15 yr old just ran a 27:26 10K at the World Junior Championships!

He's the next Bekele, or the next Hamza Driouch/Cornelius Chirchir.

This is probably how the rest of the world reacted to seeing at 15 year old Lebron or Greg Oden

habs wrote:

Video interview with him here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyvuSeM0gE

He looks and sounds very young. Certainly under 19.

Dude has a solid beard shadow. Looks like he could grow a solid mustache. He is at least 18

Mr. Obvious wrote:

For real wrote:

Isn't it that you turn 16 by the end of the year? So you can be 15 at the games as long as you turn 16 by December 31.

That sounds right, but like I said, I haven't been following closely.

So, here are the age requirements. He would be eligible for the 5000 by virtue of tuning 16 before the end of the year, but he is still underage for the 10000.

Junior Athletes: Any athlete aged 18 or 19 years on 31 December in the

year of the competition (born in 1997 or 1998) may

compete in any event except the Marathon and 50km

Race Walk.

Youth Athletes: Any athlete aged 16 or 17 years on 31 December in the

year of the competition (born in 1999 and 2000) may

compete in any event except the throwing events,

Heptathlon, Decathlon, 10,000m, Marathon and Race

Walk.

Athletes Younger than 16: No athlete younger than 16 years of age on 31 December

in the year of the competition (born in 2001 or later) may

compete at the Olympic Games.

El Keniano wrote:

For real wrote:

Just because you guys cannot tell Africans apart does not make him an age cheat.

He has a baby face and is clearly young. People who are saying he looks in his 20s are either being willfully blind or are unable to distinguish African features.

Let these people think want they want. The minute I saw this kid and The gold medalist on the start line, I instantly thought they looked 16 and wouldn't be able to keep up. Hope he goes on to great things. My only fear is that so few of these precocious runners fulfill their potential as seniors. Asbel Kiprop is one of very few.

He's already fulfilling his potential as a senior.

Ben L Wrong wrote:

He's the next Bekele, or the next Hamza Driouch/Cornelius Chirchir.

Explains why Bekele is over the hill as soon as he hit '30'

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Mr. Obvious wrote:

That sounds right, but like I said, I haven't been following closely.

So, here are the age requirements. He would be eligible for the 5000 by virtue of tuning 16 before the end of the year, but he is still underage for the 10000.

Junior Athletes: Any athlete aged 18 or 19 years on 31 December in the

year of the competition (born in 1997 or 1998) may

compete in any event except the Marathon and 50km

Race Walk.

Youth Athletes: Any athlete aged 16 or 17 years on 31 December in the

year of the competition (born in 1999 and 2000) may

compete in any event except the throwing events,

Heptathlon, Decathlon, 10,000m, Marathon and Race

Walk.

Athletes Younger than 16: No athlete younger than 16 years of age on 31 December

in the year of the competition (born in 2001 or later) may

compete at the Olympic Games.

Jacob Kiplimo is running the 5000m only in the Olympics.

I would really like to see a birth certificate, a birth certificate that is has been looked at by a document examiner and deemed legitimate. He does look young, but it is hard to gauge the age of Kenyans and the like based on looks alone. They start out black and skinny, and pretty much stay that way. Unless you're Kip Keino, He eats well.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

If he is 15 and the rules have not changed from last cycle he will not be eligible for Rio. Not too many age limits but you have to be 16 for 10k.

Wow, that's a bummer.

20 miles from kindergarten, wrote:

ugub wrote:

What does that theory have to do with this?

Obviously too complex for your little brain, kddk.

Seriously.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

If he is 15 and the rules have not changed from last cycle he will not be eligible for Rio. Not too many age limits but you have to be 16 for 10k.

Ridiculous rules wrote:

Wow, that's a bummer.

He could run a major $$$ marathon and get rich.

If he's 18, 19, or 20 who cares. A 27:26 at any age is incredible. The talent in Africa is still emerging. We haven't seen a limit yet.

