Paul Chelimo trying so hard to be loved in the US

moist wrote:

wow dude wrote:

A 20 second drop in his 5K over a 4 year period? Oh my goodness! And what's that? His kick improved after becoming a professional athlete? Holy sh!t alert the authorities!

Obviously you know very little about elite running. 13:20s to Olympic silver should definitely raise eyebrows, especially with a large gap in racing in between.

Hmm, who else has large gaps in racing and then busts out world-beating results? ....

Makhloufi

Ayana

etc, etc

Also let's not forget he ran 3:40 for 1500m in college. Now he can close 52 in a 13:06 race. There are red flags all. over. the place.

Don't forget Lasse Viren.

No one in Kenya cares about his decision to emigrate. Good for him. He's no big loss like a Stephen Cherono/Said Saif Shaheen or a Ruth Jebet. And he doesn't continue to live in Kenya whilst representing another country like Shaheen, Jebet and many others, so he really is American.

However, what I find interesting is that he has to distance himself as much as possible from his Kenyan background to stand a chance of being loved in the US. We're talking about a country where 'ethnics' proudly celebrate their roots: Italian-American Heritage Month; St Patrick's Day; Cinco de Mayo ... you have to wonder if it's racial. Heck, even Barack Obama had to play down the Kenyaness.

Paul Chelimo is good looking!

Wrong on both accounts.

Chelimo still has work obligations in the US and could still train here at a high level even if he was running for Kenya, and then go back and kick their ass like he has been doing.

The Chelanga uproar was absurd, from a bunch of snowflakes who read more into the comment than was there. El K does this with people all the time.

Chelimo lost to Lalang in 2013 but had been dealing with IT band injury since the previous cross country season. In 2012, he barely lost to Cam Levins and both closed that 5,000m race in 54 seconds. His 3:40 also came completely solo in an early season meet where he went out in 1:56.

The speed and talent has always been there but he dealt with injury after his sophomore year of college and then went into basic training. Anybody who paid attention to him in college knew he would blow up eventually.

Bad Wigins wrote:

How many threads are there about how many golds Komen would have won? There's no point, as it would take about 20 lbs of EPO to measure up to 7:20.

FIFY

"I wouldn't recommend racing in Africa. Super thankful for 11th place overall"

"Omg I didn't meant what you're thinking"

"Very disappointing. My comment was a compliment for how tough the conditions were in Africa & respect for the great talent"

"Seriously, that's not what I meant! I was being sarcastic! It more like respect"

As usual, the snowflakes read into something that wasn't there and got their feelings hurt for no good reason.

El Keniano wrote:

Just saw this on the front page and I literally laughed out loud in a dentist's waiting room. Now the other folks in line think I'm a nut. As if ... he never made any Kenyan team at any level before and the only team he'd make now if he returned is the runningyourmouthmpics. Dude has a mouth on him, I'll hand him that.

This is what I don't like about this guy. He can (and should) big up his new country all he wants, but to diss his old one for brownie points? Class! First Sam Chelanga now Chelimo, America you're getting the best of our boys. How ever will we replace them?

I'd love to see him try this shyte in Kenya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uRAz6mMwoA

+1

macdaddy wrote:

Where? What? wrote:

They can't even run under 13:00 anymore. I would pick the combination of True, Mead, Hill, and Jenkins over any current Kenyan combination.

Neither have any of the guys you just mentioned.

Both the Kenyan 5k team and American 5k team are extremely weak right now.

Mead is the only guy to have broken 13:05 since 2015...

The only American with ANY upside at the 5k distance is Jenkins.

Well... Chelimo ran 13:03 in Rio. Jenkins didn’t even make the final in London, while Chelimo and Hill did. US 5k guys are better than Kenyan 5k guys overall right now, regardless of how you look at it. Chelimo, Jenkins, Hill, True and even Mead could or could have broken 13 minutes in the right race for sure. I will admit that Hill needs to work on his strength, he is an absolute beast at 3k (7:30/world indoor silver) and has a 3:35 1500, but it doesn’t seem like it translates up to the 5k as well. Idk what happened to Caleb Ndiku though, he hasn’t been close to his form from previous years.

PrZ wrote:

Idk what happened to Caleb Ndiku though, he hasn’t been close to his form from previous years.

He probably had his feelings hurt by Chelimo and Chelanga and went home to play with his toys by himself.

I don't get it. People complain about the sport losing popularity because of dominance by "faceless Africans" and then we get a guy who is not only good but has 1000 times the personality of Rupp and people are pissed that he is brash.

