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It would be interesting to see the average appearance fee for each athlete.
My Top Ten
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Usain Bolt
Tyson Gay
Alyson Felix
Mo Farah
David Rudisha
Aries Merritt
Blanca Vlasic
Justin Gatlin
LeShawn Merritt
Sanya Richards-Ross
I won't even pretend to have an elightened European perspective that is probably required to accurately predict how big of a draw each athlete might be, but it's a guess.
Here are the most talented stars:
Sandra Perkovic
Bohdan Bondarenko
Tirunesh Dibaba
David Rudisha
Ezekiel Kemboi
Asbel Kiprop
Usain Bolt
Tero Pitkämäki
Milcah Chemos
Abeba Aregawi
honorable mention to Aman, Gebrhiwet, Rop, Niyonsaba, and Chicherova.
Here's my take on your list:
Usain Bolt - YES, BUFF and SHREDDED, there is a reason he earns that much
Tyson Gay - doper
Alyson Felix - very nice definition, well worth the money
Mo Farah - looks really SKINNY, not sure why he gets paid do much
David Rudisha - a victim of the increased testing this year, can't compete anymore
Justin Gatlin - doper
I can't put them in order but I'll put them down.
-Usain Bolt
-Mo Farah
-Alyson Felix
-Ashton Eaton
-David Rudisha
-Aries Merritt
-Tyson Gay (formerly)
-Nick Symmonds
-Kirani James
-Bernard Lagat (?)
-Lolo Jones
my take
I can't put them in order but I'll put them down.
-Usain Bolt
-Mo Farah
-Alyson Felix
-Ashton Eaton
-David Rudisha
-Aries Merritt
-Tyson Gay (formerly)
-Nick Symmonds
-Kirani James
-Bernard Lagat (?)
-Lolo Jones
my take
Mo farah
Usain bolt
David rudisha
Jess Ennis
Yelena isinbaeva
Alyson felix
Liu xang
Haile geb
Bekele
Blake
Would have included gay and Powell, but took them out after their failed tests.
It's harder then I thought to name 10. I think there's a few levels of status within even just those 10. Those are:
Bolt on his own - genuine world superstar.
Farah, haile, Ennis - most people who follow sports in general have probably heard of them.
The rest - you have to be on the sport or have a very keen interest in sport to know who they are.
meseret defar belongs on the list, great personality, you can just see her enthusiasm.
Again, if we take out the dopers, then this is a complete list of T&F athletes that average Joe knows:
Usain Bolt
Alyson Felix
Mo Farah
Haile Gebreselassie (in the decline, will probably retire soon)
Paula Radcliffe (pretty much retired)
Notice two of them are sprinters with very nice body definition.
Mo Farah is somewhat of an exception here. He would never be on this list had he not migrated to the UK...then no one would know him.
I will ignore Haile and Paula since they're about done.
In other words: to make it in T&F, you better look good and are BUFF/SHREDDED.
go to 3rd photo to see meseret defars enthusiasm.
I saw a Moscow WC commercial last night on an Arabic stream of Al Jazeera prior to the US/Honduras soccer game. It was just Allyson Felix talking about the WC and sprinting.
I also remember seeing Jessica Ennis in the UK tabloids/sports sections all the time, especially last summer.
Nobody has mentioned Caster Semenya or Pistorius either.
In no particular order:
Bolt
Felix
Pistorius
Lolo
Semenya
Vlasic
Farah
Ennis
Kenny B
Liu Xiang
Jessica Ennis is definitely in the media a lot.
I don't know if current appearance fees (say at DL) would completely predict the 10 biggest stars.
off the top of my head:
1. Usain Bolt
2. Mo Farah
3. Yohan Blake
4. Yuki Kawauchi (the Japanese market is huge)
5. Arata Fujiwara
6. Geoffrey Mutai
7. Lolo
8. Galen Rupp
9. Haile Gebreselassie
10. K. Bekele
Big Ben sathre
No particular order:
1. Bolt
2. Farah
3. Ennis-Hill
4. Vlasic
5. Chicherova
6. Powell
7. Felix
8. Thorkildsen
9. Liu Xiang
10. Lavillenie
CluffyUno wrote:
No particular order:
1. Bolt
2. Farah
3. Ennis-Hill
4. Vlasic
5. Chicherova
6. Powell
7. Felix
8. Thorkildsen
9. Liu Xiang
10. Lavillenie
And by Powell I mean Blake.
Rupp is in the top 10. He is the only relevant white distance runner in the 5/10. He stands out.
I would say:
1.Bolt
2. Farah
3. Blake
4. Felix
5. Rudisha
6. Aries Merritt
7. Vlasic
8. Fraser Pryce
9. Tirunesh Dibaba
10. Jeter
Locks:
Bolt
Everyone else is in a group of about 30 is up for debate depending on region and personal interest.
Is there a rule against attaching a helium balloon to yourself while running a road race?
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
How rare is it to run a sub 5 minute mile AND bench press 225?
Move over Mark Coogan, Rojo and John Kellogg share their 3 favorite mile workouts
Mark Coogan says that if you could only do 3 workouts as a 1500m runner you should do these
Red Bull (who sponsors Mondo) calls Mondo the pole vaulting Usain Bolt. Is that a fair comparison?