Amos out of 800

No not at all. What I personally think is:

1) He is not 18 years of age. This does not look like an 18 year old to me regardless of race

http://static4.demotix.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/a_scale_large/1300-6/photos/1342386979-sixth-and-last-day-of-the-world-junior-championships-barcelona-2012_1336766.jpg

2) The fact that he doesn't even have listed marks until 2011 over 800m and THEN runs 1.41.7 should make it even more head scratching.

My opinion he is a 23-24 year old who was most probably ignorantly fed something by an agent or coach and ran 1.41. Now there is a lot to lose (as OG silver medalist and WJ record holder) the extras are gone and now he is slowly dropping back to what he really is. Lets check back next season and see where errr, young (?), Nijel Amos is.

I'm sorry you think so. I'm privileged enough to be training with Amos and I can tell you he is one of the most talented runners ever.

"Now 'injury'??? He didn't look injured to me in any of his races this season"

I was with him the night he got injured running 400m for our university in Johannesburg (22/4/2013), he wasn't faking it. Everyone in our group thought that he was not going to break 1:48 in Lausanne because of his injury and his lack of training, he ran 1:44 and he won the world university games later on. That's all on talent, trust me.

He is going to back, he is training in a great environment with a great coach and group that has 2 athletes going to Moscow, Andre Olivier (800m) and Elroy Gelant (5000m).

It's like Amos and Rudisha were running a different event. A long sprint, while everyone else was either running a middle distance sprinting a 400 meter then being forced to run it in. Now they're recovering and the event is back to normal.

Philemon Ripkirk wrote:1) He is not 18 years of age. This does not look like an 18 year old to me regardless of race

if you run 1'41.7, do you think anyone frankly cares if he's 18 or 28y ???

The fact that he doesn't even have listed marks until 2011 over 800m and THEN runs 1.41.7 should make it even more head scratching

why ???

is the concept of "exceptional talent" beyond you ???

go look up how long an 800 career kip had before running 1'41.83 in '96 or rudy 1'42.01 in '09

My opinion he is a 23-24 year old who was most probably ignorantly fed something by an agent or coach and ran 1.41

those agents/coaches have struck the mother-lode of doping !!!

damn, now how come they can't get their other boys to run 1'41 with same regime ???

1) I don't personally care. I bet those who do care are the genuine juniors who lost out to this guy (either progressing through heats or medal wise) at age group champs. Furthermore if I was a talented junior at say 1.47 level I'm not sure how I would view my future prospects in the sport seeing one of my age group 'peers' running as fast as arguably the greatest MD runner of all-time (S.Coe) did. No it doesn't affect me, but it impacts the future of sport.

2)Okay I did: Here is Kipketer

1989 1:47.2 Nairobi 13 OCT

1990 1:45.7 Nairobi 20 JUL

1991 1:46.19 Malmö 05 AUG

1992 1:45.62 Helsinki 30 JUN

1993 1:45.46 Lappeenranta 27 JUL

1994 1:43.29 Oslo (Bislett) 22 JUL

1995 1:42.87 Monaco 25 JUL

1996 1:41.83 Rieti 01 SEP

1997 1:41.11 Köln 24 AUG

Since you are a strong numbers man you can see that from 1989 to 1997 Kip dropped around 6 seconds in pretty expected fashion - the average drop is approx 0.75 seconds with his biggest jump coming at the age of 21 where he drops 2.17 seconds. I would like to know what you think is unusual about this?

Conversely Nijel Amos drops from 1.47.28 to 1.41.73 in ONE season (5.55 seconds) interestingly enough taking one season to do what arguably the most talented (at a minimum one of the greatest two) 800 meter runner took 7 years to do (if we just for arguments sake take Kipketers 1.41.83 in '96 as the closest time comparison). To me, this is extremely unusual. How about I challenge you to find an example of an athlete that ever progressed to such a level, in such a short time, at such a young age.

Lets not forget to take into account Kipketers history of talent. What do we have for Amos - a 2.25 1000m and 8.33 3000m in 2010? Really, this is your argument?

So lets get this straight - Kipketer takes 8 years to dip under 1.42 at the age of 23 and Amos takes 1 year at the age of 18 and Amos is an 'exceptional talent'? Then what exactly does that make Wilson Kipketer? If we base it off the facts we see here I would say that you could only conclude Wilson Kipketer was decidely average? I prefer to look at Kipketer as the greatest talent we have ever seen over 800m - from his record breaking ability and title winning ability through to his longevity and not to mention glorious running form.

3) Your last comment is disappointing as I fully respect that you know better than to make such a statement. No one drug affects any one athlete the same and they certainly have different affects on a young but grown man in his early twenties as they do on a boy at 17 - or do you disagree with this too just for the sake of disagreeing? I'm sure many also try. I'll give you one example because I am running out of time - Rashid Ramzi. Went from 3.44.85 at the age of 21 to 3.30.25 in the space of two years. So yes, coaches and athletes do try it - and also get away with it.

Maybe Nijel Amos was just a perfect candidate who then fell into the right race at the right time - its certainly been done before.

Ben L. Wrong wrote:

where in the world wrote:

looks like aden's group with mahkloufi, driouch, and amos have all been absolutel failures this season.

Amos is not training with Jama Aden. He trains in South Africa.

Although you're right about Mak-daddy, Kaki and Driouch...Ayanleh Souleyman is running very well...and another Aden's runners are performing very well out there like Musaeb Balla. Balla has three Golds for the 800m in 2013:

-Gulf championships 04/13 Gold

-Arab Championships 05/13 Gold

-Asian Championships 07/13 Gold

What happened to Kaki?

what's happened with these guys

kaki driouch macgoofy amos

something to do with peds no doubt