Kiprop declares Kenya the team to beat at London Olympics

By Gilbert Wandera

World and Olympic 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop has declared that Kenya has the best team going into the summer games in London.

He predicted they can easily win the top three positions in London next month as long as they make it to the final.

World 1,500m silver medalist Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Chepseba are also in the team.

Kiprop said the fact that the three of them have the world’s leading time in the four-lap race makes them the people to beat.

Kiplagat holds the world leading time of 3:29.63, while Kiprop has the second leading world time of 3:29.78. Chepseba’s time of 3:29.90 is the third fastest in the world this year.

“If you consider the fact that our times are the fastest in the world then you can easily see that this is the best team currently. If we make it to the final all of us then we will be the men to beat,” he said.

Kiprop said team work will be key to their doing well in the competition and revealed that so far everything is going on according to plan.

The three Kenyan athletes are all training together at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, with the rest of the contigent travelling to London.

Kiprop said he may run in the July 21 Diamond League in Monaco to judge his form ahead of the Olympic Games, but this will depend on whether he gets permission from the Kenyan coaches.

“There will be only a few days to the Olympics and so I am not really sure whether I will be in Monaco. I have to get the permission from my coaches,” he said.

Regarding his near miss during the Olympic trials, Kiprop said he caught himself in an uncomfortable position but he is glad to have made it into the Kenyan team.

“These things happen and I just happened to be caught in a difficult situation. However, Iam glad to have made it to the Olympics which is the most important thing,” he added.

The 1,500m race is expected to be one of the toughest in London with the rivalry between Kiplagat and Kiprop playing out.

It has always been unpredictable whenever the two meet. Last year, Kiprop just beat Kiplagat during the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Kiplagat revenged by winning the first leg of the Diamond League in Doha early this year setting the stage for a tantalizing battle in London.

Kiprop was second in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the winner, Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, was later stripped of the gold medal after testing positive to banned performance-enhancing substances.

Kiprop won his major title in te 2007 All Africa Games in Algiers, before clinching the continental title in Nairobi 2010 African Senior Championships, improving his bronze medal performance in 2008 in Addis Ababa.

His father David Kebenei, finished fourth in the 1,500m in All Africa Games in Nairobi in 1987.