Kenya's new talents to dominate marathon at London Olympics

Kenya's confidence and dominance in the road races cannot be questioned after consistence performances by local athletes in big city marathons. But the recent announcement by Athletics Kenya (AK) of the team to represent the country at next year's London Olympics has left more questions than answers over the rationale used to arrive on the three candidates. World marathon record holder and Berlin city winner Patrick Makau, World marathon champions Abel Kirui and Edna Kiplagat seem to have done enough, 11 months prior to the Olympics to convince the world's best athletic country they deserve automatic selection to the team. This leaves just three more places to be filled, one in the men and two for the women athletes. If you add the top performances by other Kenyans like Boston marathon champion Geoffrey Mutai 2:03.02, London winner Emmanuel Mutai, then the Kenyans are spoilt for a choice. In the women, Mary Keitany, winner in London and Florence Kiplagat the champion in Berlin both running under two hours and 20 minutes, then the officials at Athletics Kenya will have to ponder again on who to drop and retain in the squad in their bid to retain the title the late Samuel Wanjiru clinched in the streets of Beijing in 2008. However for the women race, no Kenyan has risen to that perch and the emergence of new talent in Keitany and Kiplagat, both having won the IAAF World half marathon race, has given the country new sense of imagination of how far they can go. For Marathon is on the hearts of Kenyans, and when something, or someone, has a special place in there, one can overlook their faults. Yet the Olympic Games don't come around every other year and it is every athlete's dream to win a medal on the world's biggest sporting stage. It, therefore, hardly comes as a surprise that several other top marathon runners, who at one point had hopes of pulling on the Kenyan jersey in London, have been left dejected and disappointed. Whereas in other countries like Ethiopia in 2008 the heat over selection to the Beijing Olympics reached fever pitch and even degenerated into a physical fight between two of the country's finest women's marathon runners. Dire Tune and fellow marathon Bezunesh Bekele faced off in a physical confrontation. That however, will not be experienced in Kenya, which has the top 80 marathon runners in the world's best 100 for the men and the top 20 in women has about half coming from the East Africa. In Beijing in 2008, Kenya had Robert Cheruiyot (a four time Boston winner), Martin Lel (three time London winner) and Samuel Wanjiru with both Luke Kibet (then World Champion) and William Kipsang (2008 Rotterdam winner) warming up at the reserve bench. In women Kenya had a less formidable squad led by Catherine Ndereba (the World Champion from Osaka and Olympic silver Medallist in Athens 2004), Martha Komu (then Paris winner) and Salina Kosgei as Rita Jeptoo was named as a reserve. Will Kenya have such a strong line up again? "The final selection will be tough, considering the athletes' good form and times, but it will also be easy to select the team to the London Games. Our only hope is for these athletes to uphold their form," Athletics Kenya chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said in Nairobi after announcing the wild card selections. "Makau's feat is a reason enough to have him in the team while the fire from Daegu must at all cost be upheld towards the London Games," added Kiplagat. Other gold medallists from Daegu, who will benefit from the wild cards, are (Abel) Kirui, Edna Kiplagat (marathon), David Rudisha (800m), Asbel Kiprop (1500m), Vivian Cheruiyot (5000m, 10,000m) and Ezekiel Kemboi (Steeplechase). But athlete agent Barnabas Korir was first to voice his disgust at the move, saying it will kill the spirit of competition among the other athletes and allow complacence to creep in. "We can not afford to do this a year before the Olympics. What is the rush for? Somebody might emerge and break the world record, will they include him in the team or will they drop those selected already?" he asked. For this selected, it was all praise. "I want to repay the gesture by dedicating my preparations for London by participating in selected road races and half marathons. I pray to God for good health," said 26-year-old Makau. Kirui, who won gold in Daegu in 2:07:38, said the early selection gives them ample time to prepare for London. "That is good news as it will give me ample time to train and focus well. What else will I want in this world with an Olympic Games medal hanging around my neck," said Kirui.