I seriously think GPS watches and paces/splits are to blame. American men have forgotten how to compete cause they are so far behind the Africans to begin with, so they're trying to race their watch and splits rather than effort.
--The Africans are racing to COMPETE, just like the great Americans and non-Africans did in the 70s and 80s. They've got money on the line and scalps to take down.
--Everyone else in the world is time trialing and most likely going by kilometers. 3:00 kilometers equals 2:06:26, so you've got all these Asian and European guys training and aiming for 3:00/km. They may come up short but still run sub 2:10.
--American guys are aiming for 5:00/MILE, which equates to 2:11:00 (and they fall off pace and run 2:12-18). So our guys are aiming LOWER than their likely equally talented Asian and European counterparts.
--Sadly, trying to raise the Olympic Trials standards has done nothing to get men to step it up, unlike American women.
--Also, American women are more likely to have a chance in being competitive at major and mid-major marathons, so they can throw time and splits out the window and focus on competing.
I wasn't so sure if Desi would ever win a major because she was so focused on splits and hitting pace rather than competing. This year's Boston forced her to ditch the watch and splits, and look what happened!
People just need to ditch this crap and focus on competing and getting the most out of yourself.