Sobering stats on depth of US distance running / Kenya vs. the World

How are the Kenyan's in football(either), baseball, or basketball. If the same % of Kenyan kids ran xc as American kids, how would we compare?

Also- once they (all nationalities) become pro, who does $100k effect the most? Ryan Hall wins $100K- pays the mortgage for a month. Kenyan wins $100K supports family, extended included for a lifetime.

I would wager if Nike offered say Wheating 100 million for a medal, two things would happen...

1) Wheating would do whatever it takes to medal

2) There would be a lot more xc and track runners the next fall/spring.

What are you saying isn't true? That japan doesn't have 128 million people? It does. That football, basketball, etc aren't popular in japan - they aren't

huh? wrote:

Animal Pharm wrote:

Japan has 128 million people so the argument does hold water. If there are 4 or 5 more popular sports then the number of kids going out for running would be much lower.

ah nope

The Kenyans are genetically supreme. Why anyone needs any explanation other than that is beyond me.

Rational Economics wrote:

The Kenyans are genetically supreme. Why anyone needs any explanation other than that is beyond me.

ah yep

Rational Economics wrote:

The Kenyans are genetically supreme. Why anyone needs any explanation other than that is beyond me.

I think it's the yams.

sgh wrote:

How are the Kenyan's in football(either), baseball, or basketball. If the same % of Kenyan kids ran xc as American kids, how would we compare?

Also- once they (all nationalities) become pro, who does $100k effect the most? Ryan Hall wins $100K- pays the mortgage for a month. Kenyan wins $100K supports family, extended included for a lifetime.

I would wager if Nike offered say Wheating 100 million for a medal, two things would happen...

1) Wheating would do whatever it takes to medal

2) There would be a lot more xc and track runners the next fall/spring.

no.

water is just like talent. it seeks its own level.

we don't have the talent

This thread has legitimate points however, if you notice athletes in kenya focus on 10k and up where as Americans often focus on events like the 400-mile. Think about how many kids at your school dread the 2 mile. This enthusiasm will carry on. Then on top of that most good athletes are focused on big money sports such as basketball and baseball. Its more about our values as a nation. Compare our basketball to other nations recently we dominated in the world championships with bench players. We sat people like lebron, kobe, and dwight and had other athletes play.

In many third world countries they probably view running as a opportunity to leave their nation or improve their living standards. We view running as boring and monotonous.

sgh wrote:

Also- once they (all nationalities) become pro, who does $100k effect the most? Ryan Hall wins $100K- pays the mortgage for a month. Kenyan wins $100K supports family, extended included for a lifetime.

There have been a lOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT of dumb things written on Letsrun over the years, but you have written one that ranks up there. "Ryan Hall wins $100k- pays the mortgage for a month" ?? Where the f' do you think he lives?

And this $ argument on why East Africans are so much more motivated than the rest of the world only goes so far. If that was the MAJOR reason for their dominance,once they made their fortune off a couple big wins/years, they would stop running, or running well for, because, hey, they are stinking rich by East African standards, so why keep training so hard? But has riches stopped the likes of Bekele and Geb from still being the best in the world? No. If $100k makes you and your family set for life, why keep being so motivated after the first $100k ? You wouldn't, IF....... $ was the big motivator. But it's not. It is 1 motivator, but not the major one. Greatness and success and ego are the great universal motivators, and that is why they keep running. And that is ALSO why so many middle class whites push themselves to be great in different sports. It's not about $ per se. If it was, these middle class people wouldn't be runners. No person was more motivated and pushed themselves harder to be great than Alberto Salazar and Lance Armstrong. And they weren't born into utter poverty. Yet they drove themselves to the human limit to be the best. Many a middle class european cyclist has taken every drug in the book, risked his life on 70mph descents on rain slicked roads, and spent hours and hours and hours a day training, all to be great. To be rich? Not really, but to be great.

You don't need to poverty to motivate you to want to be the best in the world. It helps, but is unnecessary. There could be a billion $ pay-out offer to any non-african who could, drug-free, equal all of Bekele's accomplishments ( all the world X-C double doubles, all the WC and Gold medals including 5k/10k doubles, and the 26:17 and 12:37 WR's), and not a one would sniff it. Not a one. And you know this. $ can't motivate one to become that talented. It just can't.

Rational Economics wrote:

The Kenyans are genetically supreme. Why anyone needs any explanation other than that is beyond me.

Then why do those same people with the "supreme genes" tend to live 20 years less? Are you saying that people with weaker genes live longer?

