Category — Kenya

From china.org:

The Kenyan government said on Monday that it would give cash rewards for the gold medalists in the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games next month.

President Mwai Kibaki said gold medalists will earn 750,000 shillings (about 11,000 U.S. dollars) while silver and bronze medalists will get 500,000 shillings (7,500 dollars) and 250,000 shillings (3,700 dollars) respectively.

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If you were the head of a national Olympic team, you’d be glad to have Isaiah Kiplagat’s problem: picking who to send to the Beijing Olympics from a pool of world champion marathoners.

Here’s his take on the matter according to Xinhua:

“Kenyan athletes won a total of 50 marathon races last year and so far they have won 25 therefore you will agree with me that coming up with six names from such a pool is a monumental task,” Kiplagat said.

Eventually, Kenya’s athletics officials named the following for the men’s marathon team: 2008 London Marathon winner Martin Lel, his runner up in the same race Samuel Wanjiru and this week’s winner of the Boston marathon Robert Cheruiyot.

World marathon Champion Luke Kibet and winner of this year’s Rotterdam marathon William Kipsang are on standby.

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Some of them are training in London to escape the violence at home.

Former marathon world record holder Paul Tergat is not going to the Olympics. Why the absence? Here’s why according to the man himself:

“I have recently come back from training and I’m not fit enough for the Olympics. I only recently completed a military training course and have not trained well enough for the Olympics. I have participated in three Olympics before and that is quite an achievement.”

At 38, maybe Tergat is planning to hang his running shoes? He’s had a successful career, having held the marathon world record for four years, so we don’t think he’ll be regretting this decision to miss the Olympics this year.

Janeth Jepkosgei won the 800 meters during the World Championships in Osaka, Japan last year. If she wins a gold medal in Beijing, she will be the first woman from Kenya to bag an Olympic Gold.

Will she beat her opponents, the heightened expectations of her people, and the pressure that comes with being the world champion? We don’t know. But we will be watching her event to find out.

You can read more about Janeth at wikipedia. Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images.