Steve Scott video interview > he gives advice for Alan Webb

I don't care if Webb got the AR in the mile, Steve Scott is still the best miler this country every produced. Period.

Lionel Huts wrote:

I don't care if Webb got the AR in the mile, Steve Scott is still the best miler this country every produced. Period.

Jim Ryun?

scott broke 4 mins over 120 times, a legend.

john walker as well, he even broke 4mins more than steve scott did.

Jim Ryun

Scott was fabulous and the best American miler of his time. But as Scott says in his own bio, "Ovett owned me," and so did Coe. Scott never set a world record, never won an Olympic medal. In his prime, Ryun was the dominant miler in the world. He set the WR in the mile twice, and in the 1500, and in the 880 (when that meant something). Won Olympic silver and it was more fate and circumstance that denied him gold (twice). Scott was great, but its Jim Ryun

Steve said it: I hope Webb sees this!

I think Steve made some good points about Webb being overtrained and he said it from having the same problem he is going through.

Steve Scott seems to be an easy-going and nice fellow.

wesc wrote:

scott broke 4 mins over 120 times, a legend.

john walker as well, he even broke 4mins more than steve scott did.

Wrong, Steve Scott broke 4min 136 times!!!!

SandiegoGuy22 wrote:

wesc wrote:

scott broke 4 mins over 120 times, a legend.

john walker as well, he even broke 4mins more than steve scott did.

Wrong, Steve Scott broke 4min 136 times!!!!

Listen numb-nuts, both of your statements are true!

Not going to argue too much against Ryun but there are couple things for Scott. Much longer peak (Ryun was awesome for ~3 years, scott was more like 6). he does have a world championship silver. Scott had a pretty good 3k (7:36) and was denied a chance at the olympics in 1980. He definitely wouldn't have been a favorite but he would have had an chance at a medal. Scott had the misfortune of being around when 4 of the greatest 1500/miler (coe,cram,ovett,Aoutia) guys were at their peak. If his peak years would have been 1988-1992 instead of 1981-1985, we might regard him differently. Of course part of the reason why Ryun didn't have as many guys close to him was because he was so much better.

z runner wrote:

Jim Ryun

Scott was fabulous and the best American miler of his time. But as Scott says in his own bio, "Ovett owned me," and so did Coe. Scott never set a world record, never won an Olympic medal. In his prime, Ryun was the dominant miler in the world. He set the WR in the mile twice, and in the 1500, and in the 880 (when that meant something). Won Olympic silver and it was more fate and circumstance that denied him gold (twice). Scott was great, but its Jim Ryun

Walker is a distant second to Scott's 136 sub4 minute miles.

Ryun had a comparitively short career.

I have seen both Ryun and Scott run at or near their peaks. It's always difficult to compare runners across different eras, but I think that anyone who has seen both of them run would say that Ryun was the bigger talent with more potential. Scott unquestionably had a more impressive career at the highest level of the sport. If both of them ran with the same training opportunities, track qualities and professional support, I am nearly certain that Ryun would have been faster, but there is no telling if he could have sustained the performance level that Scott demonstrated.

I don't put much weight on longevity. Herb Elliott had an even shorter career that Ryun, but ranks even higher as an all-time great in my book. They did not get paid back then (or got small amounts under the table) and so could not afford to have the long running careers as they can now.

But I do agree that Scott was to some degree a victim of circumstance himself. It was brutally unfair that he was not allowed to run in 1980 Olympics. He would have been up against Coe and Ovett, but the 1500 in 80 endeed up being relatively slow, so who knows what he could have done? As his bio reveals, he could not (like Coe) afford to pick and choose his races after the 80 Olympics, so ran in everything. He peaked in the interim years after 80, and it seemed like he had pretty much run himself out (as a medal contender) by 84. I ran against him once in high school x-country, he kicked my ass. But he ain't Jim Ryun. Ryun did not have a world championship to run in like Scott did. If they had been held in 66/67 Ryun would have won the 1500 in a cakewalk.

Steve Scott caught a 6# trout in New Zealand on 1/27/1982.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=346165&page=0

Case closed!

The difference is elliot chose to stop running. Ryun kept on trying but wasn't the same. It is too bad elliot and Snell didn't keep running into their late 20s. A race between them, ryun and keino would have been epic.

With all do respect to Steve Scott he has no idea if Webb is over-trained. Webb could be doing the bare minimum to just sort of get by.

I personally think that after his AR he expected things to get easier. People easily forget how hard they pushed themselves to get to that point. I also think Webb needs to get re motivated instead of being depressed. Perhaps this would come with a coaching change but most likely it's his own demons holding him back.

Thanks!

That was some awesome information, I think everyone should keep a log like that so they can look back on it.

I agree with the Rocky III as well.

Great interview by Scott. Maybe a season off would do Webb a world of good.

Steve Scott broke 4min 136 times!!!![/quote]

yet he says that late in his career he was overtrained and didn't know it

136 sub 4's any he's training wrong.....what hope do we have

BobE wrote:

With all due respect to Steve Scott he has no idea...

BobE wrote:

I personally think that...

Maybe Steve Scott has no idea, but who the hell are you that you know better?