Do you really have to ask why a country with so much depth only has a few elites on top? The answer is simple: the food is poison, the medicine does nothing, and all our country's media is centered around stuff that makes us less active. Think about the kids with so much talent that never got a chance because of the systematic brainwashing that is our commercial way of life. It's pretty obvious why a country with so many can produce so little: Nobody is healthy, and no one wants to try anyway. If you were in a country like Kenya, you wouldn't have a choice. Our society is just not cut out for producing talent. It's cut out for producing profits for the wealthy while keeping the masses fat and happy. Not very conducive to running success, wouldn't you say?

huh? wrote:

Your eyelids are getting heavy wrote:

Bullshit. More kids are under 4:10/9:00 than ever. Also WAY more pros under 13:15/27:40

13:15 is a joke btw. with over 300 million people we should be busting 12:30's all over the fooking place

Got some numbskulls on this thread. Oh, here's one^^^

hmmm.... you may have something there

Ever since Dallas and Dynasty debuted are running went downhill. now that america is tightening its belt who knows? (wishful thinking)

shoe guy wrote:

A better question to ask is why is Japan better than the US in terms of overall depth?

Exactly. Genetics doesn't explain this. But I can, in one word:

MILEAGE!

Japanese run mega-miles, and though we are stronger on top (in the 10k at least) we get pounded depth-wise by a country half as big as us because they get their asses out the door and RUN!

Darth Trebblehorn wrote:

Rational Economics wrote:

The Kenyans are genetically supreme. Why anyone needs any explanation other than that is beyond me.

Then why do those same people with the "supreme genes" tend to live 20 years less? Are you saying that people with weaker genes live longer?

Superior genes don't protect you from famine, disease, and starvation, idiot. Besides, the idea of genes only goes so far. Usually, you can still be healthy as long as you don't have a major mutation. However, I'm tempted to believe with our fattened society, we've already gone pretty far down the path, so to speak, so it would take some time to get our genes out of the gutter.

In a country where running means shit, 12:55 is pretty damned solid (and Africans now struggle to break 12:50 themselves now for some strange reason). The pathetic ones are the Euro/Brits, who have great tradition and tons of fast competitions, and they now think that 13:15 is the Promised Land.

huh? wrote:

Your eyelids are getting heavy wrote:

Bullshit. More kids are under 4:10/9:00 than ever. Also WAY more pros under 13:15/27:40

13:15 is a joke btw. with over 300 million people we should be busting 12:30's all over the fooking place

300m in the US

How many are in the military?

How many are in sports other than XC and track?

How many are going towards the ultra-marathoning?

How many are in career field that don't allow free time to run 140 miles a week?

How many are physically able to run at all?

How many are talented enough to break 17?

How many are morbidly obese?

Darth Trebblehorn wrote:

Rational Economics wrote:

The Kenyans are genetically supreme. Why anyone needs any explanation other than that is beyond me.

Then why do those same people with the "supreme genes" tend to live 20 years less? Are you saying that people with weaker genes live longer?

What the hell kind of intellectual diarrhea is this? The genes that determine how long you live aren't the same genes that determine how fast you can run.

@ Rational EconomicsMan, you're ill here too.Ever watch Bladerunner, the star that burns twice as bright lives half as long. It's the law of the universe baby.

Rational Economics wrote:

Darth Trebblehorn wrote:

Then why do those same people with the "supreme genes" tend to live 20 years less? Are you saying that people with weaker genes live longer?

What the hell kind of intellectual diarrhea is this? The genes that determine how long you live aren't the same genes that determine how fast you can run.

This is a good point. How many talented runners do you know that avoid anything above the mile in high school? In high school I was a good XC runner but come track season I would only run the 2 mile to "score points" in dual meets, and very rarely outside of unimportant meets. This was because I could achieve moderate success at the mile, and saw no reason to move up and run the extra 4 laps. There was also the "cool" factor... the 3200m usually being at the end of most dual meets and most fans did not seem to care about that race. Plus it was the race with the most scrubby kids in it usually who couldn't run a fast 400 to save their life.

I think HS running needs to focus more on the longer stuff to get to the next level. Case in point, that Japanese kid who ran like 28:20 recently in a 10k. The US high school record that Rudy Chapa set a long time ago is actually in the same ballpark (somewhere around 28:30) which shows that we are capable. The likelihood of someone even ATTEMPTING to train and break that record anytime soon at the high school level is small. How many high schoolers can you see running 9:0x pace over 3 times back to back?