Wow he does look awfully old.
Wow he does look awfully old.
He'll probably legally buy a beer after his victory.
Quick Rick wrote:
Wow he does look awfully old.
I look old. What does that prove?
Quick Rick wrote:
He'll probably legally buy a beer after his victory.
I DON'T DRINK. It's against my religion. Beef jerky time!
Solomon Haile wrote:
Quick Rick wrote:He'll probably legally buy a beer after his victory.
I DON'T DRINK. It's against my religion. Beef jerky time!
Um, as an Ethiopian, he's most likely Christian.
Yay for Solomon. Footlocker CHAMP!!!!!!!
He's old.
He's 19 years old, per the Washington Post today.
Start a fund wrote:
Wejo,
Why dont we start a fund on the homepage of letsrun where people can donate until we get to $400-$1000 and we will pay to have this cheater tested. Letsrun will uncover another criminal!
Do you realize the testing mentioned is DNA testing to determine family relationship, not age? Are you saying he is cheating because he is not related to his sister?
I followed AAU basketball a few years back and I saw LeBron and Greg Oden, neither of whom looked like teenagers, but were. You can't go by looks.
Just like a lot of people, I suspect Solomon may be 2 years older than he states. I say that for no other reason than the fact that he looks to be about 20 years old, but then again so has other H.S. runners like Webb and Solinski, which means I could be wrong. But, it really does not matter anyway, the MAHAA and NHF has done their due diligence and it is their decision that matters and every thing else is just noise. Also, I would much rather have a 20 year old slip through the cracks, than to indict a kid that is truly 18 based on innuendo. Congrats Solomon!
On another note, if you anyone thinks that Halie is not going to improve much in college, you’ve got to be kidding yourself. He is a very efficient LD runner and will probably do much better at 8k/10k; I expect Solomon to have the same type of impact in the NCAAs as did Fernandez, Puskedra and Derrick, etc. After what I saw him do at VCP, I suspected he was head and shoulders above the other kids at this year’s race. This year’s overall times were slow and granted, Halie benefited from a relatively weak/somewhat diluted field (NXN), but never-the-less, this was the easiest FLNC win I have ever witnessed…he never appeared stressed. He is going to be a monster next year, however, I don't see him running great track times in H.S. mile and 2-mile races, perhaps the 5k/10k.
Btw – If someone really-really wanted to determine Halie’s true age it could be done by some good investigative reporting in a week or two. If possible, you check the age of his parents, siblings and/or determine the order of his birth…this will verify some physiological possibilities. Perform the same checks on his relatives, former friends and classmates. Who where his playmates in (male and female) Ethiopia? If any of his playmates know their birthday, this information will give you some clues because 14 years olds don’t play with 11 years olds. What are the dates of significant events that took place in Ethiopia and in his hometown; was he a live, and where was he at that time and what are his memories of those events. In his hometown/village/tribe, what are age of any maturation cermonies he may have participated in, marriage, pregnancy… in his hometown/village/tribe, girls that know him as being around their age…if they have given birth, what are the ages of the their children…assuming you have to be about 15 to have a child, if you do some backdating this will give you valuable info. Talk to his teachers, coaches, ministers…if he is a Christian; there is the possibility of participation in some age specific religious cermonies that will give you some insight. All human beings enter puberty around the same age and even in cultures where records are not kelp and birthdays are not celebrated; there is good anecdotal evidence to be gained if there is a way to tell when someone entered puberty. Even in countries where a person may not know their age, their will be some dating of when they started school, joined a soccer team, had their medical exam or registered for anything that is documented. Probably no one thing will give you his exact age, but a combination of things will.
NothingNew wrote:
You didn't answer my question (not surprising), but I'll answer yours. Once again THE BARE FACTS is anything but. You don't necessarily "put your age down EACH and EVERY time you register for a new race". This is from the Dyestat article:
"she made an error on his year of birth, an error she says was a combination of the large number of siblings she has and a mistake she made converting the birthday Solomon provided from the Ethiopian calendar to the one commonly used in the United States. Naomi says that error, saddling Haile with a birth year of 1987 instead of 1990, was repeated on the entry for the half marathon in Austria, and again when Haile traveled to the United States to compete in the Hartford Half Marathon. In the case of the US race, the registration was completed on-line with Active.com, creating a member profile in the database which followed Solomon in successive races contested using the same registration company. A check of most of the Virginia and Washington D.C.-area road races Solomon entered in 2007 confirms that they currently use Active.com for race registration."
the quote above is from this article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110703798_pf.htmlI was thinking about his age today and then I realized it is the year 2001 in the coptic calendar. It doesn't make sense at all to me she would be off by 2 or 3 years. It seems like you would be off by 7. Can someone who knows anything about the coptic calendar explain it to me?
