vivalarepublica wrote:
El Keniano wrote:
I fear that would not be good for Iten as it's just a village that can't absorb such a flood. Why don't they spread themselves around? Addis Ababa, where most Ethiopian elites are based, is a city of 4 million with all the conveniences and amenities. I bet there similar stories of westerners training in Ethiopia that should be given the same publicity.
I fear what would happen is that Iten is overrun by a bunch of trendy originality seekers looking for a rustic and thrilling cultural experience, rather than runners decidicated to the pursuit. They could stuff up the accommodations and raise the price of everything. I don't know, I have seen places transformed from dusty backwater to tourist trap, and it doesn't always work out for the best.
And gradually the seedy, unsavoury side of the sport will take over, the foreigners will bring their drugs as well as unscrupulous foreign agents and coaches looking to exploit young emerging talent and maybe sell them on the slave market to other countries. And before you know it, Letsrun and the world's media are calling Iten the doping capital of athletics, blaming Kenyans for that culture and calling for the country to be banished from the sport.
I honestly feel the disproportionate attention Iten and Kenya gets is responsible for the intense and irrational hatred we sometimes see manifested here, not just by the LRC, but the site itself. The result is, people here now think themselves experts on every aspect of Kenyan life and culture, weighing in to throw all sorts of suppositions and allegations. My feeling is, if other countries like Ethiopia shared this burden, it wouldn't be so bad.
I'm sure there's a Julien Wanders type somewhere in Ethiopia as well. Cover that too.