Is the World catching
up to the Kenyans?
Posted August 9th, 2007 at 8:50 PM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
With headlines such as “Current Crop of Runners Not Up to Task” and “Change Tact[ics] Or Sink”, recent articles published by Kenyan journalists have been harshly critical of Kenyan distance running. Among other concerns are that Ethiopian and Eritrean athletes are closing the gap. But are these reports accurate?
Not according to statistical evidence, which shows that Kenyan running is as dominant as ever – if not more so. I broke down the statistics into all the middle-distance and all the long-distance performances from 1997-2006. I grouped all elite (world-class) performances for middle-distance (800m, 1500m, Mile, 3000m and 300m SC) into one chart and all elite performances for distance (5000m, 10000m) into another chart. I also broke it down even further, analyzing the top 100 performances of all time for both the middle-distance and the distance categories.
The Kenyans have dominated both the middle-distance and the distance categories, both in the elite and the top 100 of all time performances. In fact, in the middle-distance category, Kenyan runners have run more top 100 all time performances tham the rest of the world combined.
Will all of this matter if the Kenyans can’t come up with more medals at Osaka and Beijing, like they hope to do (and like they didn’t in Helsinki)? I think the Kenyan running legacy is still assured. They will continue to dominate for some time to come, if not from now on.
Related Stories:
- Is the World Catching Up to the American Sprinters?
- World Catching Up To Kenya in 10,000 Meter Run
- Chicago Marathon ‘07: O’Neil, in her debut, is beginning to catch up after 10 miles
- Kenyans Make Decisive Move at 27.5K; lead pack down to 6
- Wariner, Vlasic move up to
No. 3 All-Time in Stockholm
Tags: african distance running, african journalists, african media, african runners, african running legacy, all africa, allafrica.com, Beijing, elite performances, Eritrea, eritrean, ethiopia, ethiopian, helsinki, IAAF World Championships, IAAF World Championships in Athletics, international running, kenya, kenyan athletes, kenyan athletics, kenyan distance running, kenyan runners, kenyan running, kenyan running legacy, long distance, middle distance, Osaka
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