Kip Keino and six other senior Kenyan officials charged with corruption

Avocado’s Number wrote:

Coevett wrote:

Ryun was the superior runner, as he proved time and time again before and after Mexico . . . .

Actually, during the eight-year stretch (1965-1972) in which Ryun and Keino were world-class 1500/mile runners, Ryun was ranked ahead of Keino only during his great two-year period of 1966-67. Keino was ranked first or second in the world in every one of those eight years; Ryun was ranked that high only during 1966-68. As for head-to-head matchups, Ryun was superior during 1966-67, but Keino otherwise finished ahead of Ryun in the majority of their races.

The suggestions that Keino’s achievements in Mexico City were enhanced by doping are about as unfounded as any such claims on this site about anyone, and reflect considerable ignorance about Keino’s career and, more particularly, his physical circumstances — both good and bad — leading into and during the Games. (The cited SI article was written after Keino’s relatively late start on the ‘68 racing season in Scandinavia, but apparently before — or without knowledge of — Keino’s racing in the weeks immediately preceding the Games and without knowledge of the apparent cause of his sudden and debilitating “stomach” cramping in several races.) It was by no means out of the question that Keino could win the 1500, 5000, and 10,000; his performance in the 1500 final was extraordinary, but hardly a feat explicable only by positing exogenous aids, his 5,000 performance was O.K., but certainly not better than expectations, and his cramping (apparently from a gallbladder infection) in the 10,000 after leading with two or three laps to go was quite unfortunate — he had recently run the third-fastest 10,000 in history, and obviously had the middle-distance speed to hang with any other 10,000-meter runner in a fast finish.

I’m heartened to see that the recent allegations against Keino appear to be much less substantial and more dubious than was originally suggested. Whatever his faults, Keino has been greatly under-appreciated among many casual and even quite a number of serious track-and-field fans who, like me, were captivated by Ryun’s performances during his early years. And Keino remains under-appreciated by many outside of Kenya who are unfamiliar with his humanitarian work, especially his incredible commitment to orphans. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that I care less and less about someone’s athletic performances and more and more about his fundamental decency and record of concern for others, and Keino strikes me as a man of whom Kenyans can be justifiably proud, so I hope he comes out of this well.

booooobooooo wrote:

Avocado’s Number wrote:

Actually, during the eight-year stretch (1965-1972) in which Ryun and Keino were world-class 1500/mile runners, Ryun was ranked ahead of Keino only during his great two-year period of 1966-67. Keino was ranked first or second in the world in every one of those eight years; Ryun was ranked that high only during 1966-68. As for head-to-head matchups, Ryun was superior during 1966-67, but Keino otherwise finished ahead of Ryun in the majority of their races.

The suggestions that Keino’s achievements in Mexico City were enhanced by doping are about as unfounded as any such claims on this site about anyone, and reflect considerable ignorance about Keino’s career and, more particularly, his physical circumstances — both good and bad — leading into and during the Games. (The cited SI article was written after Keino’s relatively late start on the ‘68 racing season in Scandinavia, but apparently before — or without knowledge of — Keino’s racing in the weeks immediately preceding the Games and without knowledge of the apparent cause of his sudden and debilitating “stomach” cramping in several races.) It was by no means out of the question that Keino could win the 1500, 5000, and 10,000; his performance in the 1500 final was extraordinary, but hardly a feat explicable only by positing exogenous aids, his 5,000 performance was O.K., but certainly not better than expectations, and his cramping (apparently from a gallbladder infection) in the 10,000 after leading with two or three laps to go was quite unfortunate — he had recently run the third-fastest 10,000 in history, and obviously had the middle-distance speed to hang with any other 10,000-meter runner in a fast finish.

I’m heartened to see that the recent allegations against Keino appear to be much less substantial and more dubious than was originally suggested. Whatever his faults, Keino has been greatly under-appreciated among many casual and even quite a number of serious track-and-field fans who, like me, were captivated by Ryun’s performances during his early years. And Keino remains under-appreciated by many outside of Kenya who are unfamiliar with his humanitarian work, especially his incredible commitment to orphans. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that I care less and less about someone’s athletic performances and more and more about his fundamental decency and record of concern for others, and Keino strikes me as a man of whom Kenyans can be justifiably proud, so I hope he comes out of this well.

