The junior ace has established seniors and former junior revelations, Kibiwot and Lagat as her source of inspiration. Kibiwot is the Kingston2002 1,500m junior champion while Lagat won the 2000 edition in Chile.

The 25-year old Kibiwot competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and finished fifth, but has vowed to make it this time.

"Just as I was during my junior days in this race, so will I ensure that I've regained that form," she said.

What was witnessed in Nairobi during final trials was a classic example of what to expect in Beijing when the most prestigious sports gathering gets underway from August 8 to 24.

Jelagat is confident of making a podium finish at the Olympics. "I will be facing very strong competition but I believe I have a good chance of getting one of the places on offer," she said.

During the national trials, Jelagat ran 4:17.0 after having clocked 4:15.6 to win the Police championships a fortnight before. The athlete, who took junior gold in Beijing with 4:0.88, has a personal best of 4:04.52 set last weekend at the Paris Grand Prix.

Kenya's main speciality is in the middle and long distance races, with the competition coming from perennial rivals Ethiopia and Morocco.

"There are many runners out there who are very good. The likes of Romanian Liliana Popescu (4:00.35), Gelete Burka of Ethiopia (4:01.44) and Shannon Rowbury of US, who has run 4:01.61 as her best," said Jelagat.

But the Kenyans will have a reprieve after Popescu was dropped from Romania's team for the Beijing Olympics after failing a drug test. The Romanian tested positive for an unidentified banned substance on May 29 in Algiers.

This factor notwithstanding, Kenyan coaches are under pressure to define new tactics to keep their opponents at bay.

"The main problem we have with this race is that the athletes had very little time to train together, unlike other races. The three have only had two weeks to practice together and this in my view gives our opponents means of picking on us," said head coach Julius Kirwa.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2008)