Kogo misses Olympic team for Kenya

 　　NAIROBI, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kogo will not be part of the Kenya team to the London Games in July.

　　This follows failure by the 10,000m bronze medallist to secure "A" Standard qualifying mark of 27:45.00 which ultimately locked him out of the Kenya mini-trials team that was selected Tuesday in Nairobi by Athletics 1 Kenya.
　　Though Kogo was sixth timed at 28:31.0, he was not named among the 13 athletes picked by AK for the trials set for Eugene, Oregon in the U.S. on June 2 where the top three will be picked to carry the country flag in the Olympics in London.
　　"He has been dropped because he has not run within the 'A' qualifying standard for the Olympics. So we will have to deal with those who have made that mark," said Kenya's head coach Julius Kirwa said in Nairobi on Tuesday.
　　Former World 10,000m bronze medallist Moses Ndiema Masai, who announced his return from hip 2 injury with a stamping performance, won the race in 27:10.3 beating Lucas Kimeli Rotich to second in 28:11.0.
　　Eliud Kipchoge was third in 28:12.0 while Mark Kiptoo settled for fourth in 28:17.4 ahead of Josephat Bett 28:27.6 and Paul Tanui 28:34.2.
　　It was the first performance for Masai in Kenya ever since he won the Kenyan trials for the 2009 Berlin World Championships.
　　The 26-year-old alternated the lead with former world 5,000m champion Eliud Kipchoge, Lucas Kimeli Rotich, and Mark Kiptoo, but his lanky 3 frame and long strides enabled him to take the challenge easily.
　　He will spearhead Kenya's quest for Olympic ticket in the Eugene, Oregon Preffontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on June 2.
　　"I feel very happy to have won here today. I last won this event in the trials for the Beijing Olympics and it was a good omen 4 because I went to China and got tied on time with my friend Micah Kogo for the bronze. The organizers opted 5 to give Kogo the medal," Masai said.
　　"I want to do better and win this elusive 6 gold that Kenya has not won in 44 years. We have some other athletes who got injured are out of this team that ran here today. So it will be tricky 7 on what Athletics Kenya will do about them if they shake off their injuries."
　　Kogo, the Olympic bronze medallist, and Daniel Talel were left out of the Kenya team despite having come for the trials and finishing in top 10 position.
　　This, according to Athletics Kenya Secretary General David Okeyo, was because the two have not secured the "A" standard qualifying mark for the Olympics set at 27:45.00.
　　Another athlete to watch will be Eliud Kipchoge, the winner of the 5,000m in Paris in 2003. Then aged 8 18, Kipchoge has failed to duplicate the same performance ever since and has only settled for silver twice in the global championships.
　　However, that might be just history should he make the Kenya team in Oregon and going by his pace in the mini-trial race, it is time he moved up the ladder to the 25-lap race.
　　"I was a 5,000m athlete. But now am 27 and believe it is right for me to go to the 10,000m event," said Kipchoge.
　　Several elite 9 athletes based in Japan failed to come to reduce the event into a pale shadow of the traditionally explosive trials that Kenyans are accustomed to.
　　Of the 31 athletes invited, only 17 showed up and 15 were able to finish the race. This means that the world for AK to select those that are to go for the trials was done pretty easily.
　　"This is the best move that Kenya has done as it tries to redeem 10 its image in the 10,000m race. But failure by Japan-based athletes to show up and injury to a few others, who were in camp in Eldoret, has watered down this competition. But it is the right way to go if we are to win the gold medal," said Kirwa.
　　Team - Moses Masai, Eliud Kipchoge, Lucas Rotich, Mark Kiptoo, Josphat Bett, Paul Tanui, Emmanuel Bett, Geoffrey Kirui, Titus Mbishae, Bedan Karoki, Dennis Masai, Wilson Kiprop, Mike Kipruto Kigen.