I have posted extensively on this board about age cheating; I am not going to cover old ground, do a Search on "Age Fraud" if you are interested. Every youth and junior male world record over 400m is fake, not a single one of those records is legit. One of America’s greatest distance runners, Dathan Ritzenhein’s greatest accomplishment is finishing 3rd at world junior cross. WJrXC in some years is more competitive than the U.S. senior national XC Championships. For more perspective, there is no guarantee Alan Webb would have medaled at the WJrs or even America’s junior 800m record Donavan Brazier. Several Africans have 1:43x 800m at the World Youth Championships. When Mary Cain won the World Junior 3K, it was one of the few times Africa actually used high school girls. If Cain had ran her specialty, the 1500, she most definitely would have lost. The reason why Africa choose to run high school girls in the 3K is a mystery. Why isn’t the world record in the 800m 1:38, or 3:23 for the 1500, or 12 flat of the 5K, or 26 flat for the 10K, or 1:59 for the marathon. If just a few of these African juniors made what would be considered a normal progression, the middle and long distance world records would be way below what they currently are. The fact is, most of these supposedly junior phenoms made very little to no improvement over their junior marks. I suspect some of them were at their physical peak, in their mid to late-20s while competing as a junior. While athletes like David Rudisha and Asbel Kiprop, never had mind blowing junior performances, had documented ages and continued to improve.

Don't focus too much on what the athletes looks like because in many cases, nowadays, African countries will exclude athletes from youth and junior completions because they look old. Although there have some really old looking athletes in age level competitions, but several years ago African countries started excluding really old looking dudes to add some legitimacy to the process, when in fact they don’t care how old the athlete actually is. What is sad, age fraud doesn’t just affect American and other countries, but it denies opportunities for age appropriate African athletes. Among the males, it is very rare for Kenyan Secondary School Champion to even be invited to compete for a spot on the youth or junior national team. The Youth and Junior athletes are usually unknown athletes with no grade school and age group performances that would document their age and who have been training in professional training groups. People perhaps think of age cheating as 20 year old posing as an 17 year old, in some cases, these athletes are in their late 20s competing in World Youth competitions.

What is equally sad is the fact that the IAAF allows this to happen. The fact is, most Kenyans for example, born in the last 20 years have a documented record of their birth and/or a number of ways to approximate their age. Other sports take age cheating much more seriously, FIFA for example has banded entire national teams for age cheating and routinely uses bone scans and dental X-rays when an athlete’s age is in question. If FIFA finds more than 3 athletes on a team overage, they simple exclude the entire team from competition.

Bob Schul Country wrote:

habs wrote:

Video interview with him here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyvuSeM0gE

He looks and sounds very young. Certainly under 19.

Dude has a solid beard shadow. Looks like he could grow a solid mustache. He is at least 18

Proves nothing.

I had a beard and so many pubes when I was 14 I had to shave and manscape. I didn't break 28, but I did go sub 29. And I'm a white Murican.

he's not 15. probably 18 or 19end of that part of the thread.very good time though! let's see how he progresses

Emerald Isle wrote:

How can that be? It's incredible that a reputed 15 yr old can run that fast!!!

Well, if this athlete is age-cheating (and I have no idea and take no stance on the question) it appears he has overshot his target, as he won't be eligible for the Olympics in the 10k.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Well, if this athlete is age-cheating (and I have no idea and take no stance on the question) it appears he has overshot his target, as he won't be eligible for the Olympics in the 10k.

He didn't qualify for the 10K in the Olympics, so why is anyone talking about this? The qualifying window is already passed.

Also, he isn't 15, thank you TrackCoach for setting straight what should be obvious by now

He may not be 15 but he doesn't look more than 19 based on the interview. Either way he's going to have at least several more years to develop before he peaks (Assuming he stays healthy and trains well). So he'll be a gold medal threat next Olympics.

habs wrote:

Video interview with him here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyvuSeM0gE

He looks and sounds very young. Certainly under 19.

Please. He looks and sounds like he's in his early 20's. Great talent but not a teen.