Jepkosgei on course to win Olympic 800m title - Ereng

NAIROBI, Aug 29 (Reuters) Kenya's new world 800 metres champion Janeth Jepkosgei is on course to win next year's Olympic gold in Beijing, according to 1988 Olympic champion Paul Ereng.

Ereng, now head cross country coach at the University of Texas, said he saw a gem in Jepkosgei when the pair met five years ago in Kenya's Rift Valley provincial town of Eldoret, 350km north west of Nairobi.

Jepkosgei won the world 800m gold medal in Osaka, Japan on Tuesday in a new national record time of 1:56.04, becoming the first Kenyan woman to win a global title at the distance.

''When I first saw Janeth at the Africa Junior athletics Championship in Mauritius in 2001, where she finished second in the 800m I saw a raw gem,'' Kenyan Ereng said in a telephone interview.

She was a student at Singore Girls then, a school that has produced a number of world class athletes including (1997 world 10,000m champion) Sally Barsosio.

''My prediction was she would win world championship title, Olympic Games and she will become the first Kenyan woman to run 1:56 in 800m,'' Ereng said.

''If she stays healthy and strong for the next 12 months she will win the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

''I want to personally congratulate Janeth and her coach Gabrielle Rosa. I also want to say that I am happy for her. Janeth is a very hard worker who listens to the instructions she receives from her coach.

''She has one small task which she needs to realise, the Olympic dream. She needs to get ready for this right away after she rests at the end of the season,'' said Ereng.

Ereng recruited Jepkosgei after she completed high school at the end of 2001 to join the IAAF high performance centre in Eldoret where she quickly rose to prominence.

''For an athlete to be successful there must be an open communication channel that is very clear between the coach and the athlete,'' Ereng said. ''The two must always set goals and must be ready to work toward those goals. Also, one must have a burning desire and fire to succeed and must be willing to work towards the goal; Janeth has all this.'' Reuters TB GC2007