Kipchoge was interviewed on a number of subjects, including his current training, goals after Paris, and doping in Kenyan athletes specifically. He's clearly frustrating with the state of athletics in Kenya.
Full quote: “It's really unfortunate that young girls and boys want shortcuts to move to the next life. We lack morals," he told us. "We lack mentors, people who show it the way it should be done. Most people are talking about money. We lack the legends of sport, because what we have is 80-90% of the runners who want to get money and build a big house, buy a big car, enjoy life,” he said. “It should be about putting your mind on becoming a legend, running, breaking world records, and chasing longevity in your life."
Read more on this exclusive chat with the Kenyan double Olympic champion on his current training, goals for the future and why he’s concerned with the doping trend in his home country.
“It's really unfortunate that young girls and boys want shortcuts to move to the next life. We lack morals," he told us. "We lack mentors, people who show it the way it should be done. Most people are talking about money. We lack the legends of sport, because what we have is 80-90% of the runners who want to get money and build a big house, buy a big car, enjoy life,” he said. “It should be about putting your mind on becoming a legend, running, breaking world records, and chasing longevity in your life."
That’s silly and useless advice for most people. It’s unrealistic for everyone to aspire like he wants them to, and there is no good reason to not also want the material things he criticizes.
Pretend it’s the US. Winning $150k at a marathon (let’s say sub 2;02 on a course that pays a ton) is life-changing for a Kenyan but is merely nice for an American. Not a perfect comparison, but average income is roughly $70k vs $2k - 35 times more: 35*150k = 5.25 million.
Would we see far more American doping if we’d get millions for a 2:02-03? Yes
Kipchoge was interviewed on a number of subjects, including his current training, goals after Paris, and doping in Kenyan athletes specifically. He's clearly frustrating with the state of athletics in Kenya.
Full quote: “It's really unfortunate that young girls and boys want shortcuts to move to the next life. We lack morals," he told us. "We lack mentors, people who show it the way it should be done. Most people are talking about money. We lack the legends of sport, because what we have is 80-90% of the runners who want to get money and build a big house, buy a big car, enjoy life,” he said. “It should be about putting your mind on becoming a legend, running, breaking world records, and chasing longevity in your life."
Reading this article makes me wanna laugh. He should just sell cow manure for his new farming venture and stop selling us fake hypocritical statements about clean sport. He is a doper himself for goodness sake.
He was clearly talking about himself in a Freudian slip of the tongue. Kenya really needs to be banned. Ethiopia is so much more moral and ethical.
How does Kipchoge know young Kenyan boys wanna earn big money and build a house, drive a mercedes benz and enjoy life? Well it's because he has that mindset himself. He is a doper.
Mr 1:59:40…best to be careful that he doesn’t upset the wrong people, I reckon.
Now that he is retired, he thinks he can act all sanctimonious and start advocating clean sport bla bla bla. In Kenya the murder rate is quite high. Gang crimes on the rise. Police are corrupt. Kipchoge could rub the wrong guy off and we could never find his body.
Pretend it’s the US. Winning $150k at a marathon (let’s say sub 2;02 on a course that pays a ton) is life-changing for a Kenyan but is merely nice for an American. Not a perfect comparison, but average income is roughly $70k vs $2k - 35 times more: 35*150k = 5.25 million.
Would we see far more American doping if we’d get millions for a 2:02-03? Yes
I tend to agree with your insight. It's all about Relativity in Physics. Space and time is relative and it's in the relativity of it all that the truth emerges.
It's quite clear that Kipchoge is quite the fake vendor selling us completely unrealistic things in life. He might as well say athletes should abstain from sexual activities cuz it's about focus and not being distracted with girls and sex to break world records and becoming a legend?
Pretend it’s the US. Winning $150k at a marathon (let’s say sub 2;02 on a course that pays a ton) is life-changing for a Kenyan but is merely nice for an American. Not a perfect comparison, but average income is roughly $70k vs $2k - 35 times more: 35*150k = 5.25 million.
Would we see far more American doping if we’d get millions for a 2:02-03? Yes
Americans are doing at the same rate. We just don’t do a good at testing and catching.
Marion Jones was never caught.
Michael Johnson.
Lance Armstrong (different sport but you get the point)
Kipchoge was interviewed on a number of subjects, including his current training, goals after Paris, and doping in Kenyan athletes specifically. He's clearly frustrating with the state of athletics in Kenya.
Full quote: “It's really unfortunate that young girls and boys want shortcuts to move to the next life. We lack morals," he told us. "We lack mentors, people who show it the way it should be done. Most people are talking about money. We lack the legends of sport, because what we have is 80-90% of the runners who want to get money and build a big house, buy a big car, enjoy life,” he said. “It should be about putting your mind on becoming a legend, running, breaking world records, and chasing longevity in your life."
I nearly fell off my stool reading Kipchoge's latest statements to the media.
New story?
I've never seen nor heard a distance legend of the past 100 years telling the public at retirement that he wants to sell a new story. The word 'sell' is just so offish and wrong.
They don't do that. They let the new story unfold and find them as they journey along, never knowing what the actual story would be at the end of the journey road nor finding the need to let the public know that there is a story and what its contents already are!
And they don't do that because they have nothing to conceal or hide in their previous high performance career.
Only those with something to hide and conceal like Kipchoge needs to very quickly, actually almost immediately, announce upon retirement that the public should expect a new story and that he was so soon going to profit from it by 'selling' it! The ones with something to conceal need to very quickly print a new image in the minds and hearts of the public viewers to distract them away from a sudden retirement and lots of question marks raised over possible doping.
Yucky person overall, pure disgusting.
Who is his PR agent? Didn't teach him how to speak with nuance and so blatantly hint that he is concealing something from his past?
This post was edited 6 minutes after it was posted.
I would say that $150k is life changing for most Americans, not only due to the immediate payout but the future appearance feels, sponsorship opportunities, speaking engagements, etc. But to a Kenyan that is like NBA level money.
When you’re dirt poor, morality is the last thing on your mind when it comes to finding money. And this is on an individual level, the vast majority of Kenyans are working honest jobs and making a living for themselves. So this is why it’s important for the sport’s governing body to take a hard stance and do their job of punishing these dopers and do whatever it takes to make sure that the sport is as clean as possible. And since the Kenyan government and doping agency has shown their inability to do that, it’s time for WA to ban them for a few years until they clean up their acts.
Kipchoge was interviewed on a number of subjects, including his current training, goals after Paris, and doping in Kenyan athletes specifically. He's clearly frustrating with the state of athletics in Kenya.
Full quote: “It's really unfortunate that young girls and boys want shortcuts to move to the next life. We lack morals," he told us. "We lack mentors, people who show it the way it should be done. Most people are talking about money. We lack the legends of sport, because what we have is 80-90% of the runners who want to get money and build a big house, buy a big car, enjoy life,” he said. “It should be about putting your mind on becoming a legend, running, breaking world records, and chasing longevity in your life."
Reading this article makes me wanna laugh. He should just sell cow manure for his new farming venture and stop selling us fake hypocritical statements about clean sport. He is a doper himself for goodness sake.
Mr 1:59:40…best to be careful that he doesn’t upset the wrong people, I reckon.
Now that he is retired, he thinks he can act all sanctimonious and start advocating clean sport bla bla bla. In Kenya the murder rate is quite high. Gang crimes on the rise. Police are corrupt. Kipchoge could rub the wrong guy off and we could never find his body.
When did he retire? He said he wanted to run a few more marathons. Are you putting out mis information on someone?
