Bekele's tendency to refuse to shake hands with other runners??????????

Papa Smurf,

Boy, you do especiallize in conspiracy theories. Maybe you need to get off this politics bandwagon and foucs on running.

papa smurf:

your post seems to be very well thought out and proves to me that you are an intelligent person. i've got this question though, it's been bugging me all day. being that you're so smart and all, do you think it's possible to explain to me/us what sarcasm is?

this thread is ridiculous...who cares if someone doesn't shake someone else's hand. you just ran a race, you're tired, assuming you put in a good effort you're not thinking perfectly clearly...so what if you don't shake someone's hand? i don't really see why it matters at all...

Chuck -

I was the one who video taped the incident with Broe and Bekele. It happened near the head of the backstretch coming off the first turn.

Broe was walking back in the direction of the finish line with Geneti and Bekele walking directly towards Broe. Broe put his hand out to Geneti and Geneti shook it. Bekele was a couple of yards behind Geneti and Broe walked directly toward Bekele. Tim put his hand out towards KB in an obvious gesture to shake his hand. KB walked right by Tim without so much as looking at him. He made no effort to acknowlege Broe. Tim turned around to look back at KB after KB walked by him and had this expression on his face that looked like "WTF?!?!?!". Hard to tell if Broe was pissed or just totally baffled that KB blew him off. Either way it came off looking like KB couldn't be bothered. I watched Geneti and Bekele then walk down the back stretch and around the second turn before they stepped off the track. Neither of them shook any hands with anyone while they were walking.

Compare that with Broe and Kevin Sullivan (who caught up with Broe shortly after the KB thing) who walked down the back stretch together and shook hands/high fived spectators/fans the entire way.

I understand Bekele just had an embarassing race, and that he has some serious personal tragedy to deal with, but the entire building (not just the Ethopian fans) were extremely supportive of him the entire time he was in the building. It would have been a nice gesture for him to acknowledge them (and his fellow competitors) after the race.

I was there last year when Gebrselassie ran this meet. Bekele has a looooooong way to go to match Geb's stature in the running community. Geb is the epitome of class. KB would do well to learn from him.

Papa Smurf wrote:

From what I can tell Bekele pats Cragg, an Irishman, on the back and refuses to acknowledge the Americans, Ritzenhein and Broe. The only logical conclusion that I can come to is that Kenenisa is opposed to U.S. occupation of Middle Eastern countries and he is punishing AZmerican track fans (George Bush?) by not congratulating American runners on their mediocre races. He obviously hopes that his cold heartedness towards Broe and Ritzenhein will make George Bush and Condoleeza Rice rethink their involvement in Iraq and order American troops to recede

This made me laugh for a long time. Thank you!

Kinshasha wrote:

So I ask why he has shunned American runners who have lost to him

Because they are usually so far behind.

He ain't going to wait around forever for them to finish just to shake their hand!!

trackhead wrote:

But in 2001 (when Ritz ran world juniors against Bekele) Bekele did not speak any English. He just started sometime in 2003.

I'm confused. Why does it take the ability to speak English to shake someone's hand? Is it necessary to explain the physics of the gesture or it historical context? Does one person ask, "Will you shake my hand?"

I make no judgments about Bekele due to his willingness or unwillingness; I just don't see why language is a factor.

I was responding to the part of the article where, in 2001 at Ostend, Rtiz "asked Bekele for training tips" and Bekele said nothing.

I cannot shake hands regardless of where you are from or how slow you are.

Could someone please put a blouse on me?

Thanks in advance.

Kinshasha..

let me ask you this.. why dont the americans shake kenenisas hand..

you dumb a$$

Venus de Milo wrote:

I cannot shake hands regardless of where you are from or how slow you are.

Could someone please put a blouse on me?

Thanks in advance.

Wow!

There used to be Venus de Milo. It is a long time since I heard about it.

When asked how many medal ceremonies you have seen you said very few.

can you be specific and tell me which ones you have seen. I am suspecting that you are from the US.. because no one else will ever make such a ignorent comment.

Anyway, if you are indeed from the US then I suspect that you have seen none.. and were afraid to admit it.

Please don't act like a fool and make stupid statements about someone you don't even know.

YOU ARE A STUPID LITTLE MAN>> I AGREE WITH THE CONCLUSION

Tell me one thing that Kenenisa has said or done in his career.. outside of this incident that suggests that he is not friendly towards other runners...I can't think that you can judge a person in his mental state.. The guy is a complete basket case...imagine having to carry your dead finace into a car.. its not something you get over in 2-3 weeks.. especially in our culture where everything is extreme...Please see the following quote and linked article.......... "Kenenisa has now based his training from the Sheraton, from where he sets out to the mountains with colleague marathoner Tesfaye Tola. “Kenenisa is going through a very difficult time and more than any time he needs his friends by his side. He sometimes breaks down into tears in the middle of his training. But as they say ‘time heals all wounds’,” His personal coach said. ..........I do hope that you fans give him a second chance...

the real question:

how long will it take bekele to annihilate all cultural norms of manners?

I've shaking carl lewis's hand twice

Maybe he doesn't like white americans instead and views them as evil doers. Is he Muslim?

e

id wrote:

He probably wipes his butt with his left hand too. Let's analyze this as well.

from the koran

Shake not hands with westerners. Their right hands is unclean as wipe their asses with it.

Abu wrote: "from the koran....Shake not hands with westerners. Their right hands is unclean as wipe their asses with it."

The funny thing about this situation is that Broe extended his LEFT hand to Bekele in Boston. Did he do it on purpose? Who knows, but it was most likely due to the fact that KB was to Broe's left as they were walking towards each other.

I'm not saying KB is a jerk for doing this, it just struck me as very odd at the time.

Ultra Gal wrote:

Maybe he doesn't like white americans instead and views them as evil doers. Is he Muslim?

\

Me thinks if this was the case he would simply not make an annoying trip to boston to run in a crappy little indoor meet that no one (including most people in the US) care about.

He is also not Muslim.

I would also argue that shy people whom are successful are quite frequently mistaken for being arrogant. Just because you think that they are awesome doesn't make their insecurities any less prevelent and doesn't make their resultant social misteps any less frequent.

ZZrunZZ wrote:

Abu wrote: "from the koran....Shake not hands with westerners. Their right hands is unclean as wipe their asses with it."

The funny thing about this situation is that Broe extended his LEFT hand to Bekele in Boston. Did he do it on purpose? Who knows, but it was most likely due to the fact that KB was to Broe's left as they were walking towards each other.

I'm not saying KB is a jerk for doing this, it just struck me as very odd at the time.

You spent how much time with that idiotic answer?

Bekele is not Muslim.