I talked to Andy Arnold in Kenya this morning. ARnold was packing up to return to the states. Arnold said it's been hard to watch much of the olympics as it's on at like 3-4 am.
I asked him about what has surprised him in Rio. Arnold said that he wasn't surrpised by Kamworor's flop in Rio. He'd talked to a few Police coaches before the Olympics and they didn't think Kamworor was in great shape as Kam was battling some sort of injury. Arnold said that the one thing that stunned him was Ndiku's flop.
In terms of the 1500, Arnold said he talked to Kiprop last week. Kiprop told him, "It's an Olympic final - anyone can win." When talking about the other two Kenyans Kiprop was concerned about Manangoi's kick in the last 100 as he's got a great close. As for Kwemoi, Arnold said he was very strong and a threat if the pace was hot but he didn't think it would be hot.
According to Arnold, when talking about the non Kenyans, Kiprop said you never know what type of Makhloufi is going to show up. Kiprop said that Centro has shown himself to be in great shape this year. Kiprop said if you are with Centro with 100 meters left it's very dangerous as he's got great tactics and a great close but from 500 to 300 out not that strong.
Base on this, Arnold guessed Kiprop would want to be rolling from at least 250 out.
In terms of the marathon, Arnold said that many guys over there view Kipchoge as being unbeatable. Arnold said that he talked to Kipchoge a week or two ago for the first time and was blown away. "I've never met a guy more focused in my life. He had almost a monkish discipline," said Arnold.
Al lof that being said, Arnold said some guys were talking up Stanley Biwott for the upset as he used to race in Brazil a lot and is a proven hot weather runner.
I then asked him about Wesley Korir and he said that everyone just laughs and thinks his selection was some sort of political/publicity stunt.