We prefer to have 1 thread per subject matter and have merged three threads into 1. The 2nd thread was entitled, "Why does Jakob talk so much trash?" The third thread was titled, "New Jakob Interview: Olympics should be “a walk in the park”, calls some competitors “a**holes and idiots”:
Oh please. Kerr went on multiple rants about Jakob before Jakob even said anything. If someone is trash talking you for winning once while you outclass them in every race, vaguely calling them “a$holes and idiots” without naming them is tame. He only says its about him to reassure us and himself he is not affected by the “attacks”
Uhhhh, tell me you're like 17 without telling me you're 17.
That last statement is fundamentally contradictory - if he wasn't "affected by the attacks" he wouldn't need to assure anyone - let alone himself, that he wasn't. He just wouldn't be and would go Michael Jordan mode and just laugh them off.
Jakob is training with a high volume since he's a kid. He has such an aerobic engine that even when he's injured, like with his achille, once he get back on training he comes back very fast to his level.
So, again if he doesn't get injured or sick, he'll be in PEAK SHAPE by July.
This is another rephrasing of the one thing he says over and over again. "I am the best so I will win". It is not new or interesting each time he says it. It is expected, it is the only thing he says when asked.
It does not matter that he loses sometimes, he will continue to say it. Does not matter how much he believes it or not, he is not backing off the position now.
FWIW Kerr will always say the same thing too, with a little more modesty, approximately "I am good enough to win the race".
It's not that he loses sometimes. It's that he's 0/3 in his last 3 global 1500m finals
I'm sorry, when did we start caring about anything other than the Olympics? He is 1/1 there, he is the MJ of the running world. DOES NOT LOSE ON THE BIGGEST STAGE!
The reality check is his separation to European competition is how he regards his separation to Global competition. I don't doubt that he can win those races with ease. But when he gets to the Olympics, his gap to Nuguse/Kerr may only be a second or so (if even that). If he is so stubborn to take the lead before 800 meters, it will be anything but a walk in the park in my opinion. Probably a hard-fought victory or another humbling defeat. If he is more patient and calculating like he is when he races the 5,000, I think he has a great shot of the double.
If he's not injured or sick he can run 3:27 low by himself, no one is in that kind of shape.
Kerr's kick will be handy for second place.
Next question.
I don't think it's a coincidence that he's "sick or injured" every time he races a global 1500 championship and yet is still able to recover to win the 5k.
I don't think it's a coincidence that he's "sick or injured" every time he races a global 1500 championship and yet is still able to recover to win the 5k.
To be fair in 2022, he didn't claim to be either sick or injured. He just said he ran poorly tactically and others did too, fending off unnecessary surges by Kipsang and Tim. You can parse whether he was dumb to stubbornly hold the lead when Tim paced him for free to a resounding victory in Tokyo, or they were dumb to not just let him take it out. That being said, some didn't like how he framed it — talking quite a bit about himself and what others did wrong.
But I'd rather him give us his perspective on what happened, over just groveling over Jake Wightman and giving PC answers like it seems Josh Kerr or Olli Hoare (especially) would prefer. Of course, for Josh and Olli, they will get into their excuses/explanations a few months later. So, I'll defend Jakob for how he handled 2022 over Josh (who later chalked it up to poor diet/lack of motivation/Olympic hangover) or Olli (who said he was battling depression and self-hatred throughout the year). I'd rather athletes be honest and forthcoming over giving token answers that we know at some level are BS and will be obsolete when we get their real answers later.
This post was edited 42 seconds after it was posted.
None should throw words like "walk in a park" about an Olympic final. A lot of runners "transform" in that final (recall the case of Rui Silva in the Olympic final 2004).
None also should predict the future. You never know how much has progressed other runners.
Oh please. Kerr went on multiple rants about Jakob before Jakob even said anything. If someone is trash talking you for winning once while you outclass them in every race, vaguely calling them “a$holes and idiots” without naming them is tame. He only says its about him to reassure us and himself he is not affected by the “attacks”
Uhhhh, tell me you're like 17 without telling me you're 17.
That last statement is fundamentally contradictory - if he wasn't "affected by the attacks" he wouldn't need to assure anyone - let alone himself, that he wasn't. He just wouldn't be and would go Michael Jordan mode and just laugh them off.
