Samuel Wanjiru: wunderkid tears up the track in Japan soon to move to marathon

Mrr82 wrote:

Vipam...its not so much that they dont have accurate BC's. Its that the countrys athletics is corrupt (whos isnt) and they cheat to get 25 year olds competing and winning in the Jr meets. And people lie about their ages to get noticed. Its been happening for years over there, and now the kenyans in Quitar are doing the same thing. Dont act like it isnt happening ALOT!

S.M might be legit. But he is hardly beyond questioning. Anyone who breaks...let alone crushes a WR these days is very questionable. Those are just the facts. Nothing against any country...as every country including us obviously have cheaters all over.

Sorry need to step in here..... BS like this does my head in!! The reality is that official sanctioning of age cheating does NOT happen a lot in Kenya. Has it happened in the past .....yes. Do some athletes still try and cheat.....yes (ultimately there is a financial motive for very poor rural people to develop name recognition / it's purely market driven economics)........ Is there an officially sanctioned campaign by the Kenyan authorities to cheat.... NO!

Despite many issues I have with the efficiency and competence of the Kenyan authorities (no generalisations in that last sentence!), they are trying to crack down on age cheats. Indeed, Gideon Ngatuny (whom I think could be the dark horse in the forthcoming world x-country chanps senior race and whom I believe may actually provide a real challenge to Bekele) was kicked out the the junior team a couple of years ago when he tried to bluff about his age.

He's running his first marathon in Fukuoka this December! Awesome.

Way to go S.W.! I always thought this guy was going to be a big part of the future of distance running.

Why does Vipam believe his age is correct? He went to Japan when he was 14 or 15 (read 16 or 18). I bet he didn't grow one inch when he was in Japan. I do not believe his age, but I do believe that he is an amazing runner who may have given a wrong birthdate to get an expense free life in Japan and taken the financial burden off his family.

In a country with no birth certificates why would anyone give their real age if there is some advantage to underestimating it with impunity?

Does anyone believe that Lopez Lomong is the age he thinks he is? He is my favorite current athlete, but any link to his true DOB was destroyed by the Sudanese atrocities. The age he uses today was given to him by Kenyan refugee officials when he survived the dangerous trek to freedom.

I'm not so sure I put ANY credibility into this bitching about DOB.

It is one thing that some soccer parents hold their 1st and 2nd kids back so they will be more competitive (which I have witnessed), I think it is a big deal to have nine year olds playing soccer against 5 and 6 year olds. This is a huge developmental difference. At 15 or 16 some people are more developed than many 20 year olds.

After puberty it really shouldn't matter anymore.

Does anyone really care that much about junior records?

BTW, Wanjiru actually looked to be about 12 when he first went to Japan.

Age verification isn't the subject with Samuel or Lopez as neither are competing as juniors today. It seems that some posters bring that up to detract from African's awesome performances. 58:35 is the world record and not the WJR for the half marathon he ran this weekend. A couple years ago Samuel didn't flock to junior championships although he was the legal age.

I don't think Japan would welcome a fully grown athlete in their high school without proper documentation of his actually birthdate. SAMUEL WANJIRU is amazing and just as exciting to watch at the 1/2 marathon distance as Kenenisa Bekele is in x-country or 10000m.

Samuel Wanjiru four 1/2 marathons

59:43 WJR......1)Senda.......10 Jul 05

59:16 WR.......1)Rotterdam...11 Sep 05

58:53 WR.......1)Rasai Kham..09 Feb 07

58:35 WR.......1)Deh Haug....17 Mar 07

Did samuel and kenenisa ever met?

It's "wunderkind", moron.

did anyone else catch that his 15k split was 1 second off the world record? It's not even mentioned in the IAAF write up. If he would have gone through 15k 2 seconds faster that's 3 world records in 1 day. This guy is a baller in all sense of meaning to the word.

he also would have won NYC this weekend. amazing!