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Hmm, there are 4 athletes coming into my mind spontaneously, who are sponsored by Nike. DAS, Kambundji, Ta Lou and Neita.
I can imagine him to take one with potential to run faster than 10.85-10.95. Neita is the one with the biggest progress in 2021.
DAS is tetechnically jamaican.... idk... the others are older. But doesn‘t have to mean anything. SAFP is at the age of 34 never been faster than now. Kambundji had the best season of her life at the age of 29 with 2 olympic finals and i think 6 or 7 sub 11 performances this season. Ta Lou is over 30 and ran PB this season too.
We‘ll see..... -
So, to add further flavour, a journalist trying to look into this said on Twitter he's been told "Not a European"....so one would assume American or Caribbean?Comment
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1. “Top international sprinter”
2. “Nike-sponsored”
3. “Very popular”
4. “Not European”
These were the clues used to identify the sprinter in question. On top of that, they juxtaposed the fact that ETH’s exit might open up the space for that person to come to MVP.
There are very few female sprinters who can be described as “very popular” outside of an athletic context. There are even fewer who Nike would *specifically* request to work with Stephen Francis, unless they foresaw great potential in the athlete or had already heavily invested in them.
Dina is popular and still has some potential to tap into, but she’s British and therefore European by definition.
This rules out Neita as well (who isn’t that popular anyway and was never a Nike favourite) and Kambundji, who is approaching 30.
Ta Lou is not European, but she may well have already peaked. What benefit would there be to Nike in spending money to switch her to MVP? Her popularity outside of track and field is also limited.
SAFP fits the bill despite her age, but she’s already worked with Stephen Francis and based on how they split, she’s likely never going back.
So who is very popular and has a lot of potential and is a Nike favourite? And given the reports of ETH leaving both MVP and Nike due to lack of support, what incentive might there be to leak this report?
I don’t know who it is, but I know exactly who they want us to think it is.Comment
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SCR
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I don't know if SCR and Franno can co-exist. Franno is a no-nonsense guy. SCR will have to undergo a serious attitude adjustment for them to have a successful relationship. Time will tell.Comment
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Paulino? She's Nike, non-Jamaican and non-European.Comment
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Doesn’t really qualify as “very popular”. Also, ETH’s potential departure would be irrelevant to the discussion, because they compete in different events.Originally posted by 18.99s View Post
The fact that this was publicly announced should be a clue. How often do athletes change coaches and no mention is made of it until training starts? The timing as well.
Why would Nike allow Francis to make this kind of info public (because there’s no way he’s leaking it without his sponsor knowing)? For Paulino? She’s talented sure, but I doubt it…Comment
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"Very popular" is highly subjective and context-dependent. I'm sure she's very popular in her own country.Originally posted by TrackFanatix View PostComment
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I agree it is subjective, but aren’t all elite athletes popular in their home country to some extent? Popular usually either means well-liked or widely known. Paulino seems likeable enough, I guess.Originally posted by 18.99s View PostComment
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Why on earth would Nike be asking Stephen Francis to be training anyone? And why would there care exactly who he trains unless it was someone who's going to make them money. Not sure if its SCR given what happened this year but that would be a crazy turnaround.Apparently Ignorance is blissComment
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You are asking the same questions I am asking, except that Francis said this is not the first time that he has been approached by Nike. However, he is saying now that he is actually considering the request, whereas before he only prioritized working with Jamaican Nike athletes.Originally posted by Mr Lover Lover View Post
I know that Nike will appoint coaches for new athletes who have just turned pro, but this athlete is described as a “top international athlete”, so clearly she is already a professional who regularly competes on the circuit and probably already has (or had) a coach.
When you take out all of the Europeans, Jamaicans and non-Nike-Sponsored athletes, that leaves you with:
Sha’Carri Richardson, Marie-Josee Ta Lou, Teahna Daniels, Javianne Oliver (100m)
Christine Mboma (200m)
Marileidy Paulino (400m)
There isn’t anyone outside of the above that you could describe as a top international sprinter without stretching the definitions of “top” and “international”.
So based on the report, Nike most likely picked one of the names above and asked Francis to coach them. And not only did they ask him to coach her, they also thought it was newsworthy enough to inform the press.
There are 2 names there that would cause a huge stir, and 1 of them whom I don’t think Francis would want his name attached to for certain controversial reasons. The other one would be controversial as well, but for much different reasons.Last edited by TrackFanatix; 09-27-2021, 10:20 PM.Comment
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Richardson I think. Not sure I see her training in Jamaica but if she were to accept Franno's training regimen, LOOKOUT. One thing for sure she'd be READY for Eugene parts one and twowhy don't people pronounce vowels anymoreComment
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If Nike are doing this, then SCR is the only name that makes sense.Comment
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