USA distance renaissance leaving webb behind article

[doug5321]

on the front page article by tim layden the USA renaissance article by tim layden, he say the 1990's were the depths of USA middle distance running where bob kennedy did most of the work.

what about johnny gray he was better than anyone we ever had in the 800.
mark everett solid 800 runner
mark croghan better than any steepler we have now
steve holman more times under 3:33.00 than webb, wheating, manzano, lomong and centrowitz put together, clearly not in lagats class though.

clearly kennedy was not alone in the 90's
kennedy his 10th best 5000 time was 13:06.12, teg, solinsky, ritz, and rupp combined have 7 times under 13:06.12

800- clear advantage 1990's
1500/mile advantage 2000's only because of lagat otherwise 1990's
3/5000 advantage 2000's again because of lagat otherwise 1990's
10000 clear advantage 2000's
marathon clear advantage 2000's meb got silver in 2004, and won new york, khannouchi world record, hall has run some good times

[doug5321]

Re: USA distance renaissance leaving webb behind article

here is the article. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/o ... index.html

[kuha]

Re: USA distance renaissance leaving webb behind article

Actually, a very moving piece. I've been critical of Webb over the years, but I consider him absolutely heroic to have persevered through ALL the bad times (and, my God, there have been many, many bad times). He was so good at his peak that his mediocrity is all the more baffling. Some have said something to the effect that "talent never goes away." I think that's false--talent pretty clearly does seem to go away...or at least enough of the essential elements disappear that it is nowhere near the same thing as before.

So, again, my hat is off to this guy for his seemingly eternal HOPE and his genuine COURAGE to try and to "fail," over and over. And at the end of it all, the high points won't soon be forgotten.

[TN1965]

Re: USA distance renaissance leaving webb behind article

One problem with this kind of comparison is that the current athletes are not "done" yet. Surely, Rupp has not run the last sub-13 of his career yet, and you could say the same about Centro in 1500m. And who knows how good Jager will be in steeple?