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Post by Titchaz on Aug 24, 2008 5:57:07 GMT 3
Marathon gold for Kenya's Wanjiru Wanjiru set a phenomenal pace from the first 100m Sammy Wanjiru won Kenya's first ever gold in the men's marathon, breaking the Olympic record despite the soaring heat in Beijing. Wanjiru, who was among the leading pack which set the fast early pace, pulled away in the final kilometres to win in 2 hours six minutes and 32 seconds. Morocco's Jaouad Gharib won silver, trailing by 84 seconds, while Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede took bronze. Dan Robinson, Britain's only representative, finished in 24th place. Wanjiru, 21, and compatriot Martin Lel set a punishing pace in the first five kilometres which reduced the leading pack to eight, with Spain's Cheme Martinez the only non-African. The leading pack was then whittled down to five as Wanjiru pushed the pace up a notch at the 15km mark, and 20km later just Wanjiru, Gharib and Ethiopia's Deriba Merga could sustain the phenomenal tempo. Wanjiru always looked the stronger of the trio and the Kenyan, who made his marathon debut last year, made a final spurt to win by a comfortable margin. Gharib and Merga were left to fight it out for silver and bronze, but the latter fell away in the last two km to finish fourth. news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olym...cs/7579388.stm
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Post by politicalmaniac on Aug 24, 2008 6:47:22 GMT 3
Great olympics for Kenya, and I am glad the pessimist in me was disproved.
I started out this thread by expressing my envy of the dude Langat, the blue eyed boy, ex Kenyan now amerigo, who seemed to have it all, nice wife, and family, fame, celebrity and kwacha. I found it dismaying at the fawning by the US commentators on how indestructible he was.
Well he just lost the 5000M too! This after NOT qualifying for the 1500M! What joy! Give it up to the Ethopian Bekele, that dimunitive dude can run!
And kudos to kipchoge and the Kenyan in third for the race they gave him.
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Post by politicalmaniac on Aug 24, 2008 6:49:17 GMT 3
Marathon gold for Kenya's Wanjiru Wanjiru set a phenomenal pace from the first 100m Sammy Wanjiru won Kenya's first ever gold in the men's marathon, breaking the Olympic record despite the soaring heat in Beijing. Wanjiru, who was among the leading pack which set the fast early pace, pulled away in the final kilometres to win in 2 hours six minutes and 32 seconds. Morocco's Jaouad Gharib won silver, trailing by 84 seconds, while Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede took bronze. Dan Robinson, Britain's only representative, finished in 24th place. Wanjiru, 21, and compatriot Martin Lel set a punishing pace in the first five kilometres which reduced the leading pack to eight, with Spain's Cheme Martinez the only non-African. The leading pack was then whittled down to five as Wanjiru pushed the pace up a notch at the 15km mark, and 20km later just Wanjiru, Gharib and Ethiopia's Deriba Merga could sustain the phenomenal tempo. Wanjiru always looked the stronger of the trio and the Kenyan, who made his marathon debut last year, made a final spurt to win by a comfortable margin. Gharib and Merga were left to fight it out for silver and bronze, but the latter fell away in the last two km to finish fourth. news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olym...cs/7579388.stmWanjiru was phenomenal. How did he acquire that name? I had a friend by the name of Wa Njeri a terrific guy who spoilt my cholesterol level by insisting we imbibe and choma at every opportunity. He took his mama's name to show his disaproval at his dad.
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Post by mzee on Aug 24, 2008 12:36:28 GMT 3
Wilfred Bungei has also brought us GOLD in 800M. Congrats
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Post by mzee on Aug 24, 2008 12:38:49 GMT 3
Give it to Kenenisa Bekele. Kenyans need a new tactic to beat this guy. He is not a joke.
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Post by job on Aug 24, 2008 17:08:12 GMT 3
I think this kid Wanjiru is phenomenal.....great future awaits him too.
This was one of (if not the) best Olympic performance by Kenya.
5 Golds and a total of 14 medals.
Kenya was ranked 3rd in Olympic track and field, and 17th overall ( ahead of Jamaica). Kenya was 1st in Africa. Was that not amazing. And the Kenyan women were great!
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Post by politicalmaniac on Aug 24, 2008 17:58:20 GMT 3
Give it to Kenenisa Bekele. Kenyans need a new tactic to beat this guy. He is not a joke. I agree kabisa, this guy is just out of this world, he has a blazing kick. I remember John Ngugi in Seoul SKorea, who was in the 5000M and at the 2nd or 3rd lap was tripped, and he decided to just fungua and sprint the rest of the way. He won Gold. He can be beaten if the Kenyans jsut blaze the run in the first half using team tactics, the way they did it. Fight fire with fire!
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Post by mzee on Aug 24, 2008 19:39:26 GMT 3
PM, Paul Ereng also did something like that in 800m (Seoul). Thats what Kenyans should do with Bekele. The man is a good "kicker" and kenyans cannot wait until the last round to beat him, otherwise they will be following his (Bekele´s) game plan
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Post by Luol Deng on Aug 24, 2008 21:22:15 GMT 3
I will respond to a variety of issues raised over the course of the olympics. First of all, let me congratulate the men and women who represented Kenya in the Olympics, the last time Kenya won 5 medals was in 1988. I almost lost all hope in 1996 when the best we could manage was a single gold medal over the 3000 steeplechase.
The first factor that helped Kenya was the new depth in the Womens team, we gained 2 golds over 800 & 1500 metres. Another factor was the increased seriousness with respect to the games. Olympics and the IAAF world championships are not the most lucrative games financially, so, in the past we had Kenyan athletes attending all the lucrative grand prix races and attending the Olympics & the IAAF championships when they are burnt out. Other athletes took the Olympics & the IAAF world championships as a time to unwind before they pursue the more lucrative grand prix circuit. It was not uncommon for Kenyan athletes to set world best times before the games and then go ahead to underperform in the Olympics/IAAF then miraculously perform well in subsequent grand prix races.
