Star Kenyan marathon runner banned over training no-show

NAIROBI, Feb 28 (AFP) - Kenya's two-time London marathon

runner-up Susan Chepkemei has been banned from all competition till

the end of the year for not showing up at training for next month's

world cross-country championships, athletics officials said here

Monday.

The decision was taken at an urgent executive committee meeting

of Athletics Kenya (AK) called to discuss Chepkemei's future after

she failed to show up for training and compete in an international

race in Puerto Rico on Sunday.

"Chepkemei has been dropped from the team with immediate

effect," AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat told reporters.

"After being removed, she will be banned from any competition

anywhere in the world up to December 30."

The ban will stop Chepkemei from competing in the London

marathon in April where she was set to renew her intense rivalry

with reigning world record holder Paula Radcliffe.

The 29-year-old runner finished second to Radcliffe in 2002 and

2003.

The pair were also involved in an epic head-to-head contest

lasting some two hours at the New York marathon in November before

Radcliffe broke away in the final straight to win the race.

Kiplagat said the severe action against Chepkemei, who committed

a similar offence before the 2002 world championships in Lausanne,

Switzerland, would serve as a warning to other athletes.

The athletics chief said they would ask to the International

Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to cancel the contract

of Chepkemei's agent if it is proven he colluded with the athlete in

the training no-show.

"We are taking this action in order to salvage our pride," he

said. "We have been accused of having no teeth to bite with and that

agents are ruling over us."

Kiplagat said similar action will also be meted out on the

three-time women's short-course champion Edith Masai if it is

established she feigned injury to avoid competing at the March 19-20

cross country world championships in France.

AK has ordered a medical report to be produced within seven days

on the condition of Masai who claimed to have suffered a leg injury

on the eve of the national championships earlier this month.

Kiplagat recalled that Masai had skipped the 2000 All-Africa

Games in Nigeria and dropped out of the Athens Olympics last August

and yet still managed to set a record in the 5,000 metres only days

after the Games ended.

Surely Athletics Kenya don't have the power to ban her from all races this year?

I'm very surprised that they can ban her from running the London Marathon. Its no wonder so many athletes are deserting the country.

Could this be a cover for something else they are not telling us about.

It would be far easier to feign an injury!!!

This "deserting" as you put it - is nothing more than glorified people trafficing!!! Taking human rights back years.

whatif wrote:

This "deserting" as you put it - is nothing more than glorified people trafficing!!! Taking human rights back years.

Its not quite the same is it? Its insensitive to compare the current trend to slavery. All kenyans who have left the country have down in on their own free will.

While he's at it, Kiplagat should start on the paper work for Qatari citizenship...

Kiplagat is one of the fools setting the agenda on the IAAF council. Say no more; no need to ask why our sport loses ground on every other.

leaders wrote:

Kiplagat is one of the fools setting the agenda on the IAAF council. Say no more; no need to ask why our sport loses ground on every other.

leaders wrote:

Kiplagat is one of the fools setting the agenda on the IAAF council. Say no more; no need to ask why our sport loses ground on every other.

Leaders,

Kiplagat is not a fool, at least as far as I and a majority of Kenyans are concerned. He didn't qualify to be a member of IAAF council due to his foolishness. Furthermore, he doesn't lead one of the most vibrant and active athletics associations (AK) because he is foolish. It just doesn't square with my intelligence.

That said, let me address the issue at hand.

To begin with, I am not sure that AK can ban (or cause to be banned thereof) any Kenyan from running anywhere on planet earth. That startled me abit.

However, he has a point and will receive the backing of virtually all Kenyans me included.

Masai is behaving like a small godess, a tin god. She is great yes! She has come to our defence when the Ethiopians were ravaging us on the track and cross country championships but that doesn't give her a license to do as she pleases.

Athens broke my heart. Masai is- or was at that time- better than Isabella Bosibori Ochichi who took Silver behind Ethiopia's Meseret Defar.

If she hadn't pulled out, they'd have applied some team tactics and probably even change the outcome of the race. Who knows?

NOw, some say she (Edith) was injured and I believed it at the time. However, remember that she dropped out during the qualifiers at Nairobi only to be added to the team. Then after the golden league circuit and just before the olympics, she pulled out of the national team citing fatigue. AK and other top athletes pleaded with her and she went to Athens albeit reluctantly - from what we now know.

A week later after pulling out of Athens finals, she went to Europe where she ran like a bat from hell and set a course record in the same distance and this left me wondering, is this the same Pokot girl who was injured??

Now my worst fears are confirmed. she is sabotaging her own country and it seems she has infected her colleague at work- Susan Chepkemei.

Chepkemei, Okayo, Masai and Ndereba have been dubbed the Kenyan golden prison girls.

they are all prison warders (wardress).

