Could Bill Rodgers at his peak make the 2016 US Olympic Marathon team?

1975-2016 wrote:

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??

Maybe

he would likely win by a few minutes over this bunch of has beens

There's a good chance he'd win the trials. Who is the favorite for the 2016 trials at the moment, Meb?

He'd be favored to win the trials in my eyes.

InWyo wrote:

He'd be favored to win the trials in my eyes.

This ^

Make the team? OP is either a troll or completely out of his mind.

On it's face his 2:09:27 says yes.

As far as I know Bill ran to win and never set out to just run for a PR or set up a time-trial type race. If he had I think he could have gone a minute faster.

His short course sub 2:09 was likely a tt type effort given it was against a relay team.

1975-2016 wrote:

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-10/10

Boston Billy NEVER beat someone that had run a sub 2:09 prior to racing against him. NEVER.

This does not mean that Billy did not beat someone that went on to later run sub 2:09.

This does not mean that someone had to run sub 2:09 to beat Billy.

It only means that if a runner has a sub 2:09 on their resume they beat him.

Are there 3 sub 2:09 entries? I believe Hall, Ritz, Meb and Abdi have all run under 2:09.

I believe that history tells us that for Billy to make the team he would have to do something that he had NEVER done before.

Ritz has never run even won a marathon. Hall hasn't run a good marathon in a LONG time. Meb and Abdi are getting up there in age (What has Abdi even run since '12?).

Think about it this way - if he lived in the current era, he'd have access to resources and knowledge that he didn't have 40 years ago, so yeah, he'd already be doing something he had never done before. Take for example something as simple as taking in nutrients during the race (see Geb's first adult marathon where he just took in water but debuted with a 2:06). Then again, all this new knowledge may have hindered him. However, I think he'd easily make the team.

Probably THIS wrote:

I believe that history tells us that for Billy to make the team he would have to do something that he had NEVER done before.

definitely. he was a gamer, he'd have the benefit of electrolytes in his race, not just the occasional water, and he was fast enough to break 2:10 in a qualifier, which is what it will likely take.

Gary Oldman wrote:

His short course sub 2:09 was likely a tt type effort given it was against a relay team.

random information on the short course sub 2:09 race against a relay team

The Japanese are thorough and efficient, and with a great tradition in

marathoning. Yet a big blunder occurred in Solo [! Sado] Island in 1976. Bill

Rodgers, competing against a relay team, ran 2:08.23, a "world best"; but a

double-check by the responsible Japanese proved the course to be short. That

incident prompted a high Japanese race official, connected to Fukuoka, to

confide to an American friend of his that Fukuoka until 1970 was 200 meters

short. (The American requested that both their names be kept confidential.)

An express-letter by this writer to the official produced a non-sequitor that

read like a paragraph of a Samuel Beckett play, and which amounted to a loud

"no comment."

Give the current training methods, yes, Bill would be a top contender to make the team.

Bill Rodgers today would be able to not have to race 6 marathons a year and run a road race twice a month all year long and still make a comfortable living.

There is no question that both he and Shorter would at their peak be 2:07-8 marathoners on flat courses with multiple pacers.

So yeah, easily Bill Rodgers at his peak would have been an obvious contender to make the 2016 team against any of the top current American contenders.

What an incredibly stupid post. How many sub-2:09 marathoners did Rodgers race during his peak from 1975-79? Zero. Until 1981, there was only one 2:09 marathoner - Clayton - and he ran that race 6 years prior to Rodgers' Boston win in 1975. To put it in terms you may understand, a person who had preciously run a sub 2:09 NEVER beat Rodgers from 1975-79. NEVER. Your post was less than useless.

A 1979 version of Rodgers would likely dominate the 2016 Olympic Trials.

Rodgers did run a 2:08.23 marathon in Japan on a course that after it was remeasured was 200 meters short, so since he was running under 5 minutes a mile the whole way that day, lets say if he ran that 200 meters at 5 minute pace or 75 per 400 = about 37.5 for 200. So about 2:08.50 which would have been the 2nd fastest marathon ever.

I know he did not run the entire marathon distance, and it would be possible though extremely unlikely he would collapse and not finish.

Yes he would have a great shot of WINNING the 2016 trials if he was in his best form.

Meb is literally the only person in the US who could even give Billy a run for his money right now if he were in his prime. And that's IF Meb's in his prime. We have a couple of okay guys like Eggleston and Vail but Billy'd crush both of them with ease.