Kenya's preparation for the Beijing Games comes under scrutiny this week when the Africa Athletics Championships start in Addis Ababa.

The low-profile trials to pick the Kenya team for the continental competition just over a week ago were watered down by the failure of top athletes to show up, leaving mainly upstarts to make the team.

On the contrary, hosts Ethiopia are taking the Addis meeting quite seriously, calling up their best stars, including world champions Kenenisa Bekele, Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba, for the African show.

At last month's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Ethiopia's cohesion made sure they swept all the gold medals and, once again, they start as strong favourites in this week's competition.

The postponement of next month's Tusker Athletics International track and field meeting in Nairobi amid claims that top athletes were not paid their winnings from last year's competition has done little to lift the morale of Kenyan athletes, and we can only hope for a great performance in Addis to set the country firmly on the road for an inspired outing in Beijing.

There were some good stories coming out of the trials for the African Championships, though, including David Rudisha's impressive winning time in the 800 metres in the fastest in the world this year.

With the men's and women's marathon teams to the Olympics already decided, Athletics Kenya must not relent in its efforts to pick a strong team to start preparing well and early for the Beijing Games.

After last month's difficult trip to Edinburgh, this week's Africa Championships will provide yet another major test for our athletes, and we can only hope they will pass it with distinction.