Three-time world 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop has attributed his poor show on the last day of the Olympic Games track programme on the absence of training-mate Elijah Manongoi.
Asbel clocked 3:50.87 to place a poor sixth in the race won by American Mathew Centrowitz in 3:50:00. Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi took silver in 3:50.11 followed by New Zealand’s Nicholas Willis in 3:50.24.
The other Kenyan in the race Ronald Kwemboi was last in 3:56.76.
Asbel said the absence of Manangoi had hindered their team tactics in the final hence the defeat.
“Manangoi is always a team player and things would definitely have been different if he had been in the race,” Kiprop added.
Manangoi bowed out of the event in the semi-finals after incurring an injury.
“Under normal circumstances, Manangoi is a front runner while I like trailing from the pack. In the absence of Manangoi, the race was too slow and my effort to try and speed things up were countered by our rivals,” he said.
He said whenever Manangoi is in the race, he takes it fast and this plays to his advantage.
“This time, the race was too slow for my comfort and you can even see the winning time was 3:50. I am a 3:29 runner” he noted.
Kiprop said he started the race at the back hoping it would be fast. “However,
when a I realise that things were not changing, I tried to go in front in a bid to change the pace but I was blocked and pushed by Taoufik.
“Taoufik pushed me and this just messed up my tactics. I don’t blame him because that is how he is and people tend to apply all the bad tactics in a championship in a bid to win the race,” he asserted.
However, National Olympic Committee
of Kenya launched an appeal over the pushing and we are waiting for the result.
Asked whether he will be looking to break the 1,500m record, Kiprop said as far as he is concerned, his season is as good as over and can only plan for next year.
He said he will defend his title at the London World Championships next year and after that, he will switch to 5000m.
“I intend to run my first major 5000m event at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in 2018,” he said.
Kwemoi on the other hand said his chances went up in smoke after he was brought down just two laps into the race.
He said after falling, he used a lot of energy trying to close the gap but by the time he was settling in, his rivals unleashed a powerful kick to carry the day.
“I felt a sharp pain after the fall and couldn’t react with the rest of the field at the bell,” Kwemoi said.
He said he had hoped to run in Lausanne but will consult the doctor first on the way forward.
He asked Kenyans not to blame them for the defeat because they had a good strategy to win but their rivals had other ideas. Kwemoi said he will now focus on London and promised to make up for his loss here in Rio.