The article does say that the Maryland officials have seen a birth certificate from his school in Ethiopian and it says he's 18.
But I don't think if you confused your calendars he woudl be 21 in the coptic calendar? Can someone clarify.
This probably doesn't clarify things at all... I coach an Eritrean runner who has the opposite problem... he is 26 but his "official" birthdate is 01/01/1980... that is, it overstates his age by 2 yrs! He makes no secret of the fact thet the date is wrong and he clearly knows how old he is!
My experience is that it is usually a lack of appropriate documentation that causes these errors, rather than errors converting from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars.
TrackCoach wrote:
Just like a lot of people, I suspect Solomon may be 2 years older than he states. I say that for no other reason than the fact that he looks to be about 20 years old, but then again so has other H.S. runners like Webb and Solinski, which means I could be wrong.
Did Webb and Solinski travel the world running races as a 20 year old? Did Webb or Solinski ever say they were in the US to get an agent and make some money? Haile was running races as a 20 years 2 years ago. Now he's 18? That doesn't pass the smell test.
The evidence that something is amiss is on the 1st page of this thread.
Webb and others didn't need to do all that cause they are Americans, mom and dad took care of the bills. Do you see guys like Geb, bekele etc running over to ya country for hand outs? Check yaself before you reck yaself.
The PASSPORT he used to travel to Thailand, Austria, and the US --- not a birth certificate -- and this discussion ends.
The guy is OLD!
at this point it doesnt matter if he was 18 or 23. everyone already thinks hes older than he is supposed to be to compete at the high school level. so who needs facts? when u have letsrunners shallow opinions.
also, who cares. it is what it is, he won foot locker. get over it.
uhhhh wrote:
The PASSPORT he used to travel to Thailand, Austria, and the US --- not a birth certificate -- and this discussion ends.
If he would just present his passport I think it would settle the debate for a lot of people. The school system did clear him and claims it has seen a birth certificate. But there is some debate, so just show the Washingotn Post your birth certificate or better yet your passport.
I mean his government id to fly to footlockers might do enough for most people.
Seriously. This whole coptic calendar debate is pointless. We like you Solomon, we love your running ability and you're a good guy. But what does the Passport say? Your 2008 season will forever be under a cloud and tainted until some common sense verification takes place.
Solomon, boils down to this. Show your passport to a neutral trustworthy 3rd party like the Washington Post. If they conclude you are age 18, then so will nearly all of the people reading these posts. Many of us will appologize for accusing you of fraud.
But if you continue to refuse to show your passport to resolve this issue, no reasonable person, not even those that support you here, is going to believe you are age 18.
JUSTICE IN THE END
You may have tricked those in Maryland, but it is going to be a lot more difficult when you try to get admitted to a D1 college. Given this controversy, college coaches will demand to see your passport (not a birth certificate which can be easliy doctored). D1 college coaches will not offer you a scholarship if there is any doubt you are lieing about your age. They don't want to deal with this controversy every time you run in a meet. They also know a 21/22 year old has less room for improvement than does an 18/19 year old.
Yes, you can still refuse to show your passport to all D1 college coaches, but don't be surprised if none of them offers you a scholarship. If you want to attend a D1 college on an athletic scholarship, you need to come clean now.
There is an age limit of 24 for T&F athletes in a D1 college. Per
http://www.sport-scholarships.com/english/sportdivisions.htm
which is a reliable source, it states "The NCAA houses three of the four college leagues under one roof. The NCAA I is the largest and also strongest division, in which the biggest universities play. There is an age limit of 24 in the NCAA I. Smaller colleges and universities play in the NCAA II, and the range of ability is also somewhat bigger here. In contrast to the NCAA I, there is no age limit, however, there is a limit on how many semesters you are allowed to compete."