Olympic and World 800 metres champion David Rudisha will not be part of the group of Team Kenya athletes who arrive this morning from the just concluded Olympic Games in London.

Rudisha and most of his colleagues have decided to remain in Europe to prepare for the forthcoming Diamond League races that resume this Friday in Stockholm.

Rudisha, who shattered his own World record when winning the Olympic title in a new time of one minute 40.91 seconds, has opted to train in Germany in readiness for the Zurich, the penultimate leg of the Diamond League on August 30.

The 23-year-old Team Kenya captain is also likely to race in Rieti, Italy, where it’s envisaged that he might attack his record in either of the two meets.

Kenya's fortunes seemed on the downslide after their poor showing at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the performance at the 2005 Athletics World Championships lent credence to it.

Each day, Ethiopian athletes humiliated Kenyans with monotonous regularity, particularly Kenenisa Bekele and women's champion runner Tirunesh Dibaba comprehensively boxing the Kenyans out of the gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000m races, reports Xinhua.

The question raised was: Has the Kenyan empire crumbled as a result of flouting the principles upon which it was built or has Ethiopia simply built a strong and better edifice?

However, Kenya's strong showing at the Beijing Olympic Games and the 2011 Athletics World Championships in Daegu firmly placed it in the driving seat of athletics in Africa and the world.

"In attempting to explain Kenya's poor performance, athletics officials used to blame poor preparations of athletes and outdated equipment," athletics coach Stephen Mwaniki said on Monday.

By clinging to the poor preparation and poor equipment line, Mwaniki wondered what equipment in addition to the normal spikes, vest and light training gear an athlete needed to win a race.

The London 2012 Olympic Games once again proved that Ethiopia will have a tall order in its bid to find the next Kenenisa Bekele, after the next generation of Ethiopian 10,000m runners simply failed to turn up in London, the British capital. Elshadai Negash Special to Fortune looks at the possible pretenders and asks why they did not make it to London.

It was a moment that inspired the country's most popular musician to stay up all night and compose arguably Ethiopia's most famous sports song.

Eight years ago, this month, the young star, Kenenisa Bekele, then just 22 years of age, and his compatriot Sileshi Sihine slowed the pace down to wait for a struggling Haile Gebrselassie during the men's 10,000m final at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. This gesture, atypical in a sporting world full of egos and determination to topple a rival in pursuit of success, and the song Tariq Tesera by Tewodrose Kassahun, a.k.a Teddy Afro, melted the hearts of millions of Ethiopians, back home, and highlighted a rare glimpse of the athletes' human and compassionate side.

Fast forward to 2012, a similar stage on the cold summer evening was held at the Olympic Stadium in London. After winning virtually every major track honour including three Olympic gold, five world championship titles, and breaking no less than six world records, many expected Kenenisa to go on and win a historic third Olympic title, despite enduring two years of in action with injuries.

JUST HOW GOOD ARE ETHIOPIANS IN THE MEN'S 10,000M?

The last two Caucasians before Galen Rupp to beat an Ethiopian in an Olympic 10,000m final were Finland's Lasse Viren and Belgian Emiel Puttemans, who finished ahead of Miruts Yifter in the 1972 Munich final. Since then, Ethiopians have won five gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.