Athletics Kenya Announces New Policy for Olympic Marathon Selection, by Toni Reavis, note by Larry Eder

London Olympic Men’s marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net

After a frustrating Olympics, Athletics Kenya has come out swinging. In this piece by Toni Reavis, he reveals that Athletics Kenya, through a press release on October 3, 2012, has announced a six month period before Rio where Kenyan marathon candidates will not be allowed to race marathons, thus cutting out London, Boston and Rotterdam.

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ATHLETICS KENYA ANNOUNCES NEW POLICY FOR OLYMPIC MARATHON SELECTION

by Toni Reavis

In the whirl of travel and press duties for last weekend’s Chicago Marathon, the following notice slipped into my mail bag with little notice. In the wake of Kenya’s disappointing performances at the London Olympic Marathons, Athletics Kenya (AK) has announced a new policy for Rio 2016 which it hopes will give the nation its best chance to secure what has been an elusive goal, the men’s and women’s Olympic Marathon gold medal.

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After a contentious and controversial selection process in 2012, the highly touted Kenyan men’s Olympic Marathon team took home the Olympic silver and bronze medals in London, but lost in defense of Sammy Wanjiru‘s 2008 gold to Uganda’s surprising Stephen Kiprotich. In the women’s marathon, Priscah Jeptoo won the silver medal, while pre-race favorites Mary Keitany and reigning World Champion Edna Kiplagat could only manage fourth and 20th places.

In the aftermath of those letdowns, AK has announced that in order to represent the crossed spears over shield flag in Rio de Janeiro 2016, all provisionally selected marathoners will not be allowed to compete in another marathon six months in advance of the Games, thereby eliminating the 2016 spring calendar of marathons in Boston, Rotterdam and London. Read more of this post

Toni Reavis | October 9, 2012 at 8:48 am | Tags: Athletics Kenya, Olympic Marathon | Categories: News | URL: http://wp.me/p1p8ec-1gf

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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