Are Ethiopians finally going to start taking mid-distances?

That's what people thought about the Americans a few years back.

Only the ones too slow to make the team in 5000m and 10000m.

Americans have never had 3:48FTW/3:50 in the same race, and the Ethiopians have never been able to stack into a 1500 field like this before. Something's up.

Anybody have any info on the Ethio 1500/800 top times ever?

Derise Mekkonnen did the same thing last year in the run up to beijing he beat all choge and komen in one of the grandprix races .Infact that race also had in Andy badelly.Derise is the first ethiopian athlete to take 1500m seriously but i believe he is not yet in the league of Kiprop and the likes of Bernard lagat.

Ethiopians simply do not like middle distances,if they did they would have more serious runners contesting in the events bear in mind that Jamal is oiginally from ethiopia so it is not lack of talent but rather lack of interest.Instead they prefer 5000 and 10000.

Cold, Hard, Cash-Facts: Its easier to make money in long distance than the middle distances given the opportunity to run BS road races.

Ethiopians simply do not like middle distances. Once again I thank you for speaking for all Ethiopians

i see no logic in stating they "do not like middle distances"

the 1500 is the blue riband event of the distance races - most prestige, most glory & most endorsements

for a whole nation to dismiss those aspects is idiotic

seeing as 30 million+ of them can't be idiots, it simply leaves 1 explanation :

they aren't good enough at 1500 on men's side

ventolin,

You would agree that Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba could run in the range of 3:56 for 1500m, right? Dibaba closed her 5000m WR last year with a 4:06 1500m.

They've been offered good money on more than one occasion to run a high level 1500m or mile but they've consistently declined. They genuinely have no interest in anything under 3000m.

Case in point: Mulugeta Wondimu. He ran 3:31 in 2004 but only ran the 1500m at the Olympics because he wasn't selected for the 5000m team.

Burka has the world leading 1500m time. And now Mekonnen. So clearly they are getting into it--although as a whole the East African Kenya / Ethiopian contigent seems to only get better at longer distances. They are simply not quite as dominant, and thus there is more incentive to run the 5000 / 10000 / Marathon.

In my opinion even Bernard Lagat, the second fastest 1500m man in history and the fastest Kenyan or Ethiopian, has a better chance at winning the 5000 (or longer distances period) than he does at the 1500 in any given championship. Who knows--had he focused on it earlier in his life, he might've ran in the 12:42-5 range. People like Alan Webb and Medhi Baala can legitimately compete for the fastest times in the world in the 1500m. That NEVER happens in the 5K or 10K.

the reason the gals didn't run 1500s before is that i doubt they believed 3'56 ( which they can ) & saw ruskies running 3'55/3'56 & didn't want to risk humiliation of losing

now ruskies are banned & top level has dropped to 3'58, i'm sure they will & 1500w is more prestigious than 5k, which has only been around 14y as a championship distance

as for wondi, 3'31 was a piss-ant time in '04 with bernie/hicham running 3'27 before athens

of course he'd want to run 5k there, where he might steal a gold in a slow 5k with his 1500 speed like nibongbo in '96 ( & lesser example of wolde in '00 )

in the 1500 he had absolutely no chance of anything better than bronze whether it was run slow or fast

If you exclude the Russian dopers, Maryam Jamal (forgot her Ethio name) has been the top 1500 runner the past few years on the female side, now Burka is up there too. Maybe now the men are finally taking a clue.

The "lack of interest" argument makes alot of sense even though it is not logical.Ethiopians can easily find world-class runners for the 1500 and 800 but there is very little interest on the ground.This emanates right from the top i.e the federation and trickles down to the training camps and individuals.It is the same attitude they have towards 3000SC.The kenyans on the other hand have interest in both mid and long distances.

Ethiopian NRs:

3000: 7:25.09 (Geb, 1998)

5000: 12:37.35 (Bekele, 2004)

10000: 26:17.53 (Bekele, 2005)

800: 1:45.28 (Berhanu Alemu, 2004)

1500: 3:31.13 (Wondimu, 2004)

3kSC: 8:13.47 (Yacob Jarso, Beijing final)

static cling wrote:

Americans have never had 3:48FTW/3:50 in the same race..

I am sure Scott and Spivey must have done something like that before (especially if you include 1500 conversions).

And Lagat/Webb probably have. And there are likely other instances.

ventolin wrote:

the reason the gals didn't run 1500s before is that i doubt they believed 3'56 ( which they can ) & saw ruskies running 3'55/3'56 & didn't want to risk humiliation of losing

now ruskies are banned & top level has dropped to 3'58, i'm sure they will & 1500w is more prestigious than 5k, which has only been around 14y as a championship distance

as for wondi, 3'31 was a piss-ant time in '04 with bernie/hicham running 3'27 before athens

of course he'd want to run 5k there, where he might steal a gold in a slow 5k with his 1500 speed like nibongbo in '96 ( & lesser example of wolde in '00 )

in the 1500 he had absolutely no chance of anything better than bronze whether it was run slow or fast

Fine, ventolin, don't believe me when I tell you that these women have turned down serious money because they just don't care about running a 1500m. It's really no different than telling Jeremy Wariner that you'd like to pay him an awful lot to run an 800m: hell, he might have phenomenal 800m potential, but he's already top of the work in the 400m (a more popular race in America) and he has not interest in running anything longer.

The same with these women: the longer distances are much more popular in Ethiopia, and they're already the absolute top from 3000m-10000m so why go to something else that's less popular back home? They may in fact be persuaded by a ton of cash one day to do a serious 1500m, but I'm 99% sure you'll never see them contest one at a major championships. Look at Defar: she closed a 14:12 5000m with a 1:31 600m and yet she's moving towards the 10000m. The logic is counter intuitive to the thinking we have in Europe and America.

Spivey and Scott didn't at the mile distance; Webb and Lagat or Scott/Maree might have done similar at 1500, but then you run into the naturalized citizen debate, etc.. In any case, it is a notable achievement for any single nationality.

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

static cling wrote:

Americans have never had 3:48FTW/3:50 in the same race..

I am sure Scott and Spivey must have done something like that before (especially if you include 1500 conversions).

And Lagat/Webb probably have. And there are likely other instances.

1983 - Oslo Dream Mile

Steve Scott, 1st, 3:49

J Spivey 2nd 3:50.59

1986 - Oslo Dream Mile

Steve Cram, 1st

Steve Scott, 2nd 3:48

J Spivey 3rd, 3:49.80

{2 Americans under 3:50.0}

1988 - Oslo Dream Mile

Steve Scott 6th or 7th, 3:50

J Spivey 8th 3:50.88

I can also remember races where S. Maree ran and Steve ran under 3:50.

Awesome Jim.That is a point on which I am quite happy to be mistaken on :) Those results highlight the Golden Age of American miling. 3:50 is still a major barrier, all these years later... hopefully the young guys can muster a breakthrough like the women are currently having in the 1500.

J Spivey wrote:

1983 - Oslo Dream Mile

Steve Scott, 1st, 3:49

J Spivey 2nd 3:50.59

1986 - Oslo Dream Mile

Steve Cram, 1st

Steve Scott, 2nd 3:48

J Spivey 3rd, 3:49.80

{2 Americans under 3:50.0}

1988 - Oslo Dream Mile

Steve Scott 6th or 7th, 3:50

J Spivey 8th 3:50.88

I can also remember races where S. Maree ran and Steve ran under 3:50.

Yes the EPOpians will do better now that Diack gave them the all clear or maybe we should just call it the clear.