someone had to do it wrote:
The real question is why is someone who didn't medal at last year's olympics requesting a certain pace. The gold & bronze medalists who are also participating in this race should be calling the shots.
1) Kenenisa Bekele has every right to call the shots, given his career accomplishments. Plus, everybody knows that when he is in shape there isn't anyone who can beat him.
2) If Farah disagreed with 13:18 and asked for something slower, he would appear weak, scared, unprepared, whatever, so he's obviously not going to do that. Especially when there's a good chance that the pacing won't be that fast anyway.
3) The bronze medalist you referred to is Kenenisa's brother, whose best chance to win would be in a fast race where Farah has less of a kick. Plus there's probably a family-loyalty element playing in there.