Sprint disappointment

[eldrick]

so ?

upto that 19.66, when he was nearly 29y ole ( ancient by sprinting standards ) & despite being a 2 time 200 wc champ, his 19.79pb didn't even put him in top 3 of american 200 runners !!!

19.73 marsh
19.75 King
19.75 deloach
19.79 mj

tell me that the day before he ran 19.66 ( let alone 19.32 ) that you thought he was at upto that point

"greatest 200m man in history"

i certainly didn't & i'd like to see how many sprint fans here did

[Kishan Gill]

Arguably the greatest 200 man in history and remember he was a full time quartermiler too.

From 1990 through to 1996 he was if i'm not mistaken no1 and maybe a few more after that. Two world titles and olympic champion.

Two world records, the last of which he just demolished by over 3/10ths.
A decade on no one has been able to get under 19.6 and you still have a problem calling him (arguably at least) the greatest 200m runner of all time.

What more could you ask from the guy?. :?

[Kishan Gill]

one more thing. The fact that he ran the time at the age of 29 should count in his favour, not against.

[Mike67]

similarly people have spoken of Wariner taking the 400 record ( Even MJ ) because his progression is better than MJ,s at the same time but I think even he won't be able to do it. I can see the 400 lasting another decade. A bold statement I know.

A ridiculous statement is more like it! The 400 is the most vulnerable sprint record and will be taken down by JW soon. In Osaka, JW will flirt with the record at 43.32 and then dip under 43 in '08. Stand back and watch!

[eldrick]

Arguably the greatest 200 man in history and remember he was a full time quartermiler too.

From 1990 through to 1996 he was if i'm not mistaken no1 and maybe a few more after that. Two world titles and olympic champion.

Two world records, the last of which he just demolished by over 3/10ths.
A decade on no one has been able to get under 19.6 and you still have a problem calling him (arguably at least) the greatest 200m runner of all time.

What more could you ask from the guy?. :?

how about that it took him 'til aged 28y to beat the pbs of 2 of his predecessors/contemporaries who were 21 & 22y ole at the time of setting theirs

[Texas]

so ?

upto that 19.66, when he was nearly 29y ole ( ancient by sprinting standards ) & despite being a 2 time 200 wc champ, his 19.79pb didn't even put him in top 3 of american 200 runners !!!

19.73 marsh
19.75 King
19.75 deloach
19.79 mj

tell me that the day before he ran 19.66 ( let alone 19.32 ) that you thought he was at upto that point

"greatest 200m man in history"

i certainly didn't & i'd like to see how many sprint fans here did

I was surprised it took him that long to break Mennea's record. I had no doubts he would break it however. When I look at greatness...

1.honors won!
2.rankings (longevity at the top)
3.times (top 10 average)

Now I'm telling you point blank, that nobody in history has done more in the 200m than MJ. If you can't see the greatness, why doesn't that surprise me? If you can come up with a guy who accomplished more, let's have him! Save your usual tap dance rumba or whatever the hell that is.

MJ is histories greatest 200m sprinter.

Prove me wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eldrick]

you are casting a retrospective eye on his whole career

i'm asking you to look at his career thru milestone ages whilst he was active

by aged 28y, an ancient age, when most other top 200 men had retired to new pastures or plain washed up, he wasn't even in top-3 of his all-time national list !!!

he'd even got whupped in oslo by ff less than 1/12 before !

despite breaking wr prior to that in 19.66, he came to atlanta og off a whupping & i as one, didn't even have him as favorite for the win

he certainly wasn't "greatest 200m man in history" the day before he ran 19.32 & seeing as he never got to another global 200m final after atlanta, his claim rests on just 1 race - before that race he'd done nothing that the likes of tommie smith/healthy, motivated borzov/ interested-in-200 King coudn't have done ( medal-wise ) if there were biannual wc & they couda been bothered to run in them ( King didn't even bother with the '83/'87 ones )

[john george]

his 19.66wr doesn't look overly special on paper compared to last coupla years

you might as well ask what clocking mennea did to back up his 19.72wr ?

Mennea did a 19.96 at low altitude -- superior to anything at that time. The great Tommie Smith's 19.83 was worth no better about 20 plus a few hundreths. Gary may correct me on this, since it's out of my head. JG

[Kevin Richardson]

Not ot put too fine a point on it, but the 100m has to be the least safe record, given that it has been run more than once, quite recently, and the record holder is still active. I am a huge JW fan, and I am pulling for him in the long run, but I think expecting a record as soon as Mike67 us doing is setting himself up for disappointment.

[Justin Clouder]

Cut, wrong forum...sorry..

[Flumpy]

There's plenty of good action in the FIELD EVENTS!!!!

Exactly. Who cares about the Men's sprints. They bore me stupid.

[eldrick]

his 19.66wr doesn't look overly special on paper compared to last coupla years

you might as well ask what clocking mennea did to back up his 19.72wr ?

Mennea did a 19.96 at low altitude -- superior to anything at that time. The great Tommie Smith's 19.83 was worth no better about 20 plus a few hundreths. Gary may correct me on this, since it's out of my head. JG

there's a certain guy around here who believes :

19.72 mexico city - "you ran 19.72...period"

19.96 borletti - "you ran 19.96...period"

enda story...

( let me embellish - i believe the required accoutrement is ) :

hahahahahaha*

[john george]

his 19.66wr doesn't look overly special on paper compared to last coupla years

you might as well ask what clocking mennea did to back up his 19.72wr ?

Mennea did a 19.96 at low altitude -- superior to anything at that time. The great Tommie Smith's 19.83 was worth no better about 20 plus a few hundreths. Gary may correct me on this, since it's out of my head. JG

there's a certain guy around here who believes :

19.72 mexico city - "you ran 19.72...period"

19.96 borletti - "you ran 19.96...period"

enda story...

( let me embellish - i believe the required accoutrement is ) :

hahahahahaha*

Not sure of "certain guy's" point. Surely it's not that altitude (& wind aided?) doesn't matter. Please inform us. JG