Torrence Speaks Out Against Lagat After 5k Final

Oops; I played myself. Neither of those were in the 90's. I'll see myself out.

Bekele would have a chance to beat Rupp at the 10k. The strategy Rupp used didn't call for a huge kick which I don't think Bekele can muster due to lack of training. His endurance is still there, though, so it would have been a tough win for Rupp. I'd probably take Bekele over Rupp with how that race played out.

No, Bekele wouldn't have won the 5k because he can't do speed work. If he went and set a 13 low pace, though, he would have had a good shot at winning. He would just have to take the kick out of them.

A) Great explanation. But what part of "I DON'T CARE ABOUT B SAMPLES!!!! WAHHHH!" don't you understand? The guy you responded doesn't care about facts/ explanations/detailed analyses.

B) Wow, letsruns is not a complete waste of time. You made some dough from your posts! Nice work!

Um, you've heard of a guy named Meb K (not related to Dean K), right? Yeah, not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, I believe that he TOO made a US Olympic team while over the age of 40 by placing in the top 3 in a distance event, beating all the kiddos. He too is from East Africa. Neat cowinkydink, huh? Swear to God it's true. Look it up.

( I guess you won't be hired as Distance Running current events expert based on your letsrun posts. Oh well)

Torrence was speaking about how the "press" shouldn't report dopers because it might tip them off which falls right in line with Peru's history of cracking down on the free press.

So he is clearly clueless on two counts. The guy is joke and I hope he bombs out in Rio. Good Riddance.

Oh Torrence the traitor has something to say?? NEXT!!!

rosebyanothername wrote:

There are two wins in that list. Take another look.

Dirty as They Come wrote:

Place is listed after location. He didn't win any of them so they weren't solo efforts in the wind like they previous poster made up.

Any which years in the 1990s were those 2 wins in? Reading comprehension seems to be something that posters on here struggle with.

Hnhh wrote:

Guys in their early to mid 30's have been very competitive and successful in major competitions, guys over 40 just don't do that. Look at Bekele, he's 34 and has a 5k PR 20 seconds faster than Lagat and he couldn't compete trying to make his team in the 10k. It seems like Leo's already losing his kick at 31, and he won his Olympic silver EIGHT YEARS after Lagat did. Nobody else stays at that level for as long as Lagat has. Yeah he was way better in his prime than the other guys he was running against but that was a long time ago, pretty much all of his rivals from his prime are long retired.

BINGO!!!

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN MF DINNER BABY

+1000

not so sure wrote:

Bekele would have a chance to beat Rupp at the 10k. The strategy Rupp used didn't call for a huge kick which I don't think Bekele can muster due to lack of training. His endurance is still there, though, so it would have been a tough win for Rupp. I'd probably take Bekele over Rupp with how that race played out.

No, Bekele wouldn't have won the 5k because he can't do speed work. If he went and set a 13 low pace, though, he would have had a good shot at winning. He would just have to take the kick out of them.

Well, yeah, sure. You would have a chance at beating Rupp too. Do you mean the same Rupp who beat Bekele in London in 2012? Here are the results that you obviously don't know:

1st Mo Farah Great Britain 27:30.42

2nd Galen Rupp United States 27:30.90

3rd Tariku Bekele Ethiopia 27:31.43

4 Kenenisa Bekele Ethiopia 27:32.44

So a healthy Rupp in his prime is going to lose to Bekele, a guy he was better than 4 years ago, who now is 4 years further into his decline? Keep dreaming.

He got dropped and had no answer when Rupp made his move. Which part of his second place finish in 2:12:20 did you find unworldly? There was nothing in that performance that even remotely compared to dropping a 52 and 4:03 last 1600 and passing 5 sub 13:10 guys in the process.

Bekele probably would have had a shot to win this race this year. He is also 34. If Lagat were 34 we wouldn't be having this discussion. He's seven freaking years older (!!) and Bekele's performances have already drastically declined.

you're clueless wrote:

You don't think Bekele could make the U.S. team at 5k and 10k if he were healthy and trained for it? Get the hell out of here. Forget being healthy...I think, as is, Bekele could qualify in the 10 for the U.S. Since he can't do super fast workouts, the 5k would be more trouble, but that has nothing to do with age, that has to do with an achilles issue. Also, if Bekele were American, he probably wouldn't have the injury issues because he wouldn't have to train as intensely just to ensure he can qualify for teams.

Hell, I think Geb qualifies for the U.S. 10k team and the guy has been retired for like two years. Give him a few months to ramp up (because I'm sure he still runs), he'd be good to go for at least a 27:30.

Couldn't get through reading all the posts, but question for you all:

If you put everyone from that 5K in a lineup next to one another and then put a bag over their heads and just went around and simply examined each person physically who looks the freakiest of them all? Lagat. It's not even close. Dude is a race horse among donkeys. Granted he's an older horse so it takes a circumstance such as a slow race ending in a kick for him to win, but that's exactly what happened.

Dirty as They Come wrote:

Well, yeah, sure. You would have a chance at beating Rupp too. Do you mean the same Rupp who beat Bekele in London in 2012? Here are the results that you obviously don't know:

1st Mo Farah Great Britain 27:30.42

2nd Galen Rupp United States 27:30.90

3rd Tariku Bekele Ethiopia 27:31.43

4 Kenenisa Bekele Ethiopia 27:32.44

So a healthy Rupp in his prime is going to lose to Bekele, a guy he was better than 4 years ago, who now is 4 years further into his decline? Keep dreaming.

Do you even follow track? In the London 10000, Bekele was like 6 weeks off of an injury. He is not further in his decline now - He is better now than he was in London. Rupp wasn't better than Bekele 4 years ago. Bekele was coming off of an injury.

I saw it mentioned a couple of pages back, and everyone is so locked into the feasibility of whether Lagat can/should be be able to do this or whether he doped back in the day to have missed it and it seems an interesting and potentially fresh sub plot.

Torrance says Lagat transformed his fitness in 2012.

What does he mean by that?

What occurred in 2012?

A cyclist cannot explain synthetic EPO in his system, why can Lagat?

Very sceptical people around.

This whole scenario reminds me of Regina Jacobs. Too good to be true. I have no evidence whatsoever, but that's what it feels like.

Vivalarepublica wrote:

This whole scenario reminds me of Regina Jacobs. Too good to be true. I have no evidence whatsoever, but that's what it feels like.

Except Regina was running her best times.

Gvl wrote:

A cyclist cannot explain synthetic EPO in his system, why can Lagat?

There was never anything saying that he had synthetic EPO in his system.

H8rsgonH8 wrote:

I imagine this has already been said, but many miss the bigger picture here. Lagat's performance at his age was remarkable whether he was doping or not. 99.9% of the human population couldn't come close to what he has accomplished even with any PED on the table, and that includes LRC.

The age graded time for a 41 yr old running a 13:35 5K is 12:47 (per

). So, Lagat, in a tactical championship race, essentially broke his AR of 12:53.

I think Lagat is an excellent ambassador for US T&F. I hope he's clean. I really do. But I honestly have my doubts...