Are we really going to sit here & believe Ronald Kwemoi at 18yo, in 2nd year of racing, only 6th 1500 ever, ran 3:28?!

DKCCC wrote:

Unfortunately, many of them don't have more "legit" birth certificates than that. If you want to prevent these issues, I suggest you donate enough money so that there can be a hospital a reasonable distance from every African village.

How far should a Kenyan woman in labor be asked to walk?

Can she sign a waiver instead of a 3 hour walk in 85degree weather? It could say : instead of walking to the hospital the rich letsrun poster set up 40 kms away I promise not to let my child run in the IAAF junior classification.

this is difficult for many people to believe because it's nice to think hard work will bring success. uh, no. pick the parents carefully, then work hard for a few years.

you either have it or you don't.

this is actually a great story as to why HS kids should be running more miles and getting into the marathon sooner rather than later.

Gay Marxist wrote:

Total fraud. Blatant age cheat and doped as shit.

He might be doped. He might not. He is DEFINITELY older than what is claimed, but so are many Kenyan "youngsters". Google some pics of Kwemoi. He's likely 23 or 24.

I think people are way too focused on the age thing.

What makes this whole thing fishy, is this is only his 6th 1500?!?!

Who has played 5 Basketball games and become on of the world's all time bests? Thrown the javelin 5 times and then be on the top 10list? Sprinted a 100m race 5x and then ran 9.7?!?!

Kenya has a per capita income of $1700 versus the U.S. of $43,000. So imagine a Boston marathon prize of $3,800,000 instead of $150,000. How many more Americans would become runners and do whatever it takes to win?

Incredulous out wrote:

I think people are way too focused on the age thing.

What makes this whole thing fishy, is this is only his 6th 1500?!?!

Who has played 5 Basketball games and become on of the world's all time bests? Thrown the javelin 5 times and then be on the top 10list? Sprinted a 100m race 5x and then ran 9.7?!?!

Look at the instance of Donald Thomas, who won the 2007 World Championships in high jump. Was a D3 or NAIA basketball player. Tried high jump off of a bet with a college friend on the track team. Started college high jumping in 2006; within a year, best in the world. You don't need years of training if genetics are on your side.

I think Kwemoi has had other races besides the 1500. He has been training. Besides, there is a certain aspect to the Kenyan mentality where they don't overthink this crap. Read the book More Fire by Toby Tanser. A Kenyan does not see his competition as being the world's best athlete. They see someone w/ the same size and build or come from the same village. They think "why not? I can keep up with them." And if they cannot keep up, there is always the next training run or race.

We are only seeing a fraction of the true potential in Kenya. They have a lot of societal disadvantages that make competing at a high level in track difficult.

Incredulous out wrote:

I think people are way too focused on the age thing.

What makes this whole thing fishy, is this is only his 6th 1500?!?!

Who has played 5 Basketball games and become on of the world's all time bests? Thrown the javelin 5 times and then be on the top 10list? Sprinted a 100m race 5x and then ran 9.7?!?!

Every gazelle that gets away from a Cheetah moves into the top of the World rankings on its first try.

Captain Oblivious wrote:

Incredulous out wrote:

I think people are way too focused on the age thing.

What makes this whole thing fishy, is this is only his 6th 1500?!?!

Who has played 5 Basketball games and become on of the world's all time bests? Thrown the javelin 5 times and then be on the top 10list? Sprinted a 100m race 5x and then ran 9.7?!?!

Every gazelle that gets away from a Cheetah moves into the top of the World rankings on its first try.

Bingo!

Well said.

Yep. Just like we're supposed to believe that Gebrhiwet is as young as he says he is and has run 12:47 for 5000m.

The problem with a lot of people here is they have set limits and barriers, they are used to conventional wisdom where things have to be done in a particular way contrary to that, questions are going to be asked. Talk to a regular Kenyan on the street and you will notice that when it comes to running, Kenyan better not only win the race but set a world record in the process. Age cheating, doping, they run to school, they run barefoot are theories that willl not help us get to the real reasons why kenyans run like they do but a lazy route to uncovering the mystery. Kwemoi is one of those natural talents that all Kenyans expect to break through regularly, there are a dozen kwemois waiting to bust into the limelight.

incredulousity wrote:

Are we really going to sit here & believe Ronald Kwemoi at 18yo, in 2nd year of racing, only 6th 1500 ever, ran 3:28?!

Why not? Last year a 10000 meter specialist did it during tune up... ;-)

I have no problem with Africans not knowing their exact date of birth, but I do have a problem with "16" year olds running a 48.3 first lap in an 800. Blatant age cheating screws the kids from other nations who train hard to make it to world youth / juniors only to get demolished by runners who are obviously too old to be there. It makes a joke of the sport.

I really don't care what age an athletes claims to be except when it comes to competing in age restricted competitions and the integrity of age based records. Kenyan age cheating is so blatant that it is laughable. A couple of years ago the top 3 finishers in the World Youth 800m ran 1:44x; the week before in a DL race the top 3 finishers ran 1:44x. Imagine, (3) 16-17 year olds running as fast as a DL race. - I know for an absolute fact that Kenyans laugh about certain athletes who have they all know to be much older competing in WY and WJR competitions.

The Educator wrote:

Yep. Just like we're supposed to believe that Gebrhiwet is as young as he says he is and has run 12:47 for 5000m.

Every time you criticize him, Hagos even faster.

As far as producing teenage top runners, remember that those African kids don't even know anything about play stations and all other sit-in-the-couch video games.

no problem running 328 in your 6th race.

you start by running your first 1500 in 5 min.

then drop 20 seconds per race.

it's called progression, evolution.

next time out the boy should run 308 for 1500m if the math is right here.

no problem.

same thing goes for the marathon, except you run with weights. basically if you can run 230 with 29 kg on your back, that is equivalent to a sub 2 hour marathon.

all you have to do is bring it on the day.

and speaking of the 200m while we're at it, it makes all the sense in the world for a steroid user in his peak years to stop using and in his twilight years drop a huge PB all time great time.

hell ya. track is legit beyond reproach.

6 times is the problem? Jager ran his steeple American record in what? Like #5 steeple in his career?

There are obvious reasons for that.Do you have any idea how many teenage Kenyans aspire to be professional runners? Do have any idea large the talent pool is? Most American kids are content to do NOTHING but sit on the couch. In Iten and the surrounding area it is literally run or die.

trollism wrote:

Slopenguinrunner wrote:

Jim Ryun, in his first year of training, went from a 5:30ish mile in fall XC to a 4:08 mile in the spring. All within his sophomore year of high school. He was sub 4:00 as a high school junior. Either was an Olympian that year or the next.

Sometimes, genetics is on your side and your abilities improve in a short period of time.

Yeah. But we're seeing a new Kenyan 'teenager' each week, not each generation.