From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

[Guest]

Copied from letsrun.com. Let 'em have it. This will be fun...

Sprinters do nothing out of the ordinary. ANYONE can run 100 meters. The only thing that differentiates them from others is a high proportion of fast-twitch fibers. It's not something they earned; they were born with it. With little training a perosn can become a great sprinter if they have the right genetics. A 10,000 runner has to train hard to have any chance of competing. Genetics play a role, but hard work is absolutely essential. A 100m runner can take 2 months off and still run a pretty good 100m. A 10,000 runner takes 2 months off and he's starting over. This is not even considering marathers, who make sprinters look pathetic with regards to training and dedication.

Sprinter make a track meet ... boring. They spend 10 minutes just trying to get into their blocks (9 of which are absolutely useless, just taking their good ol' tine), compete in a race that anyone can do with NO training whatsoever, and then make asses of themselves after the race with their "Look at me, I'm the greatest! I'm God's gift to the world!" attitudes.

Sprinters suck

[tafnut]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

I pretty much agree with everything except the last line and the 'boring' part. Can there be anything more elemental in all of sports than "I'm faster than you"? As for all the 'negative' things he/she is trying to say, "yeah, what's your point? That's the way it is - deal with it." Of course to get to sub-10, 20 and 45, it takes a whole lot more than talent. Unfortunately (for sprinters) Houston McTear pretty much took the mystery out of sprinting by running down the road in sneakers in 9.4 for 100 yeards on his first day running (probably a slight exaggeration, but not by much).

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

Sounds like a disgruntled distance runner. Do distance runners work harder? Of course. Is there talent need less? Well there are a lot of hard working distance runners that NEVER make it big. There is a great deal of talent in the top distance runners, not just hard work. Is sprinting boring? Well, at NCAA's the stands voted with their butts. At the announcement of the 10,000 meter run, the stands emptied like a chinese fire drill.

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

I agree. When I was in college, all the distance runners would eat oatmeal and fruit all day because we knew we would be running our guts out. The sprinters and field eventers showed up to workout with bags of McDonalds food. Told me all I needed to know.

[blacklily]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

>Copied from letsrun.com. Let 'em have it. This
>will be fun...

Sprinters do nothing out of the
>ordinary. ANYONE can run 100 meters. The only
>thing that differentiates them from others is a
>high proportion of fast-twitch fibers. It's not
>something they earned; they were born with it.
>With little training a perosn can become a great
>sprinter if they have the right genetics. A
>10,000 runner has to train hard to have any
>chance of competing. Genetics play a role, but
>hard work is absolutely essential. A 100m runner
>can take 2 months off and still run a pretty good
>100m. A 10,000 runner takes 2 months off and he's
>starting over. This is not even considering
>marathers, who make sprinters look pathetic with
>regards to training and dedication.

Sprinter
>make a track meet ... boring. They spend 10
>minutes just trying to get into their blocks (9
>of which are absolutely useless, just taking
>their good ol' tine), compete in a race that
>anyone can do with NO training whatsoever, and
>then make asses of themselves after the race with
>their "Look at me, I'm the greatest! I'm God's
>gift to the world!" attitudes.

Sprinters suck

Sure. ANYONE can run 100m. But can anyone run it FAST? No. Otherwise, the world records would get broken every 10 minutes! How many people on these boards can even run 10.6 (men) or 11.7 (female)?

Sounds like yet another genetic argument to diminish our (mostly black) sprinters' achievements. Clearly written by someone who hasn't actually BEEN competitive in any way in a sprint. Hell no, sprinters don't WORK HARD at what they do! Do speed drills, plyos, strength training, improve their technique, max velocity or speed endurance, etc. They just roll out of bed & pump out times! I notice many Americans often lodge a similar argument at African distance athletes (but not American or European ones). Hmmm, quite interesting.

Be glad for sprinters. America would SUCK as a track & field nation but for sprinters, followed by the various jump disciplines & shot putters. Look who brings home the victories & medals. OUTPUT is what I want to see as a track fan. A few people aside, USA distance runners fizzle compared to the global standard.

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

>Sure. ANYONE can run 100m. But can anyone run >it FAST? No. Otherwise, the world records would >get broken every 10 minutes! How many people on >these boards can even run 10.6 (men) or 11.7 (female)?

i can run 10.12 haha

[Brutal]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

Here are some sprinters who brought Olympic gold home for the good old U S of A......

