Athletics Kenya (AK) President Jack Tuwei has described the selection of this year’s Olympic Marathon team as one of the most difficult ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Tuwei described the final marathon team as the most competitive ever and would not be surprised if all ended up on the podium.
“With 86 days to the Olympics, we had a lot of discussions on who is suitable to fly the Kenyan flag at the Olympics. It was not easy,” said Tuwei.
Before handing the team to the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K), Tuwei said: “We know we have selected the best for the Paris mission and we hope they will bring medals from both sides. We also expect all of them to medal,” he said.
Olympic champions Eliud Kipchoge and Peres Jepchirchir will lead the men's and women's title chase.
“We want to give Eliud a chance to go for the third title in a row and become the first man to do so. He has done it twice just like a few other athletes but the third title will be historical,” he added.
Kipchoge has the company of Tokyo Marathon champion Benson Kipruto and newly crowned London Marathon champion Alexander Munyao while Timothy Kiplagat will be a reserve athlete.
For women, Jepchirchir will lead Olympic marathon silver medalist Brigid Kosgei and Chicago marathon champions Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi as reserve runners.
“We started this journey with ten athletes each last year. We reduced them to six for women and five for men and now we have four each. And for those who have not met the team today, there is another day," added Tuwei.
NOC-K president Paul Tergat said profiles of the athletes speak for themselves and he has no doubt about their capability to return good results.
“We want a podium sweep in the marathon. All these athletes who have made the team have what it takes to win medals and most of them have done it before,” said Tergat.
He added that NOC-K is expecting to send about 100 athletes to Paris with Athletics Kenya contributing the biggest number.
