Olympic Marathon Selection A Joke!

Hiroshi Neko and Hem Bunting.

The Cambodian Olympic Committee have selected a Japanese-born comedian to run the marathon in London.

They have rejected Cambodia's fastest distance runner, Hem Bunting, and named Hiroshi Neko for the 42.2km event. Neither runners have met the 2:18 Olympic B-standard qualification but the Olympic rules allow countries that have no qualified athletes in any track or field event to enter one male and one female athlete in a special exemption. If the Olympic Committee wants to choose an athlete to run the marathon, it seems like a no-brainer: select the fastest runner! Instead, they picked the man with the money.

Let's do a quick comparison of these two athletes:

1.Hem Bunting is the national record holder for the marathon in Cambodia. (2:25:20 in Vientiane, 2009.) Hiroshi Neko isn't.

2. Hirshi Neko has never beaten Hem Bunting in a race. In the 2010 Siem Reap Half Marathon, for example, Hem Bunting won the event in 1:10:11 while Hiroshi Neko finished third in a time of 1:16:00.

3. Hen Bunting was born in Stung Treng, Cambodia, the second of nine brothers and sisters. He lives and trains in Phnom Penh. Hiroshi Neko was granted Cambodian citizenship in November 2011. As recently as last year, he was wearing a JAAF bib in the Toyko marathon (Japan Amateur Athletics Federation).

4. Looking back, Hem Bunting represented his country in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. In the same year, Hiroshi Neko was jogging his first ever 42.2km event in Toyko, finishing in 3:48:57!

5. Looking forward, Bunting is already leading, training and influencing the next generation of Cambodian runners. Ma Viro is the country's second fastest long distance runner. Is it a surprise that he is also from Stung Treng? Viro and Bunting are both runners and friends. When Cambodia needed a representative for the 2012 Hong Kong marathon, they chose Ma Viro.

6. Bunting encourages me when I'm at the track! In November last year I competed in my first ever triathlon. The day before flying to Thailand, I did a short track session at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium. Bunting happened to be training at the same time so we did a few laps together while he warmed up. He asked about my upcoming race and even let me beat him over a 400m loop. Bunting encourages men and women, young and old, when he is training at the track in Phnom Penh. I've never seen Neko at the Olympic Stadium when I've dropped by for a training session.

Right now Hiroshi Neko is celebrating his amazing selection in the Cambodian Olympic team. Through his charity, Cambodia Dream, he has given financial gifts to the Cambodian Olympic Committee. Meanwhile, Hem Bunting has finished three months of training in the Kenyan rift valley to prepare for the Paris marathon on April 15. He has relied on private sponsors to cover all his expenses.

It may seem unlikely, but I hope that Bunting runs his fastest marathon ever and pulls out a sub 2:18 time in Paris! Surely this would give the selectors something to chew over with their rice and pork breakfast?!

Right now young Cambodian athletes are not being motivated to persevere in order to represent their country at the highest level in sport. The current message is, 'poor countries with poor athletics programs allow wealthy foreigners to steal other people's Olympic dreams'. Sad.