my call wrote:
the game has now changed. you will never see a guy train like a marathoner and win the 800m. there is just too much competition and you have to be incredibly fast to win world championships. it also seems that when speedier guys move up a distance, they perform very well. el g won the olympic 5k training like a miler. you will never see bekele train for the 5k and win the olympic 1500m. competition is just too steep now and the days of a coach taking a bunch of kiwis from the same hood and making them olympic champions is way over.
a.) these East Africans spend the majority of their youth "marathon training." The point is to have a well established aerobic background.
b.) Haile Gebrselassie is the second fastest indoor 1500m runner ever (second to only El Guerrouj) and was world indoor 1500m champion in 1999. If you can run ~3:30, you can win an Olympic title. Geb's run about that, and I don't doubt that Bekele will as well.
c.) It's all about talent and work. These guys (the very best in the world today) represent the pinnacle of human achievement in middle and long distance running -- extremely talented and dedicated and the begin training in childhood. It's hard to beat, but, as Renato has said (and he should know) if a talented westerner was doing lots of natural aerobic running in his/her youth, they would have the same opportunities as those in East Africa.