|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Denmark's Kenyan Prince set to make up for Olympic vaccuum
PARIS, Aug 4 (AFP) - Denmark's Kenyan-born dual 800m world recordholder Wilson Kipketer could well have been heading to Sydney as defending Olympic champion but because of political machinations four years ago will instead be bidding to win his first Olympic title. Kipketer would have started favourite being the reigning world champion but the Kenyan authorities refused to allow him to run for his adopted country and it was left to another Scandinavian, Norwegian Vebjorn Rodal, to seized the chance and take the crown. It was a mean if legal move by the Kenyan authorities, who had been bitter ever since he emigrated to Denmark in 1990 and realised that their athletes stood a better chance of grabbing gold if Kipketer wasn't there - now they will have to beat him fair and square on the track. Kipketer, whose age is according to him 29 but has been registered at two official junior events when he competed for Kenya as being born in 1968 and 1972, is used to having to face up to challenges none more so than when he contracted a severe strain of malaria in 1998. It was indeed a pale imitation of the dominant athlete of 1997 - when he broke the world indoor record twice in three days at the world indoor championships and the outdoor one also twice in Zurich and Cologne - who turned up and finished last in the European Championship final. He admitted that he had returned to the track far too soon having believed that he had recovered sufficiently from the malaria he contracted in a rare return visit to Kenya - and was soon to go down with a bout of pneumonia. However, Kipketer, who endearingly admitted after winning the 1995 world title that he would still bicycle to training despite winning a Mercedes, showed that he was on his way back by retaining the world title in 1999 showing real guts to hold on from South Africa's silver medallist specialist Hezekiel Sepeng. While delighted to have retained his title it was clear that the malaria had had quite an impact on his outlook on life. "I am just happy to be running in this world because last year I thought I would be running in another world," Kipketer said pointing skywards. "I cannot even think ahead to the Olympics next year because once one has had malaria it never goes away completely. "I m training harder and harder but not pushing myself too hard as when you are really rundown that is when you are at your most vulnerable," he added. That has been clear this year as he missed the eminently forgettable European indoor championships - limiting himself to breaking the 1000m world record twice prior to retiring to prepare for the outdoor season. Even outdoors he has rarely been seen thusfar and will go to the Gateshead Grand Prix in the north east of England on August 26 as his last breeze-up prior to Sydney. Even with such a light schedule Kipketer will start odds on to win the event, as no-one has set the track alight in his absence this season, and it should be left to his longtime mentor and coach Stanislas Novak to pay a fitting tribute to him. "He is truly remarkable because no-one has returned to dominate an event like Wilson has after suffering from malaria," Novak said. "I am truly proud of him," he added.
|
