rojo
co-founder
The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 10:24AM Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
I have been doing some research for next week's Week That Was and figured I should share it here early as it's topical.

Recently, TFN named David Rudisha as its athlete of the year. A solid, non-controversial choice.

But the other day, I was on the site and that video of Merritt's WR was running and I watched and was reminded how big his WR was and how special his season was.

I started wondering, "Did he have the best year of anyone in 2012?"

The argument can be made that yes he did.

Here are the stats:

Rojo wrote:

Coming into the year, only 10 men in history had run 12.95 or faster. Aries Merritt ran 12.95 or faster 7 times, which means he produced 7 of the 29 fastest times in history.

Coming into the year, the world record in the 110 hurdles was 12.87 and Merritt obliterated that by .07 which is .54% faster than the old record.

Now let's compare that to what Rudisha did in the 800.

In the 800, coming into the year, the 10th fastest man in history had run 1:42.58. Rudisha beat that time 4 times, producing four of the top 17 times in history.

Coming into the year, the world record in the 800 was 1:41.01 and Rudisha beat that by .10 which is .10% faster than the old record.

Now. Admittedly, one can race the 110 hurdles a lot more than the 800. Not counting heats, Merritt ran the 110 hurdles 14 times and he put up a time that would have made him top 10 all-time prior to this year in 7 of those races or 50% of the time.

Rudisha only raced 7 times not counting heats and thus he put up what would have been a top-10 time, 57.1% of the time.

I'm not saying Rudisha didn't derve it. He ran a world record - WITH NO RABBITTS - on the biggest stage and thus he probably deserves it. The no rabbit part is so refreshing and old-school that he basically cinched the award right there.

But given the fact that Merritt brought down the world record by .54%, I think he deserves some major props. If he'd gotten the world record himself at the Olympics, we'd say he'd have had to be the TFN AOY.

Even if you go back to the old world record of 1:41.11 of Wilson Kipketer, David Rudisha has brought the 800 world record by a total of .20% as compared to Merritt's .54%.
Sprintgeezer
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 11:03AM - in reply to rojo Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
Rojo--

With respect, the only thing Merritt deserves is a lifetime ban from the sport, and an order of restitution.

On second thought, there might also be an intentional tort in there, the resulting damages wherefrom should be recoverable by aggrieved parties.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4798549&page=3

If there was ever a case that called for a return to time-honored wisdom, this is it.

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Read the thread, Rojo.
Fluffy
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 11:35AM - in reply to Sprintgeezer Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
Sprintgeezer wrote:

Rojo--

With respect, the only thing Merritt deserves is a lifetime ban from the sport, and an order of restitution.

On second thought, there might also be an intentional tort in there, the resulting damages wherefrom should be recoverable by aggrieved parties.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4798549&page=3

If there was ever a case that called for a return to time-honored wisdom, this is it.

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Read the thread, Rojo.


You're my 2nd favorite troll on LetsRun. I really appreciate you.
toro
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 12:35PM - in reply to rojo Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
You are also missing the fact that Rudisha lost a big race at the end of the season in Zurich and Aries Merritt wan every race on the circuit.

And Merritt thoroughly dominated the world list in his event while Rudisha had company on the world list due to the deep competition in the Olympic race.
lol lol lol lol
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 7:46PM - in reply to toro Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
toro wrote:

You are also missing the fact that Rudisha lost a big race at the end of the season in Zurich and Aries Merritt wan every race on the circuit.

And Merritt thoroughly dominated the world list in his event while Rudisha had company on the world list due to the deep competition in the Olympic race.


Yes. The only thing DR has over AM is setting his WR in the Olympic final.
Rudisha
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 7:55PM - in reply to toro Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
toro wrote:

You are also missing the fact that Rudisha lost a big race at the end of the season in Zurich and Aries Merritt wan every race on the circuit.


Which circuit was that?

Merritt lost 4 Diamond League races - false starts in New York and Lausanne, 2nd in Eugene, and 4th in Shanghai.
Koneko
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 8:05PM - in reply to rojo Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
Merritt is dirty, no question about it. The folks at TFN likely suspect it too. Glad to see Rudisha honored instead.
hjhf
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 8:08PM - in reply to Fluffy Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
Fluffy wrote:

[quote]Sprintgeezer wrote:

Rojo--

With respect, the only thing Merritt deserves is a lifetime ban from the sport, and an order of restitution.

On second thought, there might also be an intentional tort in there, the resulting damages wherefrom should be recoverable by aggrieved parties.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4798549&page=3

If there was ever a case that called for a return to time-honored wisdom, this is it.

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Read the thread, Rojo.


You're my 2nd favorite troll on LetsRun. I really appreciate you.[/quote]

I've been missing the Solinsky bashing recently. Those always get people riled up.
lol lol lol lol
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 8:35PM - in reply to Koneko Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
Koneko wrote:

Merritt is dirty, no question about it. The folks at TFN likely suspect it too. Glad to see Rudisha honored instead.


You are arguing that AM is dirty but DR is CLEAN?

Okay...
Bad Wigins
RE: The Case For Aries Merritt Being 2012 Track and Field's Athlete of the Year 12/29/2012 9:30PM - in reply to lol lol lol lol Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
Never mind who is dirty and who is clean. Hurdles are 2nd class races. People don't care about them as much. So a hurdler can win only when there isn't a flat runner who's just as good.

There's no use whining about that, when it's always been true since long before today's hurdlers decided to be hurdlers, and they all knew it.