Bekele may or may not have been advised well on how the conditions were going to play out, but if he had run he would not have gotten a time that would have helped him with the Ethiopian federation. He walked away very fortunate saving himself from putting another marathon in his legs, and on top of that none of the top Ethiopian competition added on a very competitive time for him to go up against this year.
For any Bekele fans, today was good news for him. He just needs to put his head down, schedule a trip to visit Hermens and get in a fast, flat race with decent conditions.