Consider me a Paul Chelimo fan.

whambulance wrote:

"I wouldn't recommend racing in Africa. Super thankful for 11th place overall"

"Omg I didn't meant what you're thinking"

"Very disappointing. My comment was a compliment for how tough the conditions were in Africa & respect for the great talent"

"Seriously, that's not what I meant! I was being sarcastic! It more like respect"

As usual, the snowflakes read into something that wasn't there and got their feelings hurt for no good reason.

Lol that thread was classic. A bunch of Kenyans who can barely speak English twisting Sam's words just so they have something to complain about.

Are you saying that Chelimo does not pay taxes? How do you know this?

Paul Chelimo is not a no-name and generally, your assessment is not accurate about him. Paul Chelimo did something very Michael Stember-like and decided that he was not going to wait for the pack. Chelimo showed us his natural prowess and was finally, FINALLY, someone who broke from the stupidity of tactical racing and decided to go BTTW and leg out a 5K. Practically all of us have complained once, twice or a plethora of times about how much we dislike tactical racing, so Chelimo showed people what they were going to get. He showed us, and he also showed his increasing ability to perform on the world stage. Paul Chelimo should automatically be accepted with the Bernards, Mebs, and Abdis of American society. So what...he has a mouth. If that was a basis for anything real within the running world, then practically every single one of us on letsrun should be viewed as stupid ne'er-do-wells because most of us have mouths that can rival or beat Chelimo. The only difference, and this is major, is that he wins qualifiers and places in championships, and, well, we don't. We run our mouths non-stop here in almost virtual anonymity while Chelimo speaks openly and backs it up with his time. Now, given that, what is your real deal with Chelimo? If you are from Kenya, then accept that he is not in your country anymore, accept that in America he can say what he wishes, and back a different Kenyan. We have Chelimo. Nyah. Mike

El Keniano wrote:

Just saw this on the front page and I literally laughed out loud in a dentist's waiting room. Now the other folks in line think I'm a nut. As if ... he never made any Kenyan team at any level before and the only team he'd make now if he returned is the runningyourmouthmpics. Dude has a mouth on him, I'll hand him that.

This is what I don't like about this guy. He can (and should) big up his new country all he wants, but to diss his old one for brownie points? Class! First Sam Chelanga now Chelimo, America you're getting the best of our boys. How ever will we replace them?

I'd love to see him try this shyte in Kenya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uRAz6mMwoA

Thanks for proving our point, ElK

I'm not huge on foreigners racing for the USA and being Americans in name only but Chelimo has embraced his citizenship just like Meb and Lagat did. He is following their same trajectory of popularity. The crowds in Boston and NYC go crazy for Meb and the track public is starting to react the same way to Chelimo. Besides, who can hate his kamikazee style? it is like watching Pre run again.

El Keniano wrote:

https://youtu.be/Kepj3dPVdvM?t=6m36s

How'd that work out for Kwemoi when it matters? He lost to Gregorek lol

1 2 Jakub Holuša Czech Republic (CZE) 3:38.05 Q

2 2 Timothy Cheruiyot Kenya (KEN) 3:38.14 Q

3 2 Marcin Lewandowski Poland (POL) 3:38.32 Q

4 2 Chris O'Hare Great Britain (GBR) 3:38.59 Q

5 2 Fouad Elkaam Morocco (MAR) 3:38.64 Q

6 2 Nick Willis New Zealand (NZL) 3:38.68 q

7 2 John Gregorek United States (USA) 3:38.68 q

8 2 Jordan Williamsz Australia (AUS) 3:38.93

9 2 Ronald Kwemoi Kenya (KEN) 3:39.47

El Keniano wrote:

No one in Kenya cares about his decision to emigrate. Good for him. He's no big loss like a Stephen Cherono/Said Saif Shaheen or a Ruth Jebet. And he doesn't continue to live in Kenya whilst representing another country like Shaheen, Jebet and many others, so he really is American.

However, what I find interesting is that he has to distance himself as much as possible from his Kenyan background to stand a chance of being loved in the US. We're talking about a country where 'ethnics' proudly celebrate their roots: Italian-American Heritage Month; St Patrick's Day; Cinco de Mayo ... you have to wonder if it's racial. Heck, even Barack Obama had to play down the Kenyaness.

If you've spent any time in the US (which, from your other posts, it seems like you have), you'll know that most Americans with European heritage (or any heritage for that matter) don't really care about each others' heritages; they just want to feel good about their own. It's already obnoxious when some plastic Irish or Italian goes around celebrating. And it doesn't make it any better when a non-Euro descendant American does it either.

Having said that, I can better understand if first and 1.5 generation people (like Chelimo, even though he is apparently, as you say, trying to show distance from Kenya presently) having emotional ties to their original countries. Kudos to him for fully drinking the kool-aid!