Cram says Kenya fans showed “unacceptable levels of animosity” at XC Champs
Posted April 3rd, 2007 at 2:41 AM by Jeanie Rebb
Section: News & Results, Cross Country
Writing for The Guardian newspaper last week, Steve Cram said he was offended by the poor sportsmanship shown by the Kenyan fans at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships when Kenenisa Bekele, overcome by the heat and humidity, was forced to drop out of the race.
“In a week when fanaticism in sport has been under the microscope for all the wrong reasons, the World Cross Country championships in Mombasa on Saturday served up a distasteful example of sporting rivalry prompting unacceptable levels of animosity,” wrote Cram, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist at 1500m.
He continued:
“When the literally hot favourite, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, suffered the fate of many and dropped out of the race, thousands of Kenyan fans cheered deliriously. The fact that the athlete who had broken Bekele and gone on to win was an Eritrean was of little consequence. All that mattered was that their great tormentor, the man who had eclipsed Kenya’s heroes Paul Tergat and John Ngugi, had failed. The scenes of jubilation were as shocking as the sight of the world’s greatest cross country runner succumbing to the oppressive atmosphere.”
Read Cram’s entire article by : clicking here.
© 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Tags: john ngugi, keninisa bekele, paul terget, steve cram, the guardian, World Cross Country Championships, World XC Championships
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