Selection of marathon team to Olympics tough but must be determined now

With less than 200 days to go to the London Olympics, Athletics Kenya’s decision to name the provisional marathon team to the London Olympics tomorrow is timely. The marathon, unlike the track races, requires sufficient mental and physical preparation several months ahead of the event and this year being such an important year, athletes aspiring to compete in the Olympics would want to know their fate early enough.

With superstars  such as World Record holder Patrick Makau, World Champions Abel Kirui and Edna Kiplagat already been named for the Olympic competition, AK is looking to fill only 3 spots. And there’s certainly no shortage of quality and talent to pick from.

Actually, it must be one of the most difficult decisions to make for the men’s selection, given that they have to pick from the likes of Geoffrey Mutai, Moses Mosop, Emmanuel Mutai and Wilson Kipsang all whom are such quality runners that anyone of them could win in London. Kenya’s Olympic title defense of its Beijing victory by the late Samuel Wanjiru certainly looks promising with this cast of athletes.

With our male athletes winning all the majors, the World championship and posting the top 25 fastest times last year, Kenya is in an enviable position even with these tough team selection decisions as we possess incredible quality at the top and amazing depth.  

It isn’t any different for the women either as choosing from a talent pool consisting of London Marathon winner Mary Keitany, Berlin champion, Florence Kiplagat, Boston winner Caroline Kilel and Daegu marathon runner-up Prisca Jeptoo certainly will be tough to decide.

With such quality and depth of athletes, I think that future Olympic marathon squads ought to be determined by a trial and not in the Athletics Kenya board room. This selection trial among Kenya’s best marathon runners at least 200 days before the Olympics would be the fairest way to determine who should represent the country.

Besides, form is transient and athletes shouldn’t be selected a year before the event just because they ran fast at that particular time or won a major marathon.

Getting through a Kenyan Olympic trials process gives an athlete immense confidence going to an Olympic Games because they know that they survived the toughest selection route possible. Having competed in a few Kenyan Olympic Trials as an athlete, I know that the pressure factor is second to none especially in an event dominated globally by Kenyans.

Having an Olympic marathon trials would open up the selection process to several hundred athletes and that way, world class runners who normally would never get the opportunity to compete against their peers and yet are individual city marathon champions elsewhere, get to meet in this head to head competition for the first time to decide just who is the best in Kenya. Some marathon runners need to experience that kind of pressure before a major event like the Olympics where there are no pacemakers like the big city marathons.

Throw in some prize money and such a trial will attract immense attention and publicity given that it would be the highest quality marathon event ever held.

We could learn a thing or two from USA Track & Field who held their marathon trials yesterday. The hype and build-up of their trials was something to behold even with their much lower qualifying standards than we have.