Paul Tergat on Why Europeans, Americans Can't Compete

[Martin514]

Interesting article from the Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0404/1224244012141.html

[tandfman]

That story was headlined on the front page here last Saturday.

[EPelle]

tandfman, not all of us read the front-page (I can't point to it on my other computer, a work one, because the front-page runs a video), so something like could really be of interest.

[tandfman]

Is the problem the video or the sound? I keep the sound off unless I have a reason to put it on to view a video or hear an audio.

If you're not looking at the front page regularly (several times throughout the day), you're missing a lot of good stuff--both news and features about the sport. The piece that started this thread is a good example.

[EPelle]

IT guys prohibit any and all pointing to video content not on our intranet for their (made up?) security reasons. When I am able to have those extra moments with my own personal computer and a small period of down time, no problem. Nothing's crashed yet, though as mentioned on the thread about front-page video, I've had to force-exit Firefox and open it again due to some issues with the TFN front-page.

[Marlow]

anyway . . . back to the matter at hand . . . the very first sentence of the article is extremely problematic:

Arguably the best Kenyan runner of all time, Paul Tergat says the idea of Africans being inherently capable of running faster is all in the minds of their rivals

My BS alarm is getting very loud. Kenyans and Ethiopians and their stripe are dominating now because

a. they are built better for endurance running.
b. they have more to gain by getting good.
c. they can and do train insanely hard.

It's not because of 'psychological intimidation', fellas, although that does happen also.

[EPelle]

I could swear that Gebrselassie mentioned last year that the Americans were, indeed, catching up to the Africans.

[Powell]

anyway . . . back to the matter at hand . . . the very first sentence of the article is extremely problematic:

Arguably the best Kenyan runner of all time, Paul Tergat says the idea of Africans being inherently capable of running faster is all in the minds of their rivals

My BS alarm is getting very loud. Kenyans and Ethiopians and their stripe are dominating now because

a. they are built better for endurance running.
b. they have more to gain by getting good.
c. they can and do train insanely hard.

It's not because of 'psychological intimidation', fellas, although that does happen also.

Exactly, the intimidation is the effect, not the cause. The Westerners stopped believing they can win because they weren't winning, not the other way around. Of course, from a certain point it became a vicious cycle of: less success => less motivation => even less success => even less motivation etc.

IMO, Western runners could be much more competitive on the world stage if they believed in their potential, but all the self-belief in the world wouldn't make them win golds on a consistent basis.

[SQUACKEE]

There are exceptions of course but generally the Kenyans and Ethiopians ect. have a certain "look" that seems to be made for distance running.

Bob Kennedy had that "look" to me and he ran 12:58. On the other hand Bek is pretty heavily muscled in his thighs for a distance runner. :?

[jazzcyclist]

anyway . . . back to the matter at hand . . . the very first sentence of the article is extremely problematic:

Arguably the best Kenyan runner of all time, Paul Tergat says the idea of Africans being inherently capable of running faster is all in the minds of their rivals

My BS alarm is getting very loud. Kenyans and Ethiopians and their stripe are dominating now because

a. they are built better for endurance running.
b. they have more to gain by getting good.
c. they can and do train insanely hard.

It's not because of 'psychological intimidation', fellas, although that does happen also.

and
d. track and field, especially distance running, is THE major sport in those countries. Paul Tergat is their Joe Montana and Haile Gebrselassie is their Michael Jordan. If T&F was a major sport in this country, we'd have many more Kastors, Rupps, Flanagans and Gouchers on the international scene.

[nevetsllim]

Shouldn't it be why European men cannot compete with the Africans??

[EPelle]

Those European men who can compete against the Africans, are originally from Africa, it seems.

[Marlow]

Those European men who can compete against the Africans, are originally from Africa, it seems.

Most of the 'tribal' adaptations have come since the first group of hominoids left Africa in search of greener (literally) pastures.

[doug091463]

it is interesting the african women (most of which come from kenya or ethiopia) dont do nearly as good as the african men most of which come from kenya, ethiopia and morroco. i was looking at the tilastopaja all time top 100 list and here are some stats.

800 men 43 of the top 100 all time are african (including 28 kenyan)
800 women only 5 of the top 100 all time are african (although the top 2 last year were kenyan.

1500 men 52 are african (34 kenyan)
1500 women 7 were african (kenya had 3)

5k men 86 were african (48 kenyan, 16 ethiopian, 13 morrocan)
5k women 43 african (23 kenyan, 14 ethiopian)

10k men 81 african (47 kenyan, 20 ethiopian, 6 morrocan)
10k women 31 african (15 kenyan, 14 ethiopian)

marathon men 76 african (56 kenyan, 10 ethiopian, 4 morrocan and 4 south african.
marathon women 26 african (13 ethiopian, 11 kenyan)

steeple men 55 african (41 kenyan, 9 morrocan)
steeple women 22 african (11 kenyan , 6 ethiopian)

3k men 73 african (40 kenyan, 16 morrocan, 12 ethiopian)
3k women 25 african ( kenya and ethiopia 10 each)

half marathon men 85 african (59 kenyan, 13 ethiopian)
half marathon women 45 african (29 kenyan, 13 ethiopian)

[Conor Dary]

Shouldn't it be why European men cannot compete with the Africans??

Having watched a lot of the Premier League lately on FSC, along with Champions League on ESPN, I suspect one reason Britain is so weak in the distance events is most of their best athletes go into soccer. Back in the 70's and 80's when the UK was really world class in distance, ie. Foster, Jones, Ford, Coe, Ovett, etc. a runner could probably make as much money running as a typical professional footballer. But now, the money in soccer is ridiculous compared to pittance that running offers.

When I see a guy with the build and running abillity like Chelsea's John Terry, you have to wonder how good a runner he could have been.

Meanwhile, here in the US, while soccer is far more popular than it use to be, it is not on a level that would detour a potential world class runner such as Hall.