With regards to the Kenyans running under different nationalities, we may be quick to blame them but some of them have been shortchanged by the Athletics administration in this country. Some of them like Stephen Cherono now running under the name Saif Said Shaheen are obnoxious but others have a bone to pick with athletics Kenya. I cannot fault Bernard Lagat, he ran well for us and you could never blame him for not trying, after all, it was him and Noah Ng'eny (where did he go to?) who upstaged the then "invincible" Hicham el-Guerrouj to give Kenya a completely unexpected gold medal in the 1500 Metres at the Sidney Olympics in 2000. There are areas in athletics administration that need immediate attention, there was a miscarriage of justice when Ezekiel Kemboi (probably because of the gold he won 4 years ago) was picked ahead of Paul Kipsiele Koech while it was clear that Kemboi illegaly hindered Koech's movement during the trials. Kemboi was stripped a medal in the African championships for dodgy jumping and is clearly past his best. That move alone cost Kenya an additional medal as Kemboi went on to finish the race in a dismal sixth place.
I would like to congratulate the Marathoners for their performance, Ndereba finished second and she is another athlete who can never be faulted on effort. Congrats to Wanjiru, after years of mediocrity in an event that Kenyans completely dominate, it is great to see Kenya claiming it's first gold in the Marathon.
The signs for the future look promising, our ladies are finally delivering the depth we need. But a few things need to be rectified. Many are still in awe of Haile Gabreselassie and Kenenisa Bekele and our long time hero Paul Tergat. The thing that Ethiopians and Tergat got right to a great extent was the selection of events to participate in. In Kenya there is a tendency in the athletes to attend all events that they can participate in, this means that they burn out quickly and retire young. Look at the athletes who were competing against Gabreselassie and co during their heydays the Komens the Japheth Kimutais the Noah Ngenys & a host of steeplechasers, they made a strong impact for a season or two then fizzled out. There was an athlete who was the answere to Gabreselassie and Bekele for one season, a certain Abraham Chebii, he was the first to beat Gabreselassie over 5000 metres. He went on to beat Gabreselassie and Bekele 3 straight times, he had something that other Kenyan athletes didn't have, a strong finishing kick, but unfortunately, he faded into oblivion.
For now, let me celebrate the achievement of the Kenyans.
Rant Over
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Post by Luol Deng on Aug 24, 2008 21:34:04 GMT 3
On another, more superstitious note, I expected Kenya to perform well this year. In 2000, Kenya won a lot of Bronze medals with very little silver and gold, so that is the year they said that it "rained bronze". In 2004 Kenya won a lot of silver medals with little gold and bronze, that year it "rained silver". In 2008 the silvers got translated into golds, I can therefore confidently say that it is raining gold this year. Hoooooray Kenya
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Post by kenyamoja on Aug 27, 2008 4:55:09 GMT 3
How about Bernard Langat's choke job. I would have been happy if he had won instead of Bekele and Ramzi but Kenyans beating him was my dream. I know he was a good runner but I always thought that the American media overhype ignored the fact that he may not have even made the Kenyan team on purely athletic basis (politics aside).
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Post by politicalmaniac on Aug 27, 2008 6:53:59 GMT 3
On another, more superstitious note, I expected Kenya to perform well this year. In 2000, Kenya won a lot of Bronze medals with very little silver and gold, so that is the year they said that it "rained bronze". In 2004 Kenya won a lot of silver medals with little gold and bronze, that year it "rained silver". In 2008 the silvers got translated into golds, I can therefore confidently say that it is raining gold this year. Hoooooray Kenya So in 2012 it will be back to sqaure one again? Few medals of little shine? eh? ;D
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Post by job on Sept 6, 2008 19:49:02 GMT 3
I had a feeling this was Kenya's best female athlete so far. At only 18, Pamela Jelimo has proved she's the 800m undisputed champion - Olympic champion, and now IAAF Golden Jackpot champion. She's even edging very close to the world record set more than two decades ago. Hope she puts the Shs 70 million heist into sound and solid investment. But I can almost guarantee, this is just the beginning. This kid will go far. Jelimo celebrating her $ 1 million IAAF Jackpot win in BelgiumBy KBCAt only 18 years Pamela Jelimo of Kenya is already a Millionaire. The teenage who has dominated this season secured the $1 Million ÅF Golden League Jackpot outright when she won the 800m in Brussels Belgium on Friday night. The other athlete who was in contention for a share of the million jackpot was high jumper Croatian Blanka Vlasic who did not win. "I couldn't find my technique on the wet track," said Vlasic. "I'm very sorry but not because of the money but because this was (to be) the consolation prize for this season but in the end I was just too tired because I had so many jumps." The Brussels golden league meet was the sixth and final stage of the ÅF Golden League this year. Jelimo ran a tactical race to cross the finish line in 1:55.16. The Olympic champion was aided to another fast time by pace maker Svetlana Klyuka who finished fourth in Beijing Olympics. World champion Janeth Kepkosgei finished second behind Jelimo in 1:58.85, with Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair third in 1:59.11. Jelimo on accepting the cheque for $1 MIllion from IAAF President Lamine Diack said, "I'm happy I realised my dream, it is the same happiness as in Beijing."
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Post by mzee on Sept 6, 2008 20:22:42 GMT 3
Job, You are completely right. This lady is something else. I think her determination can only be compared to that of the new retired athlete Moses Kiptanui, he of the 3000M steeplechase. She could have set the world record yesterday if conditions were not bad with rain and all that. Congrats Jelimo.
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