That is a really lamentable decision by AK. He's not on the same level as Geoffrey Mutai or Patrick Makau.
G Mutai and Makau were dropouts when it counted to make the team.
E Mutai still had the third fastest time in the world last year, a win in London of all places.
Nobody disagrees that G Mutai and Makau are better.
But you can't drop out when you are told that your race will determine your spot on the team.
Emmanuel Mutai was sick heading into London this year but still stuck it out to finish the race when his Olympic spot was on the line.
I don't know why they only allowed 6 people in the pool and I don't know why they didn't have them all line up in the same race against each other and I don't know why they didn't set up their selection system well in advance so their athletes knew how to approach their training and racing.
But they picked 6 athletes and selected them on their April performances. Two dropped out of their races and a third just pulled out due to injury.
So they are left with three.
I think Lel and Korir should have been given consideration but they never gave them the opportunity.
* wrote:
I don't know why they didn't have them all line up in the same race against each other
...
I think Lel and Korir should have been given consideration but they never gave them the opportunity.
I think a single trials race (London probably best) would have been amazing, but...
1. These guys have to get paid. Running is their job, for the most part they have families, and they are from a country with zero social safety net and generally don't have other sources of income.
2. Few if any marathons can afford to pay appearance fees for the Kenyan top six all at once.
Agreed about Korir, and especially Lel!
You don't know that they were told not to drop out. IF KA just declared X race as the Kenya marathon trials, then nobody would care that they aren't on the team. When it's a crooked committee leaving off the 2 best runners because of politics, people will call them out on it.
The USATF looks golden by comparison to AK.
Why do you say they are the best two runners. This year they don't even rank. As both Makau And G Mutai did not finish there marathons. Makau has been low par all year, finishing second to a good Spainish athlete in a half marathon in Granollers in Spain in 62:44, and finishing a disappointing 5th in the Great Manchester Run, over a minute back from the ageing great Haile Gebrselassie. So I would hardly call him Kenya's best current marathon runner. There is no disputing that Makau was amazing in 2010-2011. But this is 2012, and Makau is'nt currently up to scratch. G Mutai on the other hand has shown better form and has ran well over 10km, and perhaps should of turned his attention in getting a place in the 10000m team and competing in the trials. But so far his marathon record for 2012 is DNF. Repetition will only take you so far. Current form is more important. And the best current Kenyan is London Victor Kipsang!!!!!!
What are "there marathons?" Who cares about what they have done in the 2 months of marathoning season so far this year? They destroyed it last year. I think it's great for the Americans that Kenya is so corrupt but it's bad for the sport. Btw, Mutai wanted in on the 10K Trials but was told to take a hike. Take off your blinders and recognize Kenya has the corrupt banana republic that it is.
I don't know what to make of all this. I don't feel happy.
You don't think Emmanuel Mutai is good enough to get a medal?
Of course NOT
Makau may not have a legitimate reason as to why he dropped out in London. As for G. Mutai, everyone knows how adverse the weather was. All top runners dropped out or ran very badly in that race. For instance, 2010 New York marathon champion Gebremariam ran 2:22 while Mathew Kisorio did run 2:18. So it was not conducive for anyone. It is just like world cross country championships in Mombasa, Kenya in 2007 where Kenenisa Bekele failed to finish the race. No one questioned why he dropped out. Nor did the Ethiopian federation doubt his ability for future assignments. It is only in Kenya where the federation officials must be worshipped in order to get into the team. I bet we will witness G. Mutai run a phenomenal time late this year and next year. The world record could be in for review. It will be good for G. to break the record and go on dominating races to trully embarrass those AK officials.
AK's policy is that "If you work with us we will work with you". G mutai is known to be a man who does his own thing, AK wants somebody who listens to them and obeys what they say. Makau got a chip in his shoulder and AK don't like that, they rather go with a decent guy who don't mind working with them.
Here are some things about Emmanuel Mutai:
The 7th fastest marathoner in history. 2011 London champ over Maukau.
