This thread got accidentally removed but is back.
This thread got accidentally removed but is back.
[quote]listenup wrote:
THE COURSE WERE SHORT ALL THROUGH THE 80's!!!
Yes, there were some very talented runners. NO, not all the times are legit.
Period.
You found out our secret....we only ran 25 miles, or so. What an idiot!!! Guys like Shorter and Rodgers would be right in the thick of it today (with performances done 30+ years ago.) If you factor normal improvement over time in, today's U.S. runners (as good as they may seem) are really under-achieving, compared to the rest of the world. As others have pointed out, U.S runners were not far off the world record of the day in the 1970s/early 1980s. Today, they are much further off the world record. On the top end,as good as U.S. runners today, with more depth, especially 1983/84. Finally, look at it this way: Shorter, Rodgers: Olympic gold and silver medals (really 2 golds for Shorter), 4 Boston, 4 NYC, 4 Fukuoka WINS. Today's U.S elite: Olympic silver medal. I know, today's competition is soooo much tougher, blah, blah. Today's U.S marathoning elite have definitely closed the gap with the rest of the world with great performances from Hall, Meb, Deena, et al.... with a lot of hope for the future.
"normal improvement over time" & "guys like Shorter and Rodgers would be right in the thick of it today" are contradictory statements, steve. No, Shorter and Rodgers, on the world scene, would NOT be in the "thick of it" today. What was Shorters PR's? Oh, about 5 minutes off the world best?
Hall would have spanked Shorter by damn near 2 minutes!
Do you think Rodgers could beat Tergat heads-up? Do you think those two marathoners are comprable?
Shorter and Rodgers would be in the thick of it ON THE US SCENE. Not on the world scene.
I love how you say: "today's competition is soooomuch tougher, blah, blah, blah..." You disagree? You think it's not?
And yes, the courses were short. Like I said, the 80's had talent, but not the depth you may have thought...
More depth in the 80's definitely. No doubt.
Fewer guys today at the very top end, only 3 or 4 of them with any hope of winning a major race.
No top end talent for the early 80's??? Bill Rodgers and Co. would run the legs off of any of the top guys these days. Those guys could RACE! It's not about time-trials, altitude tents, or underwater treadmills...it's putting your balls on the line. We're geting better, but we should immulate the fearlesness of that early 80's era more often. Straight up racing...80's > '08.
I don't understand this theory of "normal improvement over time" theory. I'd like to hear your or anyone else's argument as to why a 2:09 in 1984 was comparitively faster than a 2:09 today, since it occured in 1984: hence the "normal improvement over time theory" or NIOTT, if you will.
Was the gravitational pull in the atmosphere more strenous then as opposed to now? Were the pollutants in the air more dense then from today? Were the shoes less substantial (that might be it...it could be the shoes. shoes today are better)? Was it uphill both ways? Were the winds always against guys training in the 80's? Or was the road, the road. And miles were miles, just like today?
The argument resides in your definition of greatness. Is Matt Tegenkamp greater than Steve Prefontaine? Is Matt Tegenkamp a better runner than Steve Prefontaine? Those are two different questions. But in my opinion they are the same answers. Running is an empirical sport with empirical data; the track is the same distance today as it was in 1984. Haile G. is a greater runner than anyone in the 80's. So is Tergat, etc. Haile G. is greater than Emil Zatopek. Do you agree? Or was Zatopek's greatness, as a result of his social/historical circumstance, a "greater" distance runner than Geb? These are two giants of their era: who was greater? If you believe in your NIOTT then you would have to remarkably say Zatopek was the greater distance athlete...
It's probably true that American distance running was at it's relative peak through the late 70s till the mid to late 80's, but that time is over, and American distance running has experienced a tremendous resurgence - and this is a fact that, quite frankly, scares the guys who were apart of that 80's dominance. they don't want to let go of the fact that Americans today are simply.................faster.
Do you think that Nurmi would be a 2:30/29+ runner today? Do you think that Abebe Bakila, another runner thought of as the greatest distance runner, or at least the greatest distance runner of all time would be finishing four minutes behind Hall?That is what is meant by "normal improvement over time" (among other things, the shoes were so good back in that era that Bikila's weighted much less than those crappy things that the runners now are forced to use.
Shit Bob Kempainen would be in the thick of it all right now...13 years later after running 2:08.47 during medical school. As opposed to runners like Abdi and Hall, in which all they do is run, eat, rest, run etc. How many U.S. runners have beaten Kempainen's time? Khalid (I know some of you might not agree) and Hall. Not ever Abdi, Meb, Culpepper, Ritz, Cabada, Sell, etc. have. Only 3 runners and one them was born in the U.S.
Sorry only 2 have...Khalid and Hall.
I haven't read through all the posts above, but certainly presume that others have pointed out the fallacy of the premise of this thread: that is, that this year's field is the "best ever." I seriously doubt that. The real measure of greatness will be to see how they finish in the Oly race against the rest of the world. By that measure, 1972 and 1976 (and, really, 1980) are pretty much impossible to beat.
Yep, you presume.
Kill the post now.
curiousity plus wrote:
Im sure there are some old guys who would argue that there are some other good candidates for that title.
i was in the 1980 "boycott" trials.
tony wwas not pushed that year.
2 races, both wins in 2;10 & some change.
he would have been golden in moscow.
& someone please list 5 other guys that didnt run besides bill rogers?? if memory serves me correct, i think it was may 24th that carter announced the boycott?? what other big event happened on may 24th?