Kenyans sending a strong team to The World's

MEDIA RELEASE


Kenya will send a team of  just twenty-three to the 8th IAAF World
Championships in Athletics but though short on numbers the quality of these
athletes is simply outstanding.

Olympic champion Reuben Kosgei (3000m steeplechase) leads a team that
includes some of the hottest performers on the European circuit including
steeplechasers Raymond Yator,  who set the world junior 3000m steeplechase
record a year ago, and world record holder Bernard Barmasai who has
returned to form with a victory at the Kenyan trials and in the Golden Gala
meeting in Rome. They will be aiming for a medal sweep in this event.

In the 5000m Sammy Kipketer, currently ranked 2nd in the world with
12:59.94 , John Kibowen and Richard Limo will all be aiming for the medal
podium. Kibowen has a tremendous range having run the mile in 3:47.88 and
twice won the world cross country championship short course race. And in
the 10,000m Charles Kimathi will go for gold after winning the Kenyan
trials in 27:47.33 - the fastest time ever run at high altitude.

Controversy surrounded Olympic 1500m champion, Noah Ngeny, who has been
running below his best in Europe following a bout of typhoid last winter
and who squeaked onto the Kenyan team by finishing 3rd in the national
championships. Ngeny was subsequently kicked off the team for missing a
Kenyan Amateur Athletic Association deadline to report to a national
training camp in Nairobi. The runner had made a commitment to run the
Emsley Carr mile in Britain last night.

Such is the strength of the Kenyan distance running program that Ngeny was
immediately  replaced by Bernard Lagat, the Olympic bronze medalist, who
has been burning up the European tracks. Lagat has offered world record
holder Hicham El Guerrouj his stiffest competition this season and has the
3rd fastest 1500m time in the world and the second fastest mile.  The other
1500m entrants from Kenya are Laban Rotich who has run the mile in 3:47.65.
and twenty-two year old William Chirchir winner of the Kenyan trials.

Kenyan women will play a prominent role in Edmonton too with little known
Edith Masai, 34, perhaps the biggest surprise on the world scene. In March
she finished 3rd in the world cross country championships then won the
Kenyan 5000m trials. In her first European Golden League meeting Masai
lowered her personal best by almost forty seconds and outsprinted triple
world champion Gabriela Szabo in the Oslo 5000m. Her time there was
14:46.06, second only to Russian Yelena Zadorozhnaya this season. Then she
won the DN Galen 5000m race in Stockholm in 14:45.86 almost the length of
the straight in front of the field and she followed up with a victory in
Herculis Monaco Golden League meet. There she won the 3000m in a time of
8:34.79.

In the women's marathon Florence Barsosio will be the sole Kenyan
representative. The sister of  Sally Barsosio (Kenya's first ever female
world track champion), this year she won the Paris Marathon in 2:27:53.
 Though Kenyan runners have dominated the world marathon lists they have
won just one medal in world championship history. Barsosio is preparing to
end that drought.

In recent years the Kenyans have watched their rivals from Ethiopia and
Morocco take championship medals normally expected to go to their country.
Two years ago, for instance, Kenya was held to one gold, four silver and
one bronze medal at the world championships. Compared to the 1991
championships where they returned to Nairobi with four gold, three silver
and one bronze the medal haul was a huge disappointment and caused much
debate within Kenyan athletic circles.

The 8th IAAF World Championships in Athletics is expected to bring more
than 3,000 athletes, coaches and officials from more than 200 countries, to
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to compete in 24 men's and 22 women's athletic
events, August 3rd through 12th, 2001. More than 2,500 media are also
expected to attend and provide coverage around the world. The IAAF World
Championships in Athletics is the third-largest sporting event in the
world, based on a world-wide television audience of four billion viewers
anticipated to tune in during the 10 days of competition. The IAAF World
Championships in Athletics is third in scope only to the Summer Olympics
and World Cup Soccer.
    
Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics is pleased to acknowledge
the following partners: IAAF Partners TDK, adidas, Coca-Cola, EPSON, SEIKO,
Eurovision and TBS.
Government Partners: Government of Canada, Government of Alberta and the
City of Edmonton; Sport Partners: Athletics Canada and Athletics Alberta;
National Partners: TELUS, Royal Bank Financial Group, Labatt, EPCOR, IKON
Office Solutions, Sony of Canada Ltd. and the General Motors Dealers of
Edmonton. For further information, visit the Edmonton 2001 Web site at
www.2001.edmonton.com.


For more information:
Paul Gains
Media Information Coordinator 
Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics  
Telephone: (780) 821-6138