Kenenisa Bekele Craves World Marathon Record

Kenenisa Bekele flew home from the 2017 Berlin Marathon terribly disappointed and in the face of mounting criticism. Some speculated that at age 35 he has seen his better days.

Sitting in a quiet corner of the Addis hotel he opened four years ago, the Ethiopian superstar reflected upon his failure to finish the race he had won a year earlier.

“Yes I did good training before (this year’s race),” he reveals. “Of course when you are not successful everyone is talking about your shape; they don’t consider the weather conditions. Eliud Kipchoge also did a good job but what he promised, he wanted to run 2:01:30, he couldn’t run even 2:02. He ran 2:03 something. This means that even he himself couldn’t achieve what he wanted.

“That means the weather conditions impacted everyone. Maybe some people understand but most of them don’t know what running is. They don’t see the weather, the conditions or anything. I think they need to consider that instead of blaming someone.”

Read more at: IAAF.org