17-year-old runs 12:53 indoors!

I would have guessed that LeBron James and Greg Oden were in their late twenties or older when they they were only eighteen.

Why are people so quick to accept that Kenyans don't know actual birthdates? Calendars aren't exactly a new or exotic technology. In five years Kenya went from 1 million to 6.5 million cell phones (2007) Perhaps they're up to 10 million handsets now, 25 percent of the population.

There are 22 million subscribers as of now.

Big deal. So this kid is an early bloomer. He won't be so special once all the other kids catch up.

The Best Athlete wrote:

I thought he looked about 17-18 in that interview so he is probably some where around 19-20(if his age is even wrong which it might not be because honestly Kenyans look more mature than Americans at that age) which is still an amazing performance.

Your uncanny ability for judging the age of teenage boys is disturbing my friend...

There should be separate events for black and whites, now it's just ridiculous. For same reason there should be separation by race at chess events, otherwise blacks would never achieve anything. Race difference is obvious for anyone with at least two working brain cells, to make both races run (or play chess) together is like setting competition where women compete against men in same class. But hey, it's evil racism! So let's watch 90% of USA population doomed to lose.

Only reason why blacks didn't dominate running completely (like going to get firs 30 places at every race) is poverty in their countries.

Ever hear of the Raging Rooks or the Dark Knights? These kids are all blakc and latino - in case you were wondering.

"At the Harlem Chess Center, which opened four months ago, it is common for grownups to get thrashed by pint-size chess prodigies. In the same tough neighborhood, the Dark Knights team at Mott Hall, a middle school for gifted students, last year won the national championship in the prestigious U.S. Chess Federation tournament. The victory was especially sweet because the Dark Knights didn't have the private chess tutors used by many of their opponents and couldn't afford to compete in as many practice tournaments. Their win "sent a message to the community about achievement," says team booster Welsh. "It also sent a message to the kids the Harlem kids beat."

Read more:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,996016-1,00.html#ixzz1DmIPGLEd

tomtom wrote:

There should be separate events for black and whites, now it's just ridiculous.

So which group do Matt and Lauren Centrowitz compete in?

i won't wrote:

tomtom wrote:

There should be separate events for black and whites, now it's just ridiculous.

So which group do Matt and Lauren Centrowitz compete in?

Don't know, where would fit someone with both male and female sex organs?

wilshere wrote:

Ever hear of the Raging Rooks or the Dark Knights? These kids are all blakc and latino - in case you were wondering.

Ya, how many of them were pure Blacks, like Kenya or Ethiopia runners nowadays?

Doubt you can find more than few percent of pure blood Blacks in so called "Black population" of USA today. And this is also reason why then don't run as well as people from Africa. Still usually better than pure whites.

ps. so, how many blacks are at list of top 1000 best chessmassters of all time? How many whites at top 100 best 100m race results?

I believe indoor distance times will become as fast if not faster than outdoor times. Tracks are awesome, weather not a factor.

transmara wrote:

There are 22 million subscribers as of now.

And still the Africans will cry 'we are so nice and poor and ignorant and don't know how old we are' every single time one is proved to have run in a junior event whilst being too old.

trollism wrote:

Yeah. He's 17. Honest.

It's even funnier when you realize that all the brainwashed types after seeing the video and looking at pics of this "kid" still believe he's 17. It's hilarious. The believers are hopeless, but hilarious.

This guy beat Eliud Kipchoge by nearly two seconds. Running 12:53. In February, indoors, joining the ranks of five of the greatest distance runners of all time.

He could be forty and I still couldn't care any less about his age. This performance was unbelievable.

Junior records are nice, but who really cares? All that matters are the end results. Do you people talk about Hulst because he ran so fast so young?

No. They talk about him because he was fast. Period.

Now go take your hate elsewhere.

I don't believe for a micro-second that he's 17 years old. I'm happy to say that he's "young-ish", but that simply means that he's probably not 25 years old yet.

All that aside, it's a great time and he's obviously a great talent. Let's see how far he goes.

Terminator X wrote:

And our "young" great white hope 28 seconds back. This is a brutal sport sometimes.

Hey at least Rupp didn't get lapped like that guy who ran 13:30!!

Let the haters give him any DoB and Koech will still have the fourth fastest time ever 5000m indoors. Koech has a huge physique quite similar to that of Usain Bolt. Coupled with his imposing height, it is understandable that many people here think he is older than he says he is. But as we all agree, age is not a factor with such an impressive performance. He beat the best that the seniors could offer. Therefore lets give credit where credit is due.

your article gives no evidence to east african superiority:

"A third group, the people of the Ethiopian highlands, don't have either of these traits. In fact, the Ethiopian highlanders don't appear to have any special traits to compensate for life at higher altitudes. The characteristics of their cardiopulmonary systems -- like oxygen saturation and hemoglobin count -- are virtually identical to those found in people living at sea level."

Forgive the poor Kenyans , they do not know what they are doing. They do not have shoes, no food, no money, they do not know their age, they cannot read, you just have to hold their hands and help them cross the street, they have not seen a car, please feel bad for them. They do not know what a training programm is, they just run laps arond the track and that is about it. He was probably running away thinking somebody was gonna catch him and punish him, he did not meant to break a record or run like that. He is sorry for broken souls that he has caused. He took some pills before the race, didn't know what it was and for what. He was feeling energize and sweaty after he finish and he did not want to talk to anyone. He does not have a sponsor, looks like he was running with a "NIKE" top, don't know what the bottom was. Please don't take it to heart, next time he will slow down and let those seniors go infront and he promised not to pass them. Poor Kenyans. Somebody help them with education or something. They are not suppose to be running like this

MUD IN THE EYES wrote:Koech has a huge physique quite similar to that of Usain Bolt. Coupled with his imposing height, it is understandable that many people here think he is older than he says he is

yes

i noticed that too

when i first saw the vid i was looking for a peewee running with big choge ( & choge is fairly big among the kenyan 5k guys ) & coudn't find him !

this guy is huge for a kenyan

what it makes me think is that 1500 may turn out to be his best distance as that stride/size/etc looks better suited to a shorter distance

let him run some 5ks, but i think his coach needs to look at the 1500 :

12'50 with decent speed ( which that height & stride shoud help towards ) easily spells sub-3'30

problem is there are plenty of kenyan 1500 guys already