WASTED TALENT?

There was a kid in Central Massachusetts a few years ago who had a serious problem with cocaine, but still managed to run 1:57/low 4:20s. He just got out of jail for stabbing someone, but if he ever got his act together he would have really thrown down some nice marks.

Not to mention that he probably maxed at 15mpw throughout his whole career.

You are really close with Abdirizak Mohamud, but Michael Stember actually has the most wasted talent. In HS he was basically a sub 4miler and he spent most of his practices pretending to go on a run and smoking weed instead. At Stanford he never worked all that hard (I don't think he has run over 40mpw in his life). He has made the Olympics off of raw talent. If he had any drive at all he would have grabbed Ryuns HS mile record and then been looking at a medal chance at the Olympics.

just maybe wrote:

David Sharpe, 1.43 800 metre runner. Ran about 20-30 miles per week, usually in shorts in freezing North East England weather. Barely trained except when he was knocked out of bed to go to the track, when Steve Cram (his training partner) retired he just didn\'t seem to have the motivation to train anymore, retired when he was about 27, double World Junior Champ at 800 and 1500, World Cup winner and second at European Champs, trained like a jogger.

Think he could have run 1.41.

Good shout!

Unfortuanately for him he didnt seem the most intelligent athlete about. Anybody remember an article in athletics today years ago where they used to analyse athletes diets. Sharpe seemed to live on sweets, biscuits (Gold bars if my memories correct) fish and chips and cider. In response to a nutritionist who pointed out some of the more obvious flaws in his diet he said something about knowing athletes who take vitamins and still cant break 1.50 - so that \'proves\' diet cant be important.

There was a story sometime ago about how he couldnt be found to warm up before the final at the 1990 Europeans but was eventually tracked down to the athletes canteen where he was eating some kind of pie - still got the silver

are you serious???http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/oldBios/2005/Stember_Michael.asp

LAA wrote:

You are really close with Abdirizak Mohamud, but Michael Stember actually has the most wasted talent. In HS he was basically a sub 4miler and he spent most of his practices pretending to go on a run and smoking weed instead. At Stanford he never worked all that hard (I don't think he has run over 40mpw in his life). He has made the Olympics off of raw talent. If he had any drive at all he would have grabbed Ryuns HS mile record and then been looking at a medal chance at the Olympics.

where the hell did you hear that was stember's training regime as a high schooler?

He should be the greatest distance runner of this generation. Talent wise he leaves people like Ritz and Webb in the dust. Problem is he has never worked hard in his life. He seriously spent more hours smoking weed in HS then running. Then being with people like Gabe Jennings didn't help him much at Stanford. Its really sad to see someone only scratch the surface of their ability, and angering to see them happy with that.

I definitely think Stember could've been great. But I don't believe the other stuff you mention.

basketball team did a time trial on the track just before practice. Freshmen kid ran 4:55 (on my watch) of course in bball shorts and sneakers. Ran one track meet that season cause there season ended early and ran 4:44. Played bball the rest of the three years and did well but no scholarship. Of course we tried like hell to get him to run but he hated running so oh well.

How about David Bedford or Alberto Salazar? Both had the potential to be two of the greatest distance runners in history but both were chronic overtrainers. Neither could understand that recovery is part of training.[quote]typical bballer story wrote:

No one seens OFSAA as competitive except for you

Jesse actually ran between 50-70 mpw, but it is a shame he dropped out.

The bigger wasted talent was Michael Kiter from Spokane. 856, 819, 407 senior year (actual 20-30 mpw, little to no training in the offseason). Went to UW, did well for a year, then flunked out. Now working at Costco.

Who are you referring to? Any chance it's Geoff Cronan or Jon Gilman? Never heard much about those two. Or Dave Hughson that's my other guess.

Original Message

Author: chair city ballin

Subject: RE: WASTED TALENT?

Message:

There was a kid in Central Massachusetts a few years ago who had a serious problem with cocaine, but still managed to run 1:57/low 4:20s. He just got out of jail for stabbing someone, but if he ever got his act together he would have really thrown down some nice marks.

Not to mention that he probably maxed at 15mpw throughout his whole career.

I've seen many underachievers in my time.

Two women who ran 2:05 and 2:06 and were basically very talented as well as lazy.

Team mate was a 53 second quarter miler who was overweight, had a horrible personality, terrible work ethic. We also had two 23 second female sprinters, twins actually. One became pregnant and the other one just dropped off the face of the earth. Neither came even close to their potential - they were as tiny as Felix and just plain fast. Too many personal barriers to overcome along with a shit for brains coach.

many people throw their gifts away for various reasons. Maybe they just don't like doing it anymore.

My old teammate, the one & only Robin Martin. Scary talent.

peedi peedi wrote:

Who are you referring to? Any chance it's Geoff Cronan or Jon Gilman? Never heard much about those two. Or Dave Hughson that's my other guess.

I don't know who Cronan or Gilman are. Care to enlighten me? Dave Hughson wasn't a coke head he just liked drinking some brews, but he was a waste of talent too. I mean he threw down 1:55/4:21 under one of Central Massachusett's worst coaching staffs. But all that aside, the person I'm talking about is Gardner's Jason Flamer. Ask any alumni of Garnder High or anyone who ran with the kid, they'll tell you the same things I said in my earlier post.

Some other wasted talent from Central Massachusetts:

Scott Estabrook-9:14iy, dropped out of college after a semester

Tim Cunningham-9:22y as a junior, quit running after less

Rich Rogers from New Bedford, MA. Saw this kid run his first competitive 1500 in Knoxville, TN and 5k in MS in late 90's. Ran 3:54 and low-15's. Never ran it seriously again and tried to make himself an 800 runner.

All-Time Wasted Talent?

ABDIRIZAK MOHAMMED: NOONE in this country was more talented than that guy. Do not compare him to anyone: Webb, Ritz, Hall--NOONE. He was not human!

1) JON DENNIS- South Florida 2x NCAA 5K champ

I heard he was the laziest talent ever.

yooyoyooyoyoyooyoyoyo chaircit wrote:

peedi peedi wrote:

Who are you referring to? Any chance it's Geoff Cronan or Jon Gilman? Never heard much about those two. Or Dave Hughson that's my other guess.

I don't know who Cronan or Gilman are.

d2 cmass XC runners. Millbury and Murdock, ithink

am i right? were they notorious slackers?

Did Abdirizak have any speed, he seemed a bit slow for a great track talent?