16 yr old who ran 12:54.19 now moves up and debuts in the marathon!

i am not Randomdude, but early 40s seems reasonable.

the "educated" guesses from those around him are early 40's, somewhere around 43, give or take a year....no joke. scary, isn't it? guy is a machine, get's up @ before 6am for workout, then spends til at least 4pm at work, then close to an hour in the gym, then home around 6p-ish....and he still runs that fast....we all have NO excuse. just crazy what i saw there.

cheers, dude

He is not a phenomenon, he is just well breed.

If Bekele and Paula had a baby

And Bolt and Felix had a baby

Then Wariner and Shelly-Ann had a child

and Rudisha and Tirunesh Dibaba

then the first two and the second two had children together

how fast do you think that Third generation of those children would be at 16?

Africans are faster younger because its a mob of runners breeding with a mob of runners.

I would expect all of these kids to be slower than their parents (but still faster than the "average" kid). Read about regression to the mean.

o.O wrote:

He is not a phenomenon, he is just well breed.

If Bekele and Paula had a baby

And Bolt and Felix had a baby

Then Wariner and Shelly-Ann had a child

and Rudisha and Tirunesh Dibaba

then the first two and the second two had children together

how fast do you think that Third generation of those children would be at 16?

Africans are faster younger because its a mob of runners breeding with a mob of runners.

I agree with o.O. We're just beginning to hear about it with the top Ethiopians who are marrying other top runners. I'm sure there are many more cases than we know about even if they aren't the very top Ethioian runners. It maybe true not ALL of these couple would produce super runners; however, its genetrics and these couples most likely pointing their childrens into their running profession.

Running is a choice in the U.S.A but in countries like Ethiopia, Eriteria, Kenya, and Tanzania its a way of life. These kids literally almost hit the group running as soon as they can walk; therefore, running across a young man who have been running anywhere from 6-10 a day for 12 of his 16 years is common. To have one athlete out of thousands produce a 12:54.19 at age 16 is a rarity but believeable.

Please, when you look at an African runner, DON'T LOOK AT THE OFFICIAL AGE. How I say them, many times, when they tell me "I'm still young for running Marathon", "You are the runner, not your Passport".

The only way for considering African runners is to look at their performances, not at their age.

Athletics is connected with the level of performances, not with the age. Who is able running fast, must be evaluated for his performance, and his value is the same if he's young or old.

It's useless to investigate if the false age informations depends on the athletes themselves or on their Federation. It's a fact that 95% of African runners have official documents with false age.

So, please, don't make any speculation looking at their age : normally this data doesn't mean anything, because not true.

In the Kenyan Olympic Team of 2004, 50% of the athletes (they have to fill a form for their Olympic Committee, putting the official date of birth and some data about their curriculum in the school) went to school before borning....

Two top runners marrying isn't going to give the super genetics that you think it will. When 2 genius's marry, their kids tend to not to be genius's. They are smart but not as smart as the parents. 12:54 at 16 might be possible (unfortunately very few kenyans/Ethiopians run 5k races at sea level at 16 so we don't have a good range). But it is a lot more likely he was 19.

RunningBaby wrote:

I agree with o.O. We're just beginning to hear about it with the top Ethiopians who are marrying other top runners. I'm sure there are many more cases than we know about even if they aren't the very top Ethioian runners. It maybe true not ALL of these couple would produce super runners; however, its genetrics and these couples most likely pointing their childrens into their running profession.

Running is a choice in the U.S.A but in countries like Ethiopia, Eriteria, Kenya, and Tanzania its a way of life. These kids literally almost hit the group running as soon as they can walk; therefore, running across a young man who have been running anywhere from 6-10 a day for 12 of his 16 years is common. To have one athlete out of thousands produce a 12:54.19 at age 16 is a rarity but believeable.

"Athletics is connected with the level of performances, not with the age."

Really? Why do we have world juniors?

"It's a fact that 95% of African runners have official documents with false age."

Really? What is your evidence?

Renato

I really enjoy reading your posts and learn a great deal from each and every one. This is the first time I have a problem with your post as you say 50% of the Kenyan Olympians mis-reported the offical birthdate. You went on to say that

"50% (FIFTY PERCENT) of the athletes...putting the offical date of birth and some data about their curriculum in the school) went to school before borning (I assume you meant born).

The problem is that according to you that would ACTUALLY make them older than they truly are and the debate in the running world is they're altering documents to appear younger.