Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    NAIROBI, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Kenya which has maintained its record in 3000m steeplechase race during international athletic events, hopes for another show like the one they put on at the World Championships in Osaka where they took all the three top medals on offer.

    The team of Ezekiel Kemboi, Richard Mateelong and Brimin Kipruto has vowed that the 3,000m steeplechase is expected to be a Kenyan affair, where 2004 Olympic gold medallist, Kemboi, will attempt to become the first Kenyan steeplechaser to win consecutive titles at the Games.

    "Apart from expecting a clean sweep of the medals in Beijing like in Osaka and Athens in 2004, I want to stay on course of retaining the gold," the 26-year-old policeman Kemboi said, according to the Daily Nation on Wednesday.

    While competing at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, Kemboi had an arduous battle with former teammate Saif Saeed Shaheen then(Stephen Cherono) who represented his new country, Qatar, before the Qatari pulled away from the exhausted Kemboi to win by less than a second.

    Kemboi, who is also an All Africa Games gold medallist, rose to a main favorite status at the Athens Olympics in the absence of Shaheen.

    The National Olympic Committee of Kenya had refused to waive the three-year eligibility delay for established athletes who switch nationalities.

    Paul Kipsiele Koech, who last week dropped off world record pace in the last two laps of the 3,000m steeplechase and set a world leading performance of 8:00.57 in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, replaced Mateelong in the Athens trip and finished third, but he has had problems running at a high altitude.

    A hamstring injury ruled out Kipsiele from the trials for Osaka. Likewise during the Beijing trials, he failed to qualify but was given a reprieve after he was included in the team as a reserve.

    Depending on things work out for him in China, he might have to wait for the 2009 World Championships before getting another chance to put on the national jersey.

    "Finishing in the top three position was my target and I got it. The most important thing is I made the team and now what remains is bringing the gold home. Other records will not count in Beijing," said Kipruto.