With the high possibility of Meb and Deena making the team, what does that say about the US marathoning?
With the high possibility of Meb and Deena making the team, what does that say about the US marathoning?
Since when has there been an upper age restriction to qualifying for the Olympics?
They qualified... wrote:
Since when has there been an upper age restriction to qualifying for the Olympics?
I think the OP meant something like: "is this a bad sign for American distance running if we don't have enough athletes in their prime to take all the spots" versus "is this a good sign that our best athletes have this kind of longevity that they can stay relevant for 20+ years?"
If you qualify, you qualify. It would prove to runners they are not "done" at a certain age. That is the current mindset as proven by the OP's question.
Need to get used to it, with the prevalence of doping these days people can extend their careers far longer than they used to.
Need to get used to the prevalence of doping these days to allow under age 40 U.S. runners to be competitive.
Meb and Deena are once in a generation talent. They are also probably the most diligent and deliberate athletes of recent history in the way they train and do all the "little things" to keep healthy. Their longevity should not be a surprise and is not a knock on the rest of the field.
That being said, I am not so sure that either are a lock for the team. Meb has a short training cycle and Deena has to hit it out of the park to get the very competitive third spot.
Plus both are classy people, too.
Precious Roy wrote:
Meb and Deena are once in a generation talent. .
db coopy wrote:
With the high possibility of Meb and Deena making the team, what does that say about the US marathoning?
If it happens it says we have a really shallow pool. As others have pointed out these two have done everything right to extend their careers and are amongst the top Americans of all time but they should not be top 3 in LA this year.
I think Deena will do very well but I'd be surprised if she cracks top 5. Depending how the race plays out Meb could end up on the team which isn't good for our chances at a medal but probably great for USATF in trying to hype up our team for the 9 months afterwards.
Meb placed 4th in the last Olympic marathon at the age of 37.
What does that say about the marathoning of the entire world?
And he beat all of the Ethiopians, all of the Europeans, all of the Asians and all of the North and South Americans and Australians.
As long as the ratings are good and bribes bountiful, it doesn't matter who is running.
Andres Espinosa made Mexico's team at age 41 after running a Masters WR of 2:08:46 in Berlin. Carlos Lopes (POR) won Olympic gold at age 37 and set a WR of 2:07:12 at 38. Surely he would have made the Portuguese team at 41.
Thanks to the last couple of posts for not including a vague doping accusation, but instead posting something actually useful.
To the people who say that being close to your peak at 40ish is a sign of doping and we should "get used to it": doping ends careers early, it doesn't extend them.
Or do you think all the runners who ended their careers at 30 years old from the 1960s until 2000 were clean because they ended their careers ten years younger, despite being competitive in the era when there wasn't even a test for most PEDs?