Bob Hayes
Henry Carr
Mike Larrabee
Jimmy Hines
Tommie Smith
Lee Evans
Carl Lewis
Joe DeLoach
Mo Greene
MJ
Jesse Owens
Eddie Tolan
Harrison Dilliard
Mel Patton
Mike Marsh
Bobby Morrow
Otis Davis
Steve Lewis

Who were those distance aces anyway? Ya know those Olympic gold medalists for the good old US of A........hahahahaha!!!!!!.....good luck!

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

These remarks about sprinters and, probably by implication, field eventers are simply moronic and show complete ignorance about the sport. Never seen 100m guys collapsed and throwing up after doing 400m reps? Felt the pain from heavy weight sessions? Experienced the sheer agony after plyrometric work? Apparently not. I like all events (well, maybe not the walks, but that's another thread)and don't diss distance runners. But exactly how hard is it to put one foot in front of the other when running at about 50%? Sprinters and field eventers must also master techniques that are not natural physical movements and hold their concentration in highly stressful competitive environments. How many people can master the PV or discus? Not many. How many can jog? Everybody who is abled.

btw...I have an idea who blacklily is. She rubbishes the people on this site every now and then on iaaf.org. However, in this case she is right.

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

If sprinters are so boring, why does today's USA Today devote a half page to them ? 3 articles on the 100.

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

...and a whole page in todays LA Times

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

Wow, I have never heard such crap in my life. The only way a distance runner would make an announcement like that is through the internet...in a chat room...annonymously..because the whole world knows that distance runners talk about sprinters under their breath and smile to their faces. Just a bunch of banana eating coffee drinking, balemic idiots. By the way, for the guy eating oatmeal and fruit....If you saw athletes bringing their Mcdonalds bags into the lobby...It was probably because of one of two things. 1.They finished competing 2. those athletes aren't worth a crap anyways. And for someone to say that you can take a couple months off and comeback and sprint well....Ask Maurice Green what happened to him last season when most of his base training was taken away due to an injury and he was demolished on the iaaf circuit...I was at the US championships last year..The mens 10,000 was great. I am good friend with both Abdi and Meb, I thought it was unfortunate that the crowd left before the race started...But lets face it...Nobody cares about you skinny freaks......

[d]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

rico, in regard to your last sentence, ever been to eugene?

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

<Be glad for sprinters. America would SUCK as a track & field nation but for sprinters, followed by the various jump disciplines & shot putters. Look who brings home the victories & medals. OUTPUT is what I want to see as a track fan. A few people aside, USA distance runners fizzle compared to the global standard>

right on ! in the last worlds and olympics the longer distance we won on medal on was the 400 meters. with the exception of regina jacobs and khanouchi (an import) the rest of out distance athletes are also runs, filler. as far as i am concerned track would not be on tv in the us at all if it wasn't for our sprinters.

[Guest]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

>Here are some sprinters who brought Olympic gold
>home for the good old U S of A......

Bob
>Hayes
Henry Carr
Mike Larrabee
Jimmy
>Hines
Tommie Smith
Lee Evans
Carl Lewis
Joe
>DeLoach
Mo Greene
MJ
Jesse Owens
Eddie
>Tolan
Harrison Dilliard
Mel Patton
Mike
>Marsh
Bobby Morrow
Otis Davis
Steve Lewis


>Who were those distance aces anyway? Ya know
>ow those Olympic gold medalists for the good old
>US of A........hahahahaha!!!!!!.....good luck!
800, james lightbody, paul pilgrim, melvin sheppard, james meredith, john woodruff, melvin whitfield twice in 48 and 52, thomas courtney, david wottle, 1500 james lightbody twice in 04 and 06, melvin shppard. 500 bob schul, 10k billy mills, marathon thomas hicks, john hayes and frank shorter. women 800 madeline manning, marathon joan benoit. there are the usa gold medal winning olympians.

[BillVol]

Re: From letsrun.com...this should stir things up

Amen, thanos. Thank goodness for our sprinters -- or we'd have the same number of track medals as Paraguay or Iceland. (Maybe a couple more than them.)