Okayo and Ndereba were recently promoted in rank by the Kenya Prisons commissioner but not Chepkemei and Masai.

It is highly rumoured (and this is yet to be proven) that Masai was MAD. She was breathing fire and brimstone because in her own words, and this has some truth in it, they (Okayo and Ndereba) haven't represented Kenya as often as her and especially Okayo. Okayo only rep. kenya at Athens Marathon. Masai has worn that vest more times than any of them.

This is the alleged bone of contention.

I hope it isn't so but just in case it is so, and it is further proven that Masai was not injured during this years XC qualifiers, they should be banned for whatever period even if it is one year. Infact Masai's actions if true border on treason. I am not impressed.

I am furious!

"Kiplagat is not a fool, at least as far as I and a majority of Kenyans are concerned. He didn't qualify to be a member of IAAF council due to his foolishness. Furthermore, he doesn't lead one of the most vibrant and active athletics associations (AK) because he is foolish. It just doesn't square with my intelligence".

I'm sorry, SonNative....but you're a little naive and mistaken. The word fool was as nice as I could muster.

Not sure what Kenyans you talk with recently....

leaders wrote:

"Kiplagat is not a fool, at least as far as I and a majority of Kenyans are concerned. He didn't qualify to be a member of IAAF council due to his foolishness. Furthermore, he doesn't lead one of the most vibrant and active athletics associations (AK) because he is foolish. It just doesn't square with my intelligence".

I'm sorry, SonNative....but you're a little naive and mistaken. The word fool was as nice as I could muster.

Not sure what Kenyans you talk with recently....

Let me say it plainly.

Kiplagat is patriotic. He is doing what he is doing for the sake of his motherland and nothing less. Noah Ngeny thought he'd hold us at ransom. He was yanked from the team and the rest is history. He has never found his footing. Kiplagat isn't being driven by mischief or personal vendetta because he has noting against poor Susan or Edith.

Kiplagat is certainly not supporting the athletes in question.

This is all about a personal power trip, ego and trying to control others, nothing else.

A patriot, yes, just like when he facilitated the sale of many of Kenya's top young runners to Qatar. Truth is, Kiplagat develops a sudden case of patriotism any time his authority is publicly challenged or maybe when it creates an opportunity for him to milk some "generosity" out of an agent to get athletes on the team.

Chepkemei has no more obligation to run for Kenya than does Tim Broe to run for the US squad; running the trials does not constitute a contract to accept one's berth on the squad. It is certainly within Kiplagat's power to boot Chepkemei from the squad, beyond that Kiplagat is just a windbag much like so many of Kenyans so-called leaders who have done so much to stop corruption that European and US leaders have once again suspended aid to the country until matters improve. Chepkemei clearly can't care less about being dropped from the XC squad, Kiplagat is clearly frustrated that he has no real power over her, and his making noise about things does nothing more than confirm the correctness of her position.

In the recent past Kenya's coaches have done such a good job "preparing" their athletes for major championships that many have burned out and wasted their entire seasons. Who can fault Chepkemei if she wants to pass that up and chase some cash in Puerto Rico and London. The day AK is in a position to offer some real financial incentives beyond the stunning $10 per diem being handed out in the training camps is the day that Kiplagat can talk. Till then, and until evidence is provided to the contrary, Kiplagat should accept the fact that Chepkemei has declined to join the Kenyan squad and leave it at that. Patriotism is nothing more than card played when people won't do what you want them to, and when you have nothing of real value to offer them. Chepkemei's loyalty to her family, herself, and her sport far outweigh any obligation she might have to represent a team that represents an abstract geographical vestige of East Africa's colonial era. She can't eat, save, or buy a house with patriotism.

RealPatriot wrote:

Chepkemei's loyalty to her family, herself, and her sport far outweigh any obligation she might have to represent a team that represents an abstract geographical vestige of East Africa's colonial era. She can't eat, save, or buy a house with patriotism.

Real patriot,

Kiplagat is not a patriot but you are a real patriot. Wow!

I don't intend to debunk your self proclaimed assertion as being the "real patriot." It is a lofty pedestal to be on. An adorable ivory tower and a vantage monolith.

That said, what strikes me is your haughtiness. You come out as being a little patronising and scornfully condescending.

You term my country Kenya as " an abstract geographical vestige of East Africa's colonial era."

I think there,.........you bit abit too much. Perhaps more than you could chew. Whereas you have the right to say it, and whereas I'll defend to death your right to say it, Your remark is debasing. Pure and simple!

Kenya may be a developing country and yours may be whatever it is, whatever you think it is and maybe even more but that doesn't warrant you to pour scorn on others. You should thank your maker for availing to you the coincidence to be a citizen of your country. Assuming that you are American, I personally do have problems with your current government-not your country- and can cite to you a million reasons as to why- but I do not wish to be dragged into this drudgery. After all, we are running- our mouths maybe - and not politicking.

