Shalane is a class act, and her recent comments on Gwen Jorgensen demonstrate it.

Winning isn’t always pretty wrote:

Winning a WMM brings out the worst in both of these women. They both can’t admit the truth. Shalane won because Keitany had cramps. If they raced 100 times this would happen maybe twice. Des only won because of the awful conditions. Tiki proved that in Chicago this past weekend. They were both at the right place at the right time. LUCKY. This is not some surge in American women marathoning.

I am cheering for a DNF from Shalane followed by a retirement announcement. Then the same from Des in April in Boston.

Spoken like a true winner...

Yeah I use to like her till she bashed Jordan and Galen. I thought that was really unprofessional. Would of think this if Galen or Jordan said that of Shalane. You never hear Jordan or Galen Talking bad about other athletes. Even though when Galen was sitting next to Gwen he was very polite and classy. But you know what he was thinking. Stay classy.

i agree. when she accused rupp of cheating (and hasay) she lost me . so did meb with his antics after the trials. there are a group of non NOP runners who just have little grace . this country has enough problems fielding competitve distance runners without ones we have engaging in unsubstantiated slurs.

Runnergrl wrote:

Even though when Galen was sitting next to Gwen he was very polite and classy. But you know what he was thinking. Stay classy.

That he wanted to get pegged by a gold medalist?

george oscar bluth wrote:

Nghfbsbxfbhv xc wrote:

I would never refer to Shalane as a class act. She trashed Hasay for not reason just because she ran faster than her. She all but abandoned Kara after claiming they were best buddies.

She knows Gwen is not a real threat so she doesn’t bother but if Gwen was close. You just know Shalane would be taking about questionable performances or making up other stuff.

That is a gross mischaracterization and intellectually dishonest. She was asked how she felt about the Galen's Chicago performance and said that it is hard to get excited about performances from a team under investigation. Would you have her lie, instead?

Reposting because there is an inordinate amount of people who are taking Flanagan's response to the question about Rupp's Chicago performance out of context, or downright lying about what she said.

I agree with Shalane but I believe that Gwen is just a little Naive about running/marathon. Her background in triathlon: she went from sitting behind a desk and not even knowing what the sport of triathlon was, to making the US Olympic team in less than 18 months. So with that in mind, she feels this is a similar transition and an even longer amount of time to train for it. She was by far the superior runner in the sport of Triathlon. And watching a fellow triathlete, Sara Dossena, finish 6th at NYC in 2017, this probably gave Gwen even more confidence about how well she could do at the marathon. I believe Sara D. is now focusing on running instead of triathlon.

One could make the argument that Bolt is doing the same in the sport of Soccer. He feels that he's able to play at that level, while he may be learning differently at the moment. I haven't followed that transition as closely so I could be wrong.

It's probably a great comparison as MJ was the best ever at bball (not trying to get into the argument about MJ vs Lebron), and Gwen was arguably the best ever at triathlon. She did win 12 or 13 straight races including Rio at the highest level of the sport. I don't think they were saying she would dominate at running like MJ did at basketball. MJ never made it out of the minors, did he? That may be how Gwen's running career goes. Maybe she wins a couple of smaller marathons / half marathons, but we'll see.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

I speak my mind under that name with no fear, regret, or inhibitions.

I often disagree with SR, but anyone who has read his posts knows this is 100% true.

PS Some of us wish he was a bit more inhibited.

Different strokes for different folks wrote:

Even thei physical appearance couldn't be more different

Shalane is tall blonde and fair skinned.

Desi is short dark haired and is dark skinned.

I always thought that Shalane was tall, but she's only like 5'3"! Useless FYI.

Good post. I have to point out though, that if Shalane had NOT chosen to welcome/mentor Jorgensen it would have created an uncomfortable situation on the team.

Jorgensen having outsize goals and keeping them private can be taken as self-motivation, but making them public smacks of self-promotion. Compare her with Kipchoge's public statement before Berlin where he said he was only looking to set a PR, although undoubtedly privately he was targeting the WR, and his goal was certainly a realistic one.

Nike is obviously buying in to the Jorgensen storyline and sees it as good publicity for the brand, regardless of how realistic her goals are. Very unlikely they would have taken on any other 30+ 2:41 marathoner, regardless of their talent level.

