Sally Kipyego makes Kenyan team

Saladbar coaches non-American runners such as Mo Farah. OTC's head coach is a Non-American (also British). Bottom line, their goal is to coach world class athletes!

Setting the Record Straight wrote:

just for everyone's general information: Nike sponsors multiple training groups, including one that Salazar coaches, one that Schumacher coaches and the OTC which a few other people coach.

Sally runs for the OTC. She is not coached by Salazar or Schumacher.

Nike is a global company who trains Nike sponsored runners from any country.

Some of their groups and coaches have an American athlete focus but that does not mean that all of the do or should.

Plenty of foreigners sponsored by Nike (in fact, basically all of them) aren't in OTC or NOP. Why are Sally and Farah? And, yeah, all of the groups based on US soil should be focused exclusively on American athletes. No funds from NYRR, BAA, etc. should be funneled through USATF to training groups that include foreigners in any way. If Farah wants to rep the UK then he should find his development resources within the system in that nation, not leech off of ours. Same goes for Sally if she wants to rep Kenya.

Training with world class athletes makes our runners better--look at Rupp and Farah. Being able to work out in large groups of elites is what gets the Kenyans in Iten into such ridiculous shape, it can't hurt to duplicate that here with any and every foreign runner who wants to help push Rupp through his intervals.

LetsgoRupp wrote:

Saladbar coaches non-American runners such as Mo Farah.

And who else?

OTC's head coach is a Non-American (also British).

Non sequitur, he's not representing Britain in competition nor is he coaching anyone who does.

If a foreign athlete gives better interviews than Americans, let 'em in!

Which is why Rupp was at the team workouts while he was a Duck?

Rene the Cart wrote:

Training with world class athletes makes our runners better--look at Rupp and Farah. Being able to work out in large groups of elites is what gets the Kenyans in Iten into such ridiculous shape, it can't hurt to duplicate that here with any and every foreign runner who wants to help push Rupp through his intervals.

Who came in second plase?

I'm as strong a supporter of American athletes as anyone, and I'm certainly not writing to rush to the defense of Nike, but the hyper-nationalists need to dial it back a notch, and stop and think for a minute.

First of all, not to be trite or simplistic, but this is a free country. (That's what makes it the greatest, right?) If a privately sponsored track club or training group wants to add a foreign athlete, that's their right. As someone said, it's not the USOC Training Center. There are no taxpayer funds involved.

Second, the track community and these boards are full of people constantly lamenting and/or complaining about how American athletes are not up to the competitive level of their European or African counterparts. We all devour magazine and online articles about an athlete's or coach's trip to Kenya to find out "how they do it." What's so wrong with introducing a little foreign talent, work ethic, and willingness to sacrifice into some American training groups? (Particularly when it's in the form of such class acts as Mo Farah and Sally Kipyego.) That might just be one of the best ways to raise the competitive level of our American runners.

Stop, take a deep breath, and at least be willing to consider looking at the forest instead of just the next tree.

VERY good post.

Congratulations Sally Kipyego!! This is, I think, an unprecedented occurrence, a Kenyan woman making the national team while living outside the country, living and training on her own terms away from the intensely political Kenyan track federation. She is an incredible person and a real trailblazer and I'm really, really happy for her.

Setting The Record Straight has it exactly right. The Oregon Track Club Elite group in Eugene is an "Oregon" entity in name only. It is a Nike sponsored training group that happens to be located in Eugene. Sally's presence on that club elevates the entire group, they're lucky to have her. She's an extraordinary person.

What is the difference between Farah and Kipyego with OTC and Lemoncello with McMillan?

I think I know the answer and it has something to do with skin color

Personally, I'm excited about Sally's performance. A woman who has trained exclusively in the United States got second in the arguably the toughest national championships in the world (the Ethiopian women's championships probably are a little more competitive, but they don't select their WC team based on trials, do they?). What does that say about US college system and professional training opportunities here? Her presence only is improving the quality of the American runners around here.

Plus, she's a great person, and it's nice to see her succeed. I'd gladly sponsor her so she can stay in the country.

tRg taught her how to get it done at TX Tech.

First, we must thank Moe's Tavern for bringing us this news. Second, only in this great country could you expect someone like Sally to ve so embraced. Thank you to all that have watched her, yelled for her, and been supportive of her. Thank you.

Never seen her in an interview before, she's great to watch. Her accent reminds me of a co-worker who is from New Zealand.

agip wrote:

she's awesome - she sounds and acts like an American - I hope she comes on over for good.

i think we will see a nice upsurge of foreign born runners applying for US citizenship. runners like Sally and Sam are investing in their lives here and the logical timeline of others such as KK, Bernard, etc. should follow.

i believe Cheboiywo got his citizenship last June.

oh boo hoo people are running inside of arbitrary lines drawn by old guys 300 y5ears ago. Grow up.

that's a big achievement for someone running fifteens in college and now mid 14 at 5 and mid 30 at 10. OTC was about developing American runners and she wanted U.S. citizenship but obviously she didn't have it for U.S. trials and as a runner she has a short peak and wants to run worlds this year. But then isn't there a two year window after shifting citizenship? So, I would assume that she'll try to qualify for Kenya for the Olympics next year as well and then get U.S. citizenship for 2015 and 2016 comps. As for Farah, I'd think that Nike's happy to use his name in the UK to help sales.

va coach wrote:

Stop, take a deep breath, and at least be willing to consider looking at the forest instead of just the next tree.

Exactly right. Maybe some of the complainers are just trolling, but she's a good person, a good runner, and she's raising the level of the OTC and the Americans who train in the OTC. Congrats on making the Kenyan team.