Why did Steve Ovett decline so quickly?

*I meant to say Ovett was in the form to run 13:10 in 86.

I guess we'll never know for sure but it could have been the fags and cider what did it. He never smoked a lot but be was rumoured to enjoy a pint of cider with a fag at his local pub after his Sunday long run.

Times change and you certainly wouldn't see Mo doing that these days. The fun has gone out of sport.

call me Jim wrote:

I guess we'll never know for sure but it could have been the fags and cider what did it. He never smoked a lot but be was rumoured to enjoy a pint of cider with a fag at his local pub after his Sunday long run.

Times change and you certainly wouldn't see Mo doing that these days. The fun has gone out of sport.

Haha, that is apparently true. Even that he smoked up to 40 a day! It's certainly also been well documented that he did get pissed now and then, certainly after his 1500m Moscow defeat, and according to some before it too (after his 800m victory and hence the poor showing in the 1500m).

frolic loop wrote:

Character defamation should be taken seriously by the moderators and owners of this web site. Too bad it isn't.

Letsrun is where your dreams of defamation become reality.

To the contrary ~ wrote:

frolic loop wrote:

Character defamation should be taken seriously by the moderators and owners of this web site. Too bad it isn't.

Letsrun is where your dreams of defamation become reality.

Letsrun is where your dreams of defamation remain dreams.

wintruth wrote:

call me Jim wrote:

I guess we'll never know for sure but it could have been the fags and cider what did it. He never smoked a lot but be was rumoured to enjoy a pint of cider with a fag at his local pub after his Sunday long run.

Times change and you certainly wouldn't see Mo doing that these days. The fun has gone out of sport.

Haha, that is apparently true. Even that he smoked up to 40 a day! It's certainly also been well documented that he did get pissed now and then, certainly after his 1500m Moscow defeat, and according to some before it too (after his 800m victory and hence the poor showing in the 1500m).

Yeah, that's the Steve Ovett we all love and remember. God bless'm!!!

No evidence whatsoever that Ovett smoked. I have never heard this before and was quite close to some of his contemporaries in the late 1970s.

As for enjoying the odd beer; how many top runners in this period didn't - unless cultural/religious reasons prevented them?

EPO was known ot thicken the blood increasing the chance of heart failure.

mark b wrote:

No evidence whatsoever that Ovett smoked. I have never heard this before and was quite close to some of his contemporaries in the late 1970s.

As for enjoying the odd beer; how many top runners in this period didn't - unless cultural/religious reasons prevented them?

Shirley Strong smoked, that's the only confirmed one I can recall.

It may have been hasty for me to say a dozen runners could have beaten him in 1986, although I'm curious about one thing: why didn't he make the top ten in '86? TAFNews has always indicated "honors won" as the most important criteria above even head-to-head competition and times run when they construct their lists. That said, the Commonwealth Games have always been treated as a regional competition by them. So, Ovett outkicked (not destroyed) Buckner and Hutchings in the Commonwealth Games yet they end up ranked 2nd and 4th in the event that year; Ovett doesn't make the top 10. So the bible of the sport considered there to be at least 9 runners better than him at the event that year.By the way, you realize saying that "Ovett was clearly in the form to run 13:10" is pointless, right? Why not keep the discussion focused on what people did run, not some arbitrary time you think they might have been capable of?

frolic loop wrote:

Character defamation should be taken seriously by the moderators and owners of this web site. Too bad it isn't.

Lack of sense of humor should be taken seriously by you. They're fvcking jokes, dude.

This ... just like Webb, except that Ovett knew how to race.

Athletica Progeria wrote:

He had Webbitis. Teen prodigy, good progression through peak years, rapid decline.

Guys like Webb, Ovett, Cram and Ryun get old faster.

Ellliott was smart to retire young.

Ovett ran a 22.2 220 yards in 1969 as a 13 yo. He was far more developed athletically far earlier than Coe. Look at 1973 European Junior Champs for your answer.....and who he raced against there.

The Scot wrote:

Shirley Strong smoked, that's the only confirmed one I can recall.

https://thisonetimestories.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/shirley-strong-i-won-an-olympic-medal-after-a-track-side-fag/

Shirley Strong was smokin' in more than one way. ;-)

i prefer to remember him at his best

his 800 in '78 was epic !!

he wasn't even training for 800 in '78 but ran euro-800 as a tune-up for his now main event of 1500

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjzR8AOvEzc

he ran 1'44.09 with ~ 2.5m wide on last bend

-> for route 1 of

1'44.09 * ( 800/802.5 ) =

1'43.76

however, even more impressive is when you adjust-out the splits

for his 1'44.09 off nominal, from vid of 49.7 / 54.3, with the ~ 2.5m extra on last bend, the reduced 1'43.76 has splits of

49.7 / 54.0

i use a solid formula for estimating any 800 run with poor splits compared to "gold standard" of 2s +ve splits :

assuming flat-out for 2nd lap, the time to take off is

[ 2nd lap - 1st lap - 2.00 ] * ( 1/3 )

for ovett's route-1, 1'43.76 off 49.7 / 54.0, the time to take off compared to 2s splits is

[ ( 54.0 - 49.7 - 2.00 ) * ( 1/3) ] = 0.76s

therefore, that day in '78, training primary for 1500 & 800 only run as "tune-up", if ovett had got a route-1 run off 2s +ve splits, he wouda run

~ 1'43.76 - 0.76 =

1'43.00

( ideal splits that day for him were 50.5 / 52.5 )

i always had feeling ovett was in sensational 800 shape in '80 when he wouda actually trained for it

i now have now doubt at assumed then career peak of '80 with actual specific 800 training, he was good for, in moscow, of :

~ 1'42-mid

[

He didn't make the top 10 because he fell ill just before the 2nd major championship which everybody (himself included) would haven peaking for. Buckner and Hutchins both recorded their fastest times of the season in that race.

'Destroyed' is an accurate term - he won the race in about 40 meters and could then afford to jog and wave down the home straight. Yea, sure a few weeks later Buckner and Hutchins had improved so much that Ovett would be nowhere near there 13:10 medal times.

Why not keep the discussion to actual runners who were racing in 1986 and not some non-existant putative non-african runners capable of beating Ovett, Buckner and Ovett if only they were alive and racing in 1986?

Jesus you're thick.

Hilarious analysis. Despite all that I'd still argue that his 1:44.09 was worth 1:44.09.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

He hit some railings when out running in 1981 damaged some muscles and never had quite the same kick after that

I also reckon getting married took the edge of him as it did for Cram - just a theory though

Women weaken legs!!

How many times do we have to go over this...

frolic loop wrote:

Character defamation should be taken seriously by the moderators and owners of this web site.

Loosen those buttocks, dude. Are your feewings huwt? Awwww.....