Runnergrl wrote:

Yeah I use to like her till she bashed Jordan and Galen. I thought that was really unprofessional. Would of think this if Galen or Jordan said that of Shalane. You never hear Jordan or Galen Talking bad about other athletes. Even though when Galen was sitting next to Gwen he was very polite and classy. But you know what he was thinking. Stay classy.

It wasn't personal, as you seem to be implying. Flanagan was questioning performance that may have been achieved with the aid of PEDs. There have many very public accusations of PED use by NOP athletes, including Rupp who named as "likely doping" in the leaked USADA report.

older runner wrote:

i agree. when she accused rupp of cheating (and hasay) she lost me . so did meb with his antics after the trials. there are a group of non NOP runners who just have little grace . this country has enough problems fielding competitve distance runners without ones we have engaging in unsubstantiated slurs.

"Unsubstantiated"? Rupp was named as an athlete "likely doping" in the leaked USADA report.

older runner wrote:

i agree. when she accused rupp of cheating (and hasay) she lost me . so did meb with his antics after the trials. there are a group of non NOP runners who just have little grace . this country has enough problems fielding competitve distance runners without ones we have engaging in unsubstantiated slurs.

Wasn't Meb just annoyed about Rupp being up his arse for several miles? I mean, I don't blame him since Rupp was following super closely

Rupp runs like an idiot track runner.

Just like Mo. Just like Chelimo. Only these two look sideways and back more than forwards. Rupp just tries to run up your ass.

walk_not_talk wrote:

Back to Shalane: If I were Shalane, or anyone else on the Oly team, I would be rolling my eyes at Gwen's belly flop into the deep end of the marathon pool. But Shalane has taken the high road, befriending Gwen, helping and mentoring her, etc. Most would find it hard to be so generous with their time and energy, and that is why Shalane, in my view, is one of our country's greatest athlete-personalities. Truly a class act. But now that the writing is on the wall after Chicago, I hope Gwen will follow Shalane's steer and either try a different event, or abandon the talk of Oly Gold and running 2:19, put her head down, and let her running speak for itself.

A.k.a. she doesn't crap all over the dreams of other runners like Scorpion_Runner

She did not have to say anything. It was obvious she was jealous of Jordan’s performance. Jordan has never been accused of doping. Was not a classy thing to say.

Nghfbsbxfbhv xc wrote:

I would never refer to Shalane as a class act. She trashed Hasay for not reason just because she ran faster than her. She all but abandoned Kara after claiming they were best buddies.

She knows Gwen is not a real threat so she doesn’t bother but if Gwen was close. You just know Shalane would be taking about questionable performances or making up other stuff.

Agree 100%. I have always seen Shalane as nasty. That is exactly correct about knowing Gwen is not a real threat. If Gwen was a threat Shalane would undermine her in a second. If you think about it she already has trashed Gwen. With 15:15 5K speed Gwen could easily be under 2:30 within months and possibly a threat at the trials.

Makes sense.

Les wrote:

Good post. I have to point out though, that if Shalane had NOT chosen to welcome/mentor Jorgensen it would have created an uncomfortable situation on the team.

Jorgensen having outsize goals and keeping them private can be taken as self-motivation, but making them public smacks of self-promotion. Compare her with Kipchoge's public statement before Berlin where he said he was only looking to set a PR, although undoubtedly privately he was targeting the WR, and his goal was certainly a realistic one.

Nike is obviously buying in to the Jorgensen storyline and sees it as good publicity for the brand, regardless of how realistic her goals are. Very unlikely they would have taken on any other 30+ 2:41 marathoner, regardless of their talent level.

And here is what I don't get about the "LEAVE GWEN ALONE!!!" camp. No one is saying Gwen is a bad person. She seems likable enough. Obviously her fanbase is big and loyal. She has legit claims to greatness in the Tri world and all the commercial success that comes with it. But denying that her comments about the marathon were tone-deaf, naive, and out-of-touch is just a refusal to recognise things for what they are. People are too polite (not here, necessarily, but in the world of opinion that matters in running). If you care about the sport you should try police its integrity a little bit. That means shunning dopers, for instance. It means raising fair questions about pacers, prize money, and gender equality. It also means calling out BS storylines that are pushed by people with commercial agendas (shoe companies, journalists, and athletes alike). Breaking2 had a similar issue, and lots of people rightly sounded off beforehand, but Kipchoge's performance redeemed it all because he's Kipchoge. I don't see that happening here.