The only non-Kenyans faster are Ayele Abshero of Ethiopia who ran 17s faster this in Dubai and Haile Gebreselassie.
E Mutai won a WC Silver medal in 2009 in the marathon.
Finished 7th in this year's london marathon when a spot on the team was at stake despite suffering from typhoid fever in the weeks leading up to the event.
I think he is quite capable of getting a medal if he is healthy.
He did get soundly beaten by G Mutai at NY last year.
Geoffrey needed to show something in Boston this year. Korir handled the heat.
If I were to make a selection based on who I thought was better I would pick G Mutai.
If the criteria was set that you must perform well this year, then you go with E Mutai.
I was really looking forward to the Olympic marathon, but now not so much. In my opinion, the two best marathoners on the planet will be absent. Does the selection committee not remember how Makau broke Geb in Berlin last September, or how Geoffrey Mutai abolutely buried Emmanuel Mutai and Tsegaye Kebede in New York last November? The third best marathoner will be there, but if W Kipsang doesn't have a very good day, I can see the Kenyans getting shut out of the medals entirely. Depressing.
Anyhow, I briefly got to meet Geoffrey Mutai a few weeks ago, when he was here in Ottawa to run a 10k. The day before he smoked a pretty decent field. What a nice guy. I said how disappointed I was that he didn't make the team, and said that he and Makau should race each other this fall, maybe in Berlin. Don't know if he understood, or if he was joking around, but he said "Maybe we will". Now that's a race I'd pay to see. More so than the Olympic marathon, to be honest.
OttawaSteve wrote:
Does the selection committee not remember . . . how Geoffrey Mutai abolutely buried Emmanuel Mutai and Tsegaye Kebede in New York last November?
No, I'm sure that they don't remember that. Maybe you should write Ibrahim Hussein, the secretary of the selection panel, to remind him about the marathons in New York City and Boston that Geoffrey Mutai has won, just in case he is not familiar with those races.
Many of the posters on this site seem to think that the selection panel is nothing more than a group of bureaucratic cronies who are ignorant about marathoning. They are not.
G. Mutai and Makau are terrific runners, but -- aside, perhaps, from Geoffrey's 10K in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago -- they really haven't demonstrated very good form this year, and their marathoning fitness has been a bit suspect. G. Mutai might have seemed like an easy pick six months ago, but he has had nagging injuries and uneven training since then, and the marathon is a pretty unforgiving event. E. Mutai would have seemed like an easy pick twelve months ago. Maybe he's the right pick now.
* wrote:
Geoffrey needed to show something in Boston this year.
what planet are you from?
* wrote:If the criteria was set that you must perform well this year, then you go with E Mutai.
The criteria were not that you must perform well this year so please stop speculating that that was the case. The criteria was who kisses the most nether regions of AK. That's it.
It was a good decision to choose Emmanuel Mutai for Kenya's Olympic marathon team.
Perhaps he should have been chosen the first time.
Kenya has an excellent marathon team.
No nothing was particularly clear on their selection process.
But it was obvious that they were awaiting the resultls of the April performances to pick the team.
G Mutai's DNF at Boston had a heavy impact on him not making the team.
Otherwise, they would have just pre-selected him without waiting for April results. Same with Makau.
I am pretty sure that if Geoffrey won Boston this year, he would have been named to the Olympic team.
Therefore, he needed to show something at Boston this year.
from your article:
Kenya’s selection process has been shrouded in mystery. Unlike some nations that select their teams(Great Britain has a four-page criteria outlaid) Kenya’s benchmarks are not recorded anywhere, which has fueled worldwide speculation as to which names Athletics Kenya will announce on April 30.
NOTHING was obvious so why do you incorrectly conclude that it was obvious AK was waiting for april results?
you are "pretty sure that if Geoffrey won Boston this year, he would have been named to the Olympic team." oh really??? based on what? just a hunch? the AK process is as corrupt as they come and it very well could have been that GM could have run a 1:59 this spring and they still wouldn't have taken him. what is it so difficult for you to process this piece of information that actually is obvious?