Kenya and Ethiopia Olympic marathon team consideration - who should be chosen?

Yeah my other thought was this is he meant without others setting the pace and not pacemakers in a literal sense. Her marathons have had really straightforward tactics especially of late. Jogging for 20 miles (or longer) in the last 3 -2x Bostons and 1x New York, before a pretty straightforward surge to the finish. Kosgei has been in more types of marathons, which could be valued if they think someone will go early or it will be more Fartlek-y. Still seems sort of thin reasoning because Hassan and Obiri if left to their own devices will keep it slow before a fast finish.

Kinda weird that Kosgei was selected - there are minimum 3 other Kenyans more deserving than her (imo). Jepkosgei finished above her in London, and Lokedi finished above her in NYC last fall - and has podium’d at 3 majors in the last 1.5 years. I guess Kosgei is the reigning Olympic silver medalist though….
Lokedi would’ve medaled imo, and Kosgei likely won’t (by no means will I count her out totally though, considering her pedigree!).

Sorry I’m kinda late to the party. Do we know when the Ethiopian team will be selected?

Ethiopia is supposed to be announced this week or next — at least that seems to be what Bekele/Jos Hermans relayed.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to presume a medal for Lokedi honestly. I think she or Jepkosgei deserved it, but they seem a small tier down from:

Gold Medal Contenders:
- Jepkosgei
- Obiri
- Assefa
- Hassan

The next group is probably a Strong Medal Contenders Tier that will end up being pretty small:

- Beriso
-Wanjiru (if selected)
- Lokedi (if selected)
- Joyciline (if selected)
- Kebede (if selected)

Another slight tier down would be Dark Horses for a Medal, with some question marks around most of these athletes:

-Kosgei
-Gotytom (if selected)
- Sisson
- O'Keeffe (maybe!?)
- Ichiyama
- Salpeter
- Gardadi
-Chumba

I totally hear you. But I don't think it's a stretch to say Lokedi would be clearly in medal contention. She has shown she can run in the hills and heat and in championship style races. She has consistently been only a few seconds behind Obiri who is thought to be the Olympic favorite. Also the Olympic marathon has never been won faster than 2:23, and with the elevation profile, so I don't think it's necessarily relevant to automatically put the likes of Assefa, Beriso, etc. ahead of her.

I could be hopedicting, but I really think if she has a good day there is no reason Sisson couldn't be in medal contention. Historically a few of the east African contingent drop out and the heat and hills will be an equalizer. Sisson has 2:17-2:18 ability so in a tactical, hot, hilly race I could see it happening if she can stay healthy and optimize training. She is currently doing her pre-build at altitude (she normally just stays at sea level). She also has already previewed the course and has talked about working on strength and hills when back in Rhode Island. Obviously all of her competitors will also be doing these things but I have high hopes for her. Obviously O'Keeffe can't be ignored as she beat Sisson at the trials, but she is a bit of an unknown having not run more than one marathon.

Sounds like there are some delays in Ethiopia, apparently the athletes/coaches know who is selected but no announcement yet. Rumor is Deresa Geleta was chosen over Tamirat Tola

Oh what a tangled web we weave........

Kirwa was lying.

That is the long and short of it.

They are just trying to justify their decision to pick Kosgei.

That was a bad pick and they should know it if they don't.

Wow!

If Tola is not selected, this will be huge news.

Ethiopian Federation has officially announced

Men: Lemma, Geleta, Bekele (reserves Tola and Mohammed)

Women: Assefa, Beriso, Alemu (reserves Gotytom and Diriba)

I gotta say I feel a bit vindicated. I've thought for months that Alemu would be one of the best choices and it looks like the federation agreed with me. I do really feel for Gotytom though, I was rooting for her.

In hindsight, not too surprising that Tola is only a reserve. As Thoughtsleader has pointed out, his record of actually finishing is a bit sketchy and it makes sense for them to be skeptical. Is it at all surprising that Kebebe isn't on the team at all? I thought she might have been a reserve, though of course I don't know if she would have accepted that

Well we've got both the teams now. Really happy for Kenenisa. Surprised by Alemu, but she's been quite consistent. Tamirat Tola goes home devastated? Its true his DNFs did him no favours. Geleta is a bit of a dark horse which could help the team if he's ready for it

Looking forward to race day on 10-11 August

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