Breaking: Ethiopian Olympic coach Haji Adilo on Kenenisa Bekele: "I don’t think he’ll run [the marathon trials]."

God this is depressing for me as a fan. While I HATE trials races where they take only 2 people, I'm all for making an exception for the GOAT.

If Bekele can stay with the leaders for 30k in Geneva, I'd say, "You are the GOAT. You are on the team." I mean the dude ran ran 2:01:41 in his last marathon.

Although is it possible that Bekele doesn't really care? All he wants is the world record? Remember, when he was last left off the Ethiopian Olympic marathon team, he almost broke the world record right after the Olympics.

But what's he supposed to do run the race if he's not ready?

You can't fake fitness.

ok_now wrote:

But what's he supposed to do run the race if he's not ready?

You can't fake fitness.

1) I wish they hadn't just sprung this on them a few weeks ago.

2) In theory, I like the concept of having a trial race. I partciularly like it for Bekele as it will keep him honest and make him get in shape. That being said, I think there is zero chance he just goes to the Olympics out of shape.. It would be embarrassing for him. He'd pull out if he didn't think he'd be a factor. So I'd be willing to make exceptions for him.

3) If I was Ethiopia, I'd push the race back a month and make it 30k (although this could conflict with the 10k Trials so maybe make it a week after that) - not a marathon. I'd also probably be willing to make an exception for Bekele (well to be honest, I wouldn't do that but as it's not what we do in the US but again I'm writing if I was Ethiopia). Say if he's within a minute of the leaders, he's on the team assuming he wants to go.

PS. It's depressing to me this thread isn't getting more action. We're talking about the end of the Olympic chances for the GOAT and instaed of talking about that people are talking about whether Hobbs Kessler is a bigger prospect that Jakob or not.

Update on 3/30: PPS. MY bad the {} in the title somehow tripped the spam filter and no one could post. It has been corrected.

If I were Ethiopia, I would say the fastest on record people can have a bye. So that would be Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba. DONE. I mean Callum Hawkins got a bye.

Very sad news.

I think Ethiopia is doing this all on purpose so Bekele doesn’t go to the Olympics. I think they’re worried about him being in a training rut or gaining weight or something to the extent that they’re willing to plot against him in an effort to give other guys a shot. What else would be an explanation for springing a race on everyone just weeks ago, in a time when your 2:01 guy is not running well? It’s not like they didn’t think about Bekele when they decided to do these trials.

Yeah, I couldn't post either. LOL'd at Rojo's "why isn't anyone posting?"

Here's what I was going to say -

Yeah, terrible news! I'm a Bekele fan, but even if you're not you have to be disappointed that the GOAT won't be in the Olympics over an issue like this.

But it does seem a little weird - surely even if Bekele didn't know the exact date he should have known there was a good chance of a selection race around this time. I love the man, but come on. If there's a personal tragedy involved, that seems a little more fair, and hard to blame a man who's already won it all for being a little less hungry. But still, I want to see him fit, dang it.

Maybe just wishful thinking, but I wonder if this is part of a negotiation - Bekele is saying he can't run under these conditions to see if Ethiopia will budge, they're saying 'looks like he won't run, oh well' as a way to signal they're holding firm.

I also think it's possible they just don't want Bekele to make the team, as crazy as that might sound. But like the dude above me said, there's no way they just didn't think about him, it's freakin Bekele.

I couldn't post either, so here goes ...

Bekele's last great (and complete) season was 2009! We're talking 12 years of inconsistent performances now.

He had a 26:4x in like 2010 or 2011, then a decent marathon debut at Paris, and the two great runs in which he scared the world record. Honestly, for many athletes this is a great career. But aside from those, the performances have been mediocre or even straight out DNF/DNS.

If anything, I would think he is due for another DNF as opposed to anything that warrants an Olympic appearance. And in spite of what wejo/rojo (whomever created the other thread), Bekele making it to 30km is not good enough, when we generally accept that 30km isn't even the "half way point" of the marathon (usually stated as 20 miles or around 32k+).

This is very sad news. He'll be 42 by the following Olympics so it does seem unlikely that he'll run in another one. Wish him all the best - but on the bright side, his legacy as one of, if not the greatest distance runner of all time has long since been secured.

By the olympics his 2:01:41 will have been almost 2 full years ago. His only result since then is the big half in which he ran over 60 minutes. Pulled out of london too. He has a great career, but there's no reason to put him on the team if he can't preform. It's unfair to another ethiopian who is more fit and faster. There are 7 other sub 2:04 guys that can duke it out, all of which are much younger than KB. It's the honest truth.

I agree that it is odd that a lot of people arent commenting on this. Gebrselassie, Bekele. These are the greatest runners of all time. While Kipchoge was the favorite, I secretly wanted Bekele to beat him. It would be the glorious ending we all wanted.

I guess I dont understand enough about Ethiopian Olympic selection process. Why they wouldnt include Bekele baffles me. I think that is more of a tragedy that he is not included for petty political reasons.

Announcing the marathon trials with such short notice makes no sense to me.

I hope he at least goes for the world record in the fall at least.

Unprofessional from Eth Federation. Sad for Bekele who suffered yet another personal tragedy. We all just want to see him fit for a grand finale at the marathon, and him missing even more training spells disaster. Bring him to Netherlands for a month and make him fit. If he isn’t race fit and the Federation wont buckle, so be it. At least he can go for a WR attempt sometime then. He’s the GOAT of running and will remain so for a long time.

Well, another one bites the dust. Pitty.

I don’t buy the excuse. We’ve all been training through covid. None of us know if a race will happen but we keep training. I’ve had multiple races cancel/postpone. You just dial it back. He’s been at this a very long time. He knows how to train. At any given time, he should be ready to nail down his training. I think they gave 4-6 weeks? that’s enough time for a final phase.

Yeah if they really sprang it on him last minute that’d be a disgrace. He’s the only guy who would mess with Kipchoge’s mind late in a race. That’s the only way another Ethiopian wins anyway.

Maybe we will see something similar to when Komen didn’t make the Kenyan Olympic team...Perhaps one last shot at a marathon WR...bigger payday anyway. Maybe Bekele is more concerned about that at this point.