Agreed, as to Kenyan doping.
I am totally fascinated by the idea that when there is widespread doping, there also is a fairytale being sold, as to WHY that group is able to beat everyone else by such huge margins.
For example, in communist bloc countries of the seventies and eighties, the fairytale being sold, was that Russia and East Germany, for example, had a system in place to identify top talent, and match each kid to the sport s/he is best suited to, and and to get nine-year-olds into full-time training, right from the get-go.
The rest of the fairytale, was that the people training and coaching them, were total disciplinarians, and that’s why the capitalist nations weren’t in the same league, in particular disciplines.
I think that it will eventually come out, that aspiring Kenyan runners, are doping early and often. And there is probably hush money being paid, by those who have an interest in keeping the “fans” signing up for road races, and buying their cheesy compression socks, or whatever.
It is convenient to spin a yarn, about running to and from school, or training hard to get out of poverty, or living at altitude, or eating a diet based on ugali, or running barefoot as kids. There are so many convenient myths for the kenyans to fall back on, and a big population of gullible westerners, who want to believe the myths,