Ethiopian team in marathon

Wow. I wonder whether Kebede will bother with the 10k or just get ready for the fall marathon season.

Hard to believe that Ethiopia would go with a guy who has only run one marathon over Kebede. I think they are putting to much stock into finishing time and do not have a good racer to go after the Kenyans. After London, it is now clear that the next level for the Olympic marathon is not going to be a superfast race like Wanjiru, but a fast race with a crazy fast, field crushing surge like Kipsang unleashed in London. No one in the Ethiopia squad has the racing cred to match something like that, except for Kebede.

Ayele Abshero ran 8:29 from 39 to 42km in his 2:04:23 debut, his surge killed everyone. Half splits of 1:02:22 and 1:02:01. He has racing cred.

If Ethiopia were to ask for my advice-and they haven't, I'd have advised them to go with the following:

1. Ayele Abshiro

2. Yemane Adhane

3. Tsegaye Kebede

Reserves

Dino Sefir

Gebre Gebremariam

Kebede is a racer and should be in the team.

It however doesn't look bad.

The only sure thing in the women's list is Tiki Gelana.

The rest aren't that far apart.

I Cant believe they selected Getu Feleke? Over Yemane Adnane, When Yemane out sprinted Getu in Rotterdam this year. Also Yemane has good previous championship experience with coming 4th in the 2009 world championships marathon, he has also won and placed well in many marathons over the years. Getu Has only run one good previous marathon. They have selected a very inexperienced team, and would probably benefit form having a mix of youth and experience. My picks: Abshiro, Yemane, And Kebede, Reserves, Dino Sefir, Getu.

I also think it strange that Tsegay kebede is out. He is one of the most consistent runners out there, an ultimate fighter, never seen him giving up/DNFing, the only Ethiopian apart from Gebre Gebre to win a major marathon in the past couple of years.

Also strange they took Getu Feleke over Yemane...maybe they think he has fresher legs cause he ran Rotterdam few seconds slower than Yemane???:-(...

Who knows, it is gonna be the first Olympics for all of the three runners, and maybe they will end up doing something wonderful..but to be honest, I don't think Ethiopia will win it....Kipsang is gonna be my pick...maybe an Ethiopian will grab a bronze...

This team is certainly a great one, but like most of you I would´t have gone as strictly by time as the selectors apparently did and would have included one runner on both the mens and womens side based on past accomplishments to get a team with a little more experience.

So I would have replaced either Feleke or Sefir with Tsegay Kebede (Olympic and world championships medalist, podium finish in the most recent editions of New York and London) and Dibaba with Bekele (most consistent of the Ethiopian women).

Yemane Tsegay (or Adhane?) improved from 10th in Dubai to 1st in Rotterdam 3 month later. What speaks for Feleke? Maybe his half marathon time of 59:56?

iaaf article:

http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/OLY12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=64994

They went strictly by time, but cut those who have already run two marathons this year.

LetsRun.com article:

http://www.letsrun.com/2012/ethiopian-0517.php

I'm shocked to see Kebede, Merga, and Gebremariam off the list. They've been the most competitive since the last Olympics. While it's true that these young guys could pop a fast one and upset the field, it's probably more true that one of those three veterans would be in a good spot for a medal in a championship race.

Merga has been spanked by Kipsang the last two times they've raced at Lake Biwa and Frankfurt. Even when he is running well he's crazy inconsistant, he either hangs with the leader or drops out.

Even Gebremariam I can see leaving off, but how do they justify leaving off Kebede? The guy has been the most consistant marathoner in the world over the 4 years since the last olympics. He may not win all the time, but he is ALWAYS in the top 3 in 2:05-2:06.

My team would have been Kebede, Abshero and Gebremariam.

When the Americans pick their marathoners based on time, at least it's in one race and announced far in advance. This is really going to blow up in Ethiopia's face. I bet we see one of those three in the lead pack in London and the other two have some kind of blow up.

How can you pick a guy that's had one good marathon and two bad ones over a guy who consistently runs top 3 in major marathons and is defending bronze medalist.

Will Gharib make it? If not, none of the medalists from 2008 will be participating.

I think if I was in Kenya or Ethiopia's shoes all I would care about is maximizing the chance for a gold medal. And throwing in the 3 fastest people this year seems would do the trick as any other selection method. It's certainly a whole lot better than choosing from only one race opportunity like the US method, and Kenya not picking Makau and Mutai based on only one race essentially. Hey what can you do? they ran the fastest times in the olympic year that carries more objective weight than any other objective criteria you may choose.

Without an objective trial, you gotta go with the BODY OF WORK over a 12-18 mth period, not different single races run in different conditions and contexts.

Yeah but judging one race time better because its 1 minute slower on a hillier course over a faster time on a flatter course, warmer temps, and lots of surges. Hypothetical but see the can of worms? At that point why not just go subjective all the way and do the body of work thing. I'm just saying out of all the objective methods I think picking the 3 fastest in the olympic year isn't that bad. I also think if ryan hall stubbed his toe or caught a cold 2 days before the one US trials race and doesn't make the team, no one on here would think that's a good thing with the 3rd guy probably no better than a 2:10 type, especially if say hall ran like 2:06 a few months before in another race.

I'm going to be honest. I still absolutely do not believe that the Dubai times are legit. There were so many performances that were way beyond breakthroughs there that I simply do not accept that the course was the right length. Ethiopia leaving off Kebede is ridiculous. Even Gebre really deserved a spot on the team over the 3 they selected. What would they have done if Haile had held on to win Tokyo in 2:06-2:07-ish? Based on what I'm reading, they would've left him off the team?

Dubai takes their sports seriously, the course is legit.

B4 u so called experts start jumping up and down like a chimp with a hot paper stuck up his ass, u should familiarise ur selves with the criteria of the Ethiopian athletics federation for their selection.

• Athletes that have run the fastest times

• Athletes that have run only 1 marathon this year.

Kebede hasn’t run the fastest time this year, and Adnane has already run in Dubai where he run quite badly. These are the bases for the team selection. So please stop talking ****!!!!

i agree with you. but you will see yeman will be included b/c he belongs to ..............