Khmerization

Soran Happys To Neko Hiroshi - Odore! Soran... by Hina-Ichigo21

Cat gestures, funny jokes and a boatload of money couldn't win Neko Hiroshi a spot on Cambodia's Olympic running team.  

By Claire Luke

May 14, 2012

The Global Post

Neko Hiroshi performs during the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards at Yoyogi National Athletic Stadium on May 27, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. (Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — For a minute there, it seemed as if a Japanese comedian known for making cat gestures was going to swipe Cambodia's spot in the Olympics marathon event.

Yes, you heard that right.

From the beginning: 

Neko, or "Cat," Hiroshi had never run on the Japanese national track-and-field team because his running skills were “far from the standard,” according to the Japanese Athletic Federation. 

But there's more to getting on an Olympic running team than speed. Or so Hiroshi hoped.

In Cambodia, the academic standards are lower. No athlete in the Southeast Asian country has ever qualified for an Olympic event; those who have participated have done so as a result of a wild-card system used to give developing nations a leg up.

The Cambodian runner who holds the country's marathon record is Hem Bunting (a record that is seven minutes faster than Neko's, mind you). 

At 26, Hem Bunting is lean and fast. He just completed the Paris Marathon in April in 2:23, which is five minutes shy of the Olympic qualifying time, but would have still earned him a wild-card spot. 

But Hem Bunting started to fall out of favor with athletic officials in Cambodia when he began requesting better conditions for the low-funded national team. After leaving the national team in March of last year after his requests went ignored, he went on to train independently and prepare for the Paris marathon at a facility in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Read the rest of the article here at Global Post.