KweséSports caught up with Kenenisa Bekele and his
coach Mersha Asrat at a local hotel in the
central business district of Addis Ababa.
Bekele remains the most accomplished world cross-
country runner in history with six long-course (12km)
and five short-course (4km) titles to his name.
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The 34-year-old is also the current holder of the
world and Olympic records in the 5,000m and
10,000m event. He has been crowned triple Olympic
gold medallist, five-time world championship
medallist and also second-fastest man in an eligible
marathon course.
The legendary Ethiopian has won the most prestigious
medals from cross-country, track and now to road
where he has reaffirmed his superiority and dominance.
Just six months ago, he reignited the thirst of many
athletic fans and bookmakers – the race to beat the
two-hour mark. Bekele went close to Dennis
Kimetto’s 2.02:57 time, which he missed by six
seconds , at the same venue in Berlin and with the
Brandenburg Gate as an imposing backdrop.
It was another case of so close, yet so far, as he
smashed his previous personal best by two minutes
and sealed the thrilling closing stages, underlined by a
battle of the ages between himself and second-placed
finisher Wilson Kipsang .
These last twelve months have been viewed as the
phase that the world record could take a tumble.
“I didn’t do it in Dubai but this year or the next, all I
want to do is to break the world record,” Bekele said.
Precisely three athletes have gone close to breaking
the world marathon record since last year: Eliud
Kipchoge , Bekele and Kipsang have inched closer to
what has been widely regarded as the human limit.
Kipchoge, who endorsed his own credentials with a
time of 2.03:05 last year in London – a lifetime
best – saw Bekele slash his time by two seconds
(2.03:03) a few months later in September in Berlin
where Kipsang was second with 2:03:13.
Kipsang begun his new season in Tokyo with a
warning, shattering the all comers record by
cementing his legendary status with fourth sub-2:04
finish as he won in 2.03.58. This pattern points to
one thing – it’s just a matter of when, rather than if,
the barrier set by Kimetto will be breached.
Dubai was earmarked as the next location at the
attempt to lower the time, but a fall that caused a calf
injury to end Bekele’s efforts before his race to beat
the clock had even started.
His interest now is on a star-studded London
marathon next month.
“Yes, after experiencing a minor injury in Dubai when I
fell down in the opening stages, I have managed to
recover fully and believe I will achieve a good result in
London.
“The race will offer good competition but you never
know what the other elite participants will bring to the
table, but personally I’m preparing well and after we
will see what is served up.
“Dubai was strange, I didn’t expect that the start line
would be so narrow and crammed up and when they
restarted the shotgun twice or thrice, it threw me off
mentally with confusion reigning in on everyone in it.
“When the fun runners are mixed with the
professional ones and pushing each other becomes
the order in such small spaces, it was an unexpected
occasion and difficult for me to come back after the
fall due to the imbalance felt in the body. It was very
tough, but the weather and pacemakers were perfect
for the job.
“Of course, it was not such a strong race; if I didn’t
fall down, I would have won the race easily, even if I
could not have broken the world record on the
course. It wasn’t difficult for me to grab the honours,”
Bekele admitted.
His demeanour showed a determined and focused
man with his sights on a even much bigger target
going forward. When asked what a star-studded
London field might push him to do, he responded
diplomatically.
“[It] depends on the weather conditions and
atmosphere there, but of course I want to run a fast
time and do better. I’m preparing myself well and
after, we will see what happens next. London is not
an easy place for timing – it has a very challenging
course, strong field and competitors. I can’t commit
to break the record but can vouch to do my best.”
However, the sensation and anticipation which has
grappled masses across the world is heightened as
science, and even technology, explore the possibility
of turning conceptions into reality where a breaking of
the sub-2-hour time is concerned. And the
assignment of the involved stakeholders like Bekele
has gathered momentum.
The Ethiopian is part of a sub-2-hour project run by
co-founder Yannis Pitsiladis, professor of sport and
exercise science at the University of Brighton. What
are Bekele’s thoughts on a project that, when
launched, sought $30-million to get rolling?
“You know, there is a little bit of confusion when it
comes to the two projects. The former was created by
professor Yannis Pitsiladis based in the UK, a
scientist, and his goal was to help athletes run faster
and improve their overall performance.
“It doesn’t matter if I am a Nike athlete. It is a
strange thing [that] I’m not included in Breaking2 and
now I am working with professor Yannis. They have a
camp for sub-2 in Eldoret, a place where they
discover and nurture talent for newcomers, offer
nutrition, physio and other aspects of training
routines. And in Ethiopia they are found in my camp
in Sululta. I’m very happy to be working with them
because they helped and are helping me to improve
my time. I’m happy with the project, I am a
beneficiary of it and we will see what happens in
future.
“Professor Yannis is always behind every
hardworking athlete in the entire project in terms of
advising as well as guiding the athletes. I hope he will
achieve something in future, sometimes there is
difficulty in budget where he did face challenges, but
we hope some companies will step forward to help
him solve that.
“We have seen improvement even recently. Kipsang
ran course record in Tokyo, so this is the value of his
project and improving by over one minute in a course
record is great. I am looking forward to more of what
this project has to offer.”
With the launch of the Breaking2 project by Nike late
last year, a trio of big names were introduced as
well – Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge , alongside
double Boston Marathon champion Lelisa Desisa of
Ethiopia and Eritrea’s world record half-marathon
holder Zersenay Tadese.
When asked about his thoughts on it, he differentiated
the duo:
“It’s difficult to answer this question because as far
as I know the sub-2-hour project is always with lots
of athletes, and not just with a few athletes like the
counterpart. It is more inclusive with athletes that
have different kit sponsors and doesn’t matter the
company. The target was to help athletes on how
they can reach maximum levels and find something
better and new. Sub-two is involved in that kind of
thinking and it’s not business or selling shoes or
sports equipment, it is all about helping athletes
reach maximum levels.”
He described his successful transition from track to
road as tough, while hailing Kipchoge, who seems to
have excelled at it.
“To leave track to come to road, talent is very
important. The talent I have as an elite athlete helped
me to achieve good results on track and switching to
road was hard and different.
“Coming into this stage I am in, I found Eliud, who
had achieved better in it than [I have] on the road.
And even before he became an Olympic champion, he
had already won major marathons.
“It has been a difficult journey because the training
routine is tedious, running 42 kilometres on a hard
surface sometimes makes you suffer injury and you
have health problems. And it’s not the same as track
where you need speed, work out [and] it’s very short.
[For the] marathon, you train for longer and at the end
you have a different result which you didn’t target, but
I want to achieve more while I am still at it.”
Bekele was left out of the Ethiopian team for the Rio
Olympics, and his disappointment shows in every
word.
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