Excellent post. Thank you.

The British track and field team and former track men were most vocal in their opposition to holding the Games in Mexico City. British athletes expressed their displeasure in a letter to the London Times in April 1966. The athletes claimed the 7,500-foot altitude would hamper performances in endurance events and give athletes already living in high altitudes or training in them an unfair advantage. The athletes acknowledged that it was probably impossible to remove the Games from Mexico City now, but suggested that at least the endurance events be held at a separate, low-altitude location.

The suggestion also existed that the Mexican proposal of Mexico City had been deliberately chosen to confer an ‘unfair’ advantage upon Mexican competitors. Bannister later wrote: ‘The Mexicans have several charming characteristics which, as their guest, I could appreciate. But occasionally they fail to tell the whole truth because, sometimes rather delightfully, they think the truth may hurt a little. The truth about Mexico’s altitude hurts a lot.’

Avocado’s Number wrote:

Coevett wrote:

Ryun was the superior runner, as he proved time and time again before and after Mexico . . . .

Actually, during the eight-year stretch (1965-1972) in which Ryun and Keino were world-class 1500/mile runners, Ryun was ranked ahead of Keino only during his great two-year period of 1966-67. Keino was ranked first or second in the world in every one of those eight years; Ryun was ranked that high only during 1966-68. As for head-to-head matchups, Ryun was superior during 1966-67, but Keino otherwise finished ahead of Ryun in the majority of their races.

The suggestions that Keino’s achievements in Mexico City were enhanced by doping are about as unfounded as any such claims on this site about anyone, and reflect considerable ignorance about Keino’s career and, more particularly, his physical circumstances — both good and bad — leading into and during the Games. (The cited SI article was written after Keino’s relatively late start on the ‘68 racing season in Scandinavia, but apparently before — or without knowledge of — Keino’s racing in the weeks immediately preceding the Games and without knowledge of the apparent cause of his sudden and debilitating “stomach” cramping in several races.) It was by no means out of the question that Keino could win the 1500, 5000, and 10,000; his performance in the 1500 final was extraordinary, but hardly a feat explicable only by positing exogenous aids, his 5,000 performance was O.K., but certainly not better than expectations, and his cramping (apparently from a gallbladder infection) in the 10,000 after leading with two or three laps to go was quite unfortunate — he had recently run the third-fastest 10,000 in history, and obviously had the middle-distance speed to hang with any other 10,000-meter runner in a fast finish.

I’m heartened to see that the recent allegations against Keino appear to be much less substantial and more dubious than was originally suggested. Whatever his faults, Keino has been greatly under-appreciated among many casual and even quite a number of serious track-and-field fans who, like me, were captivated by Ryun’s performances during his early years. And Keino remains under-appreciated by many outside of Kenya who are unfamiliar with his humanitarian work, especially his incredible commitment to orphans. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that I care less and less about someone’s athletic performances and more and more about his fundamental decency and record of concern for others, and Keino strikes me as a man of whom Kenyans can be justifiably proud, so I hope he comes out of this well.

Armstronglivs wrote:

Gainesville/Miami guy wrote:

At Last! It took until P.8 for someone to post this. (I broke my shoulder last week so only saw this thread today).

So far no one has noted that he was one of SI's Sportsmen of the Year in 1987, 15 years after he retired, for his humanitarian work.

From Wikipedia:

With his wife, Phyllis Keino, he has dedicated significant efforts to humanitarian work in Eldoret, Kenya. They have established the Lewa Children's Home for orphans, the KipKeino Primary School in 1999, and the Kip Keino Secondary School in 2009.[10]

For his work with orphans, he shared Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsmen and Sportswomen of the Year" award in 1987 with seven others, characterized as "Athletes Who Care". In 1996, he was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame

And there were many who thought Lance Armstrong was a wonderful guy. None of this has anything to do with the question of whether Keino may have doped at Mexico City. It is conspicuous that none of the running experts here respond to any of the points that I make about Keino's performance. They can't. All any of you can say is what a great guy he is. And we know great guys could never dope. Or be charged with corruption.