Are you kidding me? Yeah when he is asked about his rivals he is supposed to just laugh and not say anything. What a very logical line of reasoning you have there. Everyone on some way or another is going to be affected by something someone says, it’s human nature. Jakob is just one to speak truthfully whats on his mind, been like that since he started as a teenager. He thinks they are “a$sholes” for talking behind a camera about him. In reality, he beats them “98 times out of 100” and knows the fine line between arrogance and his own confidence. He knows that Kerr does not know this line based on his reaction. I can also argue that Michael Jordan on some level, has no “emotional intelligence” or has been living an “insular experience” because all he can do is laugh. It’s very obvious you went so overboard with your assessment that it just became nonsensical word salad. The difference is that Kerr won once and believes he can call the guy he was beat by all year and every year before that, someone with a high “ego” and someone “surrounded by yes-man”. In reality, Josh Kerr is the one looking for validation on his win and found it as a opportunity to stomp on his own competitors confidence. Jakob himself knows this and addressed it. Jakob, with his lack of “emotional intelligence”, won the 5000m at worlds against probably the toughest field ever, after losing with a virus on one of the most important days of the year a few days ago. Pretty level-headed and focused to me, despite what happened. He then broke the 2000m record, and ran 3:43 and 7:23 on back to back days against some of the most loaded fields ever. All while in a personal family conflict against his own father, and recovering from a virus he had at worlds.
Josh Kerr: Loses to Nuguse in a 3:30 race, ditches the competition in the diamond league final, is paced by fisher for 90% of a race for what was a weaker time than Jakob’s, and wins an indoor championship in what was a slower race that was going to favor him regardless.
So really, his words in this interview show that he is ready to take on everybody this summer in a dominant fashion, despite all the personal attacks he’s gotten. Kerr realized this and has thus tamed his interviews the last few months by not addressing this conflict anymore. At the end of the day, it’s about what they do on the track that speaks the most. It’s disingenuous to say that somebody is living an insular existence based on the above, it’s sports, competition, rivalries are going to happen. Jakob probably has many friends, family and even a wife in Norway. It is not as lonely as you think. Despite all this, he is able to deliver almost always consistently despite all of his personal family issues/conflicts, and for that I have a deep respect for. To overcome these problems, and focus on improving himself in his one job he has done almost all his life, running.
mean he's really living an insular existence - he grew up in a town of 70'000 people, all he's ever done in his life is run and excel in what is lonely sport where you are constantly in your own head. I think he would probably love to get on with a guy like Josh Kerr (who surely he is referencing) and there is probably a part of Kerr's journey that Jakob wishes he had something similar - like a college experience in the US, not being in this weird (and as we know at times abusive) family-exclusive training group.
I just feel like those comments in particular are more reflective of sadness and frustration vs anything malicious, even though they come off as being super unnecessary on the surface.
Jesus Christ, and I thought reddit psychologists were bad. Stick to race analysis because this is just embarrassing.
If he was a boxer - or a sprinter - noone would have reacted to this kind of self asteem. But when its a distance runner? Oh, how dear he, what a disrespect! It is laughable and foolish. If he wins, he has proven himself correct. If he loses, he will be riddiculed. And he knows. He likes that pressure on his shoulders.
If he was a boxer - or a sprinter - noone would have reacted to this kind of self asteem. But when its a distance runner? Oh, how dear he, what a disrespect! It is laughable and foolish. If he wins, he has proven himself correct. If he loses, he will be riddiculed. And he knows. He likes that pressure on his shoulders.
People are reacting because he has lost the last two championships. That confidence and talk would fly after 2021 but that medal will prove to be a fluke if he loses a third time in a row
If he was a boxer - or a sprinter - noone would have reacted to this kind of self asteem. But when its a distance runner? Oh, how dear he, what a disrespect! It is laughable and foolish. If he wins, he has proven himself correct. If he loses, he will be riddiculed. And he knows. He likes that pressure on his shoulders.
I guess you don't really watch other sports, do you? You'd never catch champs in other sports like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Georges St Pierre, Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Kristian Blummenfelt, Michael Phelps, Shohei Ohtani, Tom Brady, etc. say that winning a championship or olympic gold would be a "walk in the park".
Maybe Floyd Mayweather might say something like that but he's also 50-0 in a career spanning 2+ decades. Meanwhile, Jakob has been beaten 3 times in just the past year.
If he was a boxer - or a sprinter - noone would have reacted to this kind of self asteem. But when its a distance runner? Oh, how dear he, what a disrespect! It is laughable and foolish. If he wins, he has proven himself correct. If he loses, he will be riddiculed. And he knows. He likes that pressure on his shoulders.
I guess you don't really watch other sports, do you? You'd never catch champs in other sports like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Georges St Pierre, Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Kristian Blummenfelt, Michael Phelps, Shohei Ohtani, Tom Brady, etc. say that winning a championship or olympic gold would be a "walk in the park".
Maybe Floyd Mayweather might say something like that but he's also 50-0 in a career spanning 2+ decades. Meanwhile, Jakob has been beaten 3 times in just the past year.
He lost three times the past year? Please cite where he lost the other two times other than at Budapest?
Also his comment on his win being a “walk in the park” was obviously a joke. He literally started laughing after saying that because obviously he knows it is not easy. But at the same time, he believes he can win at his best. Josh Kerr on the other hand, says that he is the “Best Championship Racer in the world” despite ducking Jakob since last year, and having a weak record of finishes outside of budapest in championships.