Ngeny will not defend crown

Ngeny has had injury problems

Olympic 1500m champion Noah Ngeny has missed the chance to defend his crown after failing to qualify for the Kenyan squad at their national trials.

The 25-year-old has been plagued by hip problems and only started serious track training three months ago.

Ngeny was a surprise winner in Sydney when he beat Hicham El Guerrouj.

The Kenyan followed that victory by breaking the 1,000m world record, but injuries forced him out of the Paris and Edmonton world championships.

Kenya's world marathon record holder Paul Tergat says he sees the Ethiopian team being their main rivals over the distance events at the Athens Games.

But he warned that the Ethiopians may have peaked too early, pointing to Kenenisa Bekele's new world 5,000m and 10,000m records this season as proof of this.

"Besides giving us time to enhance our preparations, it may be too tough for Ethiopians to sustain the top form up to the Games," he said.

"In track, it is a matter of peaking at the right time. We may as well peak at the right time for the Games. I think Ethiopians reached the peak a bit too early."