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Kenya: Athletics - Little Kabuu Takes On Ethiopian Might
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The Nation (Nairobi)
3 May 2008
Posted to the web 2 May 2008
Chris Tsuma
Addis Ababa
After the torment endured by the men's 10,000m team on the opening day of competition here, one can't help but fear for Lucy Kabuu, Kenya's only standard bearer in the women's version of the 24 lap race which will be contested on Saturday.
Lucy Kabuu and Mercy Wanjiru jog around the field during training at Addis Ababa Stadium yesterday. Photo/MOHAMMED AMIN
If the men - and there were three of them - were unable to come up with a response to the rampaging Ethiopian runners, what would a lone woman do amidst a well drilled home team comprising world champion Tirunesh Dibaba, her sister Ejigayehu and Mestawot Tuffa, and a rabidly vociferous home crowd behind them?
The Commonwealth Games champion may be small in stature, but she does not share in this apprehension.
"Yes, I know I will be alone and I know they have planned to take turns in wearing me down like the men did on Wednesday but I'm not scared. I'm not the type who lose a race even before it's run. I'm going out there to do my best with the aim of winning," she told the Nation at the Global Hotel here in the Ethiopian capital where the Kenya team is quartered.
Injuries
Kabuu is based in Japan and is returning to the international duty for Kenya for the first time winning gold at the Melbourne Cricket Ground two years ago.
She has been frustrated by injuries, missing out on the All Africa Games in Algiers, the World Cross Country Championships at home in Mombasa last year and in Scotland early this year.
The most painful one to miss, though, was the World Championships in Osaka. "It was like missing a World Cup at home," she said. Her determination to run for Kenya again prompted her to come home for the Africa Championships trials and she needed a bit of luck to make the team.
"I believe it was God's plan that I be here. I arrived in Nairobi on April 9 and the trials were originally scheduled to be held two days later. I badly wanted to be on this team but wasn't really feeling fit enough, but luckily for me, they postponed for a week, which gave me more time to train and here I am,"
So what is it about the Ethiopians that makes them such a force? "Their team work," says Kabuu. "They co-operate. You can see it from the way they take turns to wear down their opponents. It's a tactic we must master also."
She will have to contend with those same tactics again when she lines up for one of the three medals on offer in this contest against the might of the Ethiopians.
Saturday's programme features another returnee - Faith Macharia - this time in the women's 800m semi final.
Even as the 31-year-old Macharia gets on, she feels confident about the future of Kenya in the two-lap race.
"We are the champions in the Commonwealth Games and world championships. Also, there are several young runners coming up like Pamela (Chelimo) and Charity (Wandia) and they are doing good times. With good organisation and planning, things can only get better." says Macharia.
Long dominated by Maria Mutola, the women's 800m mantle seems to be passing on to Kenya since Janeth Jepkosgei beat the Mozambican in Melbourne to win the Commonwealth gold and later in Osaka to be crowned world champion.
The men are not being left behind either with Alfred Kirwa as world champion and it seems only a matter of time before the world youth champion David Rudisha ascends that throne.
Macharia leads Kenya's quest for African glory this afternoon with Wandia and Chelimo in support.
Macharia has been away from the Kenya team since the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
She should have been Osaka for the world championships though. However, despite being left out of that team even after she had made the qualifying mark, Macharia, has no ill feelings. "AK decided they wanted one person for the race and preferred Janeth. She did well, which was good for Kenya," she said.
Her target is to do well here with the Olympic qualifying time in mind. With a personal best of 1.53 set in Monaco in the 2001, the 2.00 Olympic mark is well within her reach.
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"I'm due to run in Doha next Tuesday where I intend to improve on my time."
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