Now, you said that patriotism can't buy Chepkemei a house or feed her family. As the Americans would say, "true that."

However, maybe this has passed you over the years and is worth pointing out to you: Some of the wealthiest Kenyan runners happen to be some of the most committed to national duty. They include Paul Tergat and Moses Kiptanui. They never missed a chance to wear that red vest and by virtue of that, they are rich, stinking rich! At least by our own standards.

They have families, houses and flashy cars yet, if I may use this now tired phrase, "they were patriotic," and still are.

Chepkemei can do both. First of all, she is not running to earn money for a house. By KEnyan standards, she is not rich. She is wealthy! After all, houses in Kenya are very very cheap as compared to the U.S.A.

You also cited some things that I have thus far forgotten but that said, AK is doing a great job.

The problem I have with these runners is that they show up for the qualifiers and than start their own small little games. Why don't they stay out altogether. We do have people who can fill their positions after all.

I don't think she has a problem with national "duty"...besides, what exactly is her "duty"? Is she a slave to your nation because she happened to be born there? Must she bow to whatever race/training the country wants her to do?

More likely she is taking a stand against the ridiculous (and disasterous) training camps that year after year destroy Kenya's chances at World XC. Whoever devised the idea to forcible remove athletes from their coaches only weeks before the actual race (what are you going to accomplish in a matter of weeks??) and force them to train under s stranger is the WORST offender to Kenyan success.

SonNative,

I would certainly agree with you that Kiplagat is no fool. Indeed he is a very smart guy and an adept political operator as he demonstrated so capably during the 'elections' for top AK positions recently. A true survivor and big man of african sport.

To believe that he is acting in the best interests of Kenya seems a little naive given his track record.

It saddens me that in Kenya we now have a situation where many athletes have lost the desire to run for their country and the officials who are supposed to represent the interests of country and athletes run the sport as their own personal fiefdom. Both are able to use the behaviour of the other as part of a cycle of blame and excuses.

RR

Kenya's runners haven't lost desire to run for their country, they are just completely demoralised by the morons running the sport!

My understanding is that Kipchoge begged them to be allowed to stay and train with his coach and in his normal routine....but that the attitude was that he wouldn't know what to do or how to prepare without the 'National' coaches. Please. As if they had a clue what he was doing for the last 4-5 months; as if the National coaches have a clue themselves.....

SonNative, If thou art so patriotic, why not return to Kenya yourself and eek out a living? Clearly you have chosen to be elsewhere, likely for selfish and probably economic reasons, yet you deny Chepkemei the same privilege simply because she possesses athletic ability that you feel might help Kenya (whatever that means) defeat Ethiopia. Physician, heal thyself, and either get back to Kenya or allow Chepkemei the freedom to do as you've done.

I meant not to disparage the great cultural heritage of East Africa when I made reference to the vestige of Colonialism known as Kenya, but it is just that: a randomly defined geopolitical entity laid out by imperialist occupiers, not by its own people.

Kenya, the geographic region and the nation of peoples, is a true wonder; Kenya, the state, is a travesty. One must differentiate the two if one is to see both the beauty and the horror that coexist there. You too must draw the distinction if you are to accurately defend the good and right while damning the damnable.

Now, on to AK, whose sins are legion. Tergat and Kiptanui are certainly excellent examples of men who made their fortunes while managing to don the green and red and represent as well, and they did this in the good old days when the internal wrangling and chest thumping within AK were minimal.

They did this before the advent of the Ethiopian juggernaut, and it is unlikely that the performances they delivered in the early and mid nineties, when the Ethiopian squads had one or two major contenders and a bunch of also rans and before they faced their tribesmen clad in the maroon and white of Qatar.

They did this in the day when training camp was just that - a place where the athletes trained rather than a place where the coaches sought to assert their control and confirm their ignorance of training methods.

Under the current system, AK has demanded that athletes report to the camp and allow themselves to be "trained" by coaches whose training philosophies they know nothing of, and in many cases the Kenyan national coaches also have allegiances to specific European managers or agents, and those same managers or agents often have athletes among those being trained in the camp. This is a glaring conflict of interest, why would Jos Hermens and Michel Boeting allow their athletes to be trained by David Letting, a coach with longstanding allegiance to Rosa?

Susan Chepkemei, Eliud Kipchoge, and the others want to run for Kenya, and they want to be at their best when they do it. AK clearly has other plans.

And, in closing, one aside - has WADA made an appearance at Kigari? Out of competetion testing is a sham - had Chepkemei wanted to avoid testing, the easiest way would have been to head straight to the camp.

SonNative, I respect the emotion and fervor with which you defend your heritage, but occassionally you need to set aside the jingoism and engage the intellect.