Kenya's marathon champion Paul Tergat said on Monday he will not participate in the Beijing Olympics due to a lack of fitness.

The former marathon world record holder told a news conference in Nairobi that he was not fit enough to take part in such games because he recently came back from training.

"I have recently come back from training and I'm not fit enough for the Olympics," Tergat told journalists in Nairobi.

The former champion also said he wanted to give a chance to the young runners to take part. "I am a veteran of three Olympic Games and it is my desire to give a chance to those runners who have done well a chance to also compete at an outing which is the dream of any sports man and women," he told a news conference.

The former world champion said his younger colleagues would be competition in the Olympic Games this summer and it wouldn't be fair to compete against them.

"Martin Lel and Samuel Wanjiru both did 2:05 during this year's London Marathon and it will be unfair to vie for a place with them since I have not trained for long following a course that I undertook during the better part of last year," said Tergat.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2008)