Nick Willis says thank you and farewell on Instagram

To most of us, he is.

When any athlete actually fails a doping test, then all of their previous results should be annulled. This is how it's done in cycling., at least with the Tour de France.

The idea that Kiprop was doping when he was struggling to run 3:35, but not when he was winning an Olympic gold medal or running 3:27 is patently absurd.

Of course 2016 is more ambiguous, but Big Mac is one of the most obvious dopers of all time, and Centro is deeply suspect on multiple levels.

You just can't control yourself can you? This thread is about celebrating the long and successful career of Nick Willis. It contains many pleasant anecdotes about peoples interactions with Nick and how they were influenced by him. But for you it becomes another gripe about your favourites not winning and how you want history rewritten.

By the way, your comment about cycling and the Tour de France is incorrect. Alberto Contador had his 2010 title struck for drug use but his 2009 and 2007 titles still stand.

Don't confront Coevett with facts, it's something he is not used to - population USA 500 million if it helps his argumentation.

What will he do now? Will he go into coaching?

Raddison wrote:

You just can't control yourself can you? This thread is about celebrating the long and successful career of Nick Willis. .

Well I did start the thread. Secondly, you and a couple of others are despoiling the thread and turning this into your personal obsession with me. His being robbed of medals by convicted cheats is a fundamental part of his story, unfortunately, and always will be. I literally stated this in the first post of the thread I created. I deliberately chose to post under a different name to avoid my doping apologist stalkers, but to no avail is it?

Scoonie wrote:

What will he do now? Will he go into coaching?

In his Instagram post, his coach tells him he should, but Nick doesn't seem too keen (although he might be just fooling around saying that he doesn't want kids not listening to his advice).

Tip o' the hat wrote:

Willis is one of the best. Amazing consistency and always seems like such a decent person.

I also appreciate his advice about having perspective and about dealing with social media and the media in general. He may be old enough to be able to turn off his phone and not care. I expect some of the young athletes who have grown up in a world where their phone is a permanent extension of their body really need to learn that lesson.

I agree with this. Social media can be toxic and you can fall into the comparison trap as an NCAA athlete, as well as a recreational hobbyjogger.

WMIRunner wrote:

I went to a rival school while Nick was running at UofM and we are the same age. We all know that he was a great competitor back then, which hasn't changed over the years, but he was also the same standup guy. Always invited people from his heat to go on a campus tour cool down after the race and was always open about his training, his race day plan, etc. Hard to find a nicer guy in track & field. Also, being the same age as Nick it is hard for me to fathom competing today at the level I was back in 2006 and I was lucky to be in the same races as Nick; was never near his level. In any case, cheers to an easy guy to look up to.

Great story and a runner I aspire to be like--humble and yet confident.