Not done. It sucks her coach has forced her out of her second best event. I would get pretty bored too if I was expected to just dominate 800s the rest of my career.
she can run a 2 flat in a bad year. she's more of a natural than say allie wilson. but i think she emerged in a lull period between the semenya/rogers era and now. and now she has competition and may have to be fast and able to run more varied tactical races.
i think it's more about fire in the belly. she needs to want it and enjoy it.
…except to prove that she could be the greatest 800m runner to walk the earth. I’m not exaggerating, either. I seriously wonder if she could be the female Rudisha, but even better.
i hope that marriage works to ground and refocus her. The journey she made to the top of the sport in 2021, along with her age and personality, I think was a tough combination. I do think her struggles largely come down to mental and personal issues. Does that cause the fall at the 2024 trials? No, but it does play a role in how she treats the rest of the season, which was minimal and lackluster.
I honestly hope she comes back. She could still come back and put together a career that makes her the undeniable 800 GOAT. But, if she doesn’t want it, she won’t get there. I’d rather see her quit than participate half-heartedly.
But probably it’ll be clear very soon if she’s still a competitor.
It might be a while, actually. She hasn't raced indoors since she was at Texas A&M. Her earliest race in 2023 was June 24 and her earliest in 2024 was June 21.
She should do whatever makes her happy and my observation is that it is not being a pro runner. Hope she finds happiness and good fortune. She had a great, brief time in track, reaching Olympic Gold. Nothing left to prove.
Anyone else viscerally hate it when people say "nothing to prove"? There's always more you can prove. Saying "I have nothing to prove" is just a cop-out for not proving more, like if a kid loses a game and says "it's because I wasn't even trying".
Athletes can retire whenever they want to, and shouldn't feel obligated to compete longer than what makes them happy, but they should say it honestly as "I've achieved an amount I'm satisfied with, and I'm choosing to stop now" rather than "it's because I've already done everything, there's nothing left for me to prove".
Bro, she's literally 22. She has a good 10 years left at least. Calm down. I predict she'll be a 48/1:53 runner for sure.
I think people sleep on her 400M ability. She could match up with the likes of SML if she really wanted to. Maybe not exactly beat her, but definitely serve as some strong ass competition. I can see her being a non-doped up Kratochvílová
She doesn't have much work ethic and seems more interested in men than athletics, so I think she will continue to fade into irrelevance.
She's too.old to start modelling and wouldn't stand out amongst the teenagers she would have to compete against, and I can't see her hawking her portfolio around and dealing with the numerous rejections that are part of the modelling industry. I question why she's not modelling already since she certainly isn't busy as an athlete.
I can see her running out of money once she hits 30 and trying to make a comeback in both athletics and the D list celebrity circuit.
She is the opposite of Tuohy. But both are fading away. Mu could win more golds if she chose to but she doesn't care. Tuohy desperately wants to be relevant but she is fading away despite training harder.
In September of 2023 (shortly after Worlds) Vipam was posting that Mu's loss was a winning move in her game of 5D Chess against the field and her rise to gold in Paris was basically forgone. He also lightly accused anyone who disagreed of being a racist.
He was wrong on both counts.
There are clearly athletes that can thrive under Bobby Kersee, seems obvious that Mu is not one of them. I think we'll see her race again, but I think she'll struggle to achieve much on the world stage. I'd be happy to be wrong, but the last few years seem to be a pattern
2021 - 36 races, Olympic Trials winner, 2x Olympic gold (800m, 4x400), fastest time in US for year
2022 - 15 races, USATF champion, World gold (800m), fastest time in US for year
2023 - 7 races, World bronze, Diamond League final win (American Record), fastest time in US for year
2024 - 4 races, 9th at Olympic Trials, 5th in Gainesville in 2:00.29 (first loss to an American at 800m in nearly 4-1/2 years - lost to Wiley, Baker, and Gehring), 9th fastest time in US for year
She could quit right now and have had a career that all but a very few have had, pretty much everything except a WR. I have seen very little to suggest she lives extravagantly so she also has a really nice head start monetarily on most 22yo’s and has many interests beyond track. If she continues on in track I hope it’s because she truly enjoys it, otherwise I would expect it’s not worth it as I doubt the results will = the expectations. Based on that I suspect it’s 60/40 against her continuing.
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