Jemal Yimer finished fifth in the 10,000m at the world championships and Tim Cheruiyot came second in the 1,500m, yet their stories barely rated a mention. It’s symptomatic of a wider problem
On the first night of the World Athletics Championships, the Ethiopian Jemal Yimer finished fifth in the 10,000m. He had judged his effort to perfection, riding the surges from the Kenyan runners and sprinting past World Cross Country champion Geoffrey Kamworor in the last lap before lunging desperately for the line, squeezing every fraction out of a 14-second PB in 26.56.11. As the camera focuses on Mo Farah, we can just see Yimer in the background, hands on hips, looking up at the screen as if to say: “Did I really just break 27 minutes?” As Farah jumps up and down, Yimer wanders off the track. He gets no mention in the BBC commentary at all.
On the final night of the championships, the Kenyan Tim Cheruiyot finished second in the 1,500m behind his teammate, Elijah Manangoi. In the press conference afterwards, he gestured to Manangoi and Asbel Kiprop, and said: “I sacrificed myself to uphold the honour and dignity of Kenya,” deferring to his more charismatic team-mates.
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