age. By the way, age vagueness in Kenya is very common and as an example my source, the former Kenyan elite runner, told me that he’s 35 years old but when I checked his profile on world athletics it had his birthdate down as 1980 which would make him now 42 years old. This does not mean that my source is a dishonest person, but simply that in Kenya “mistruths” with regard to age are acceptable, ostensibly for pragmatic reasons.
The thing is, this wouldn‘t just be a statistical outlier; it‘d be otherworldly. We say people shatter WRs when thet beat them by 30s, but this is 6-12 minutes, depending on how old you put him. It would be the equivalent of someone running 1:49-1:55 at age 30. See how absurd that would be? What‘s more likely, someone being a greater statistical outlier than we‘ve ever seen in any sport, or that your friend is mistaken?
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soconfused wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
I spoke to a Kenyan runner this afternoon who knows Kipchoge well, and he told me that the latter is 44 or 45 years old.
This Kenyan runner, who used to be a pacemaker on the Chinese circuit, told me that Kenyan runners usually deliberately falsify their age to appear younger because that will be more attractive to potential agents and agents.
Flashback to 2003 when Kipchoge raced the 5000 m in the world championships in Paris. It might be a good idea to take stock of the photographs of that race to ascertain whether Kipchoge was 18 years old at the time.
i’m not judging here but one thing which I’m very impressed about with Kipchoge is that his form looks the same now as it did back in 2003 when he raced at 5000 m. He has still preserved that springy stride.
By the way, I’m not pointing a finger at Kipchoge or any other Kenyan runners who “falsify” their age, either deliberately or unknowingly. I think we have to realize that “age falsification” in Kenya is not regarded as unethical but simply a pragmatic necessity in many cases.
so that means he won the 5000m WC as a 13yo?
he did
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ALittleInsight wrote:
Modern medicine technology are pushing the athletes capabilities out 5, 10 and even 15 years longer then previous generations careers lasted. So in regards to Kipchoge technology and modern medicine are prime examples of why he may be older and can still compete at a prime level.
You mean like milk tea and ugali?
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Can somebody help my tired brain out here. Multiple people are saying if he is 42 now that means he won the world champs in 2003 aged 13. But wouldnt it be 23, not 13?
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He's 47
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Hdhdhd wrote:
Can somebody help my tired brain out here. Multiple people are saying if he is 42 now that means he won the world champs in 2003 aged 13. But wouldnt it be 23, not 13?
Sure, here’s the math; if he is 42 now, he must have been 42 - 2003 = -1961 years old when he won his WC gold.
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it seems that tooth enamel could settle this debate. could be useful for World Junior championships etc.
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