America will never see another distance medal.....

genetics wrote:

US might get that exception here and there but the genetics are on the side of the Africans. And so is the payoff for great performance. Yep. They train hard, but there have been European/US runners train with the Africans. The Europeans/Americans get overtrained and/or hurt, the Africans get FAST. They are fast so they can train fast and get FASTER.

They can do it. We can't. Its like asking a 5'4" collegiate wrestler to dunk a basketball. All the training in the world ain't gonna make it happen. The ceiling is very real. 12:57 for last 5km of a 10 km, We AIN'T close and won't be.

Actually, few Westerners give distance running a real try. Then out of that few, none of the greats has REALLY trained with the Africans. Now, if you think the Kenyans or Ethiopians are going to have visitors join in while they all shoot up, you've got to be kidding.

i agree. aside from some occasional freak, america's time has ended from 2 laps up.

Funny stuff wrote:

Not so wrote:

You take everyone off of drugs and the US still would not medal. You can argue drugs all you want when speaking of world records, but when it comes to competing against each other the only difference between a juiced Kenyan racing an American and a clean Kenyan racing an American is the distance by which the Kenyan wins.

Heheehe. Tell that to Pre, Liquori, Ryun, Padilla, Salazar ... you know, back before PC white college boys were brainwashed into believing even the most outrageous claims of any third worlder ... hurry up and go kiss some more of that Soc professor's behind ....

FUNNY STUFF, YOU THE MAN! EPO GIVES DISTANCE RUNNERS AN 8 SECOND PER MILE BOOST....THESE AFRICAN FRAUDS WOULD BE RUNNING 3:51 MILES, 8:18 STEEPLES, 13:10 5KS, 27:30 10KS WITHOUT EPO...GOOD TIMES BUT THEY'D HAVE TO REALLY RUN THEIR BUTTS OFF TO BEAT RYUN, LIQUORI,PRE AND SHORTER!...I AM TIRED OF FAKE, FRAUDULENT, AND PHONY AFRICANS AND THEIR WHORE EURO COACHES! THIS MASBACK TOLERATES THIS CRAP. HE GOTTA GO.

tanner wrote:

NO AMERICANS are "true" Americans by birth, you dip. This is a country of immigrants... yes, that's right! People actually want to come and live here.

anybody born in america is a true american

LETS BE REAL....AS THE GREAT HENRY FORD SAID, "AMERICA WAS MADE GREAT BY THE ANGLO AND CELTIC RACES." OUR GERMANS, IRISH, ENGLISH, AND SCOTS ARE THE TRUE AMERICANS.....

The U.S. might have a chance in the marathon. Assuming that Drossin, Meb, KK and Culpepper decide to run the marathon and make it onto the team, they all have a decent shot at being competitive.

I am not sure about the Nike project team or the Hanson's crew. But all of the above mentioned athletes can be competitive on the world stage at the marathon.

So, FRANK SHORTER is not a "true American" by your definition...

Tanner:

Dude, pack it up and go to a pep rally or something...

Hoovis

I agree that the US has a small chance in the Marathon, where anything can happen on any given day, and where we have KK, Meb, Culpepper and a future Jorge the marathoner. But on the track above 800: FOGEDDABOUDIT. Its just about the same odds as the Tampa Bay Bucs facing Prairie View A&M.

Kenya must have 300 guys who could beat Meb in a marathon.

Now if we could only devise a neutron bomb that specifically takes out sub 2:08 Kenyan marathoners.

In 2004, I definitely agree with you when it comes to the track. That is why I hope Drossin, Meb and Culpepper all opt to focus on the marathon in Athens.

We are probably going to have to wait for guys and gals who are in high school and college right now to see if any of them can be competitive on the track.

I Think we have to learn from those that are running the fast times as our guide (kenyans, etheopians, morrocans, and yes France in the 1,5000m) now forget about the drug accusations that we have no proof of. I think we need to develop our talent wisely and get them out of the hands of coaches who are concerned about winning NCAA Championships and focus our athelete's on World Championships.We are over racing and overtraining our atheletes every time I turn around someone is always injured and never reach their full potential. Alan Webb, Ritz, etc needs to be put in a system of training where they are training with the best atheletes in the world. Not to bash their coaches but webb needs to train with people that are better than him to get experience as well as ritz. I am a fan of wetmore but it seems his atheletes are always injured and I think the atheletes need to trust their coaches enough as to stop when they say stop.

Americans do train hard or try to but we are not advancing as we can. look at the hansons I recall seeing improvement with them. I wish all our athletes the best in their careers but without proper guidance and training we will never reach the heights that we are capable of.

just my 2 cents

This thread only further highlights America's inability to put effort into achieving

Everything counts. It all starts from childhood. You people keep forgetting that Americans are already far behind after high school. As long as you have high school programs the main source of training in their critical base teenage years you can forget about ever being competitive in the sport. Outdoor track should be the only running related sport offered at the high school. Until that happens you will continue to see athletes overraced, overtrained, injured, burned out, etc. Success at the high school level leads to failure and depression, not further success.

COLBY-

Your prescription could lead to improvements and more competitiveness, and maybe can even make us the greatest distance power of the Euro/North American world. But you did not address the glaring talent gap and the God given speed/endurance formula being light years behind the African slow-twitch distance powers. The greatest program in the world cannot change that, and its obviously not just the USA we are talking about. For example, the Spanish without drugs appear to be mediocre to bad also.

Sorry if this is perceived as negative. I believe in reality.

IT'S ONLY A SHAME OUR VERY OWN LANCE AMRSTRONG IS ALSO ON EPO... IN FACT ALL OUR AMERICAN SPRINTERS ARE ON DRUGS, AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY OUR MIDDLE AND LONG DISTANCE RUNNERS (WEBB, TORRES, SLATERY, KENNEDY) DESPITE BEING ON EPO TOO AND TAKING 30 ASPIRINS A DAY CANNOT BEAT THE AFRICANS. I GUESS WE'RE JUST NATURALLY USELESS!!!

reguardless, that 12:57 was very discouraging... Its not like i ever thought i could compete at that level, but i always figured there was a chance that an american could sometime soon. Now i wanna just enjoy my last 2 yrs of running in college, run as fast as i can, then become a lawyer and make more money than those dang EPO'ed foreigners anyway :)

Thank heavens I am not an American coach who has to inspire such negativity. What a load of negative codswallop, if you believe you will never beat anyone, why the hell would you ever do so.

Come on, our college runners and elites are not sitting around thinking negative thoughts just because they can't run 12:45. They have tons of personal goals to shoot for, and are not negative. Just because some of us observers are realistic toward beating the top East Africans means nothing. Hopefully they dream as high as possible, and God bless the high standards. But what I would like to see before we start promoting unrealistic dreams of beating Bekele is someone who actually ACCOMPLISHES the modest standards first. A US runner breaking 13:20 this year would be an accomplishment to begin with, and then we can talk again.

Is this just men? I think the women have a good chance, especially if Regina passes the drug tests. Deena will be in there. KK obviously in the Marathon. He is a American citizen, so he is a "true" American, end of argument. Meb, Marla, Suzy, Abdi, Culpepper, Krum, Lunn. Never say never. We haven't had a good run (pun intended) of it lately, but neither has Kenya at Worlds. Are they done too? I don't think so. Never is a long time to go without a medal. Who knows drug standards may change and some may be dirty and the whole world of T&F would change.