I looked up this Nick Willis guy up on WA and on his profile page under 'Honours' it lists four races all of which he lost.
Doping apologists out in force with their hate in this thread.
If it wasn't for the Tokyo delay to 2021, and the fact that in 2004 as a 21 yo he was up against literally dozens of full throttle EPO cheats, he would have reached 5 successive Olympic 1500m finals.
It's almost like Gladwell is just a weird, unmarried old guy who prances about in split-leg shorts and doesn't know what he's talking about but has somehow built a career on generating "unconventional" takes ...
The problem is that Malcom is seen as a authority on track and field. He knows no more or no less about the sport than anybody else.
OK but I am pretty sure he would not say he is an expert on track and field and he does know much more than the average person about it. This is obvious if you have ever discussed the sport with the average person.
As far as the subject, Malcolm stresses that he values longevity and “being very very good for a long time.” This is why he gives the nod to Willis. He is not necessarily incorrect if that is what he is predicating his case on. However, his error was saying they don’t belong in the same conversation. Malcolm refers to “peak performance bias,” which is something that can happen but of course it shows his own bias. Everyone is biased so Malcolm is no different. If one pays attention, his main argument is that Willis was world class for a longer duration than Centro, which may indeed be true but is potentially premature. Nonetheless his point is not irrational and it simply follows from his premise. I think the “not in the same conversation” remark was a misstep but his other point was not and simply shows the subjective nature of what fans value.
Agree. Malcolm is a successful writer and speaker. He gets paid to put his opinion out there. He is off the mark with his Centro/Willis comment but he does have some good points. He knows track and competition as he was an outstanding age group runner growing up in Toronto. He has talent at the sport.
Malcolm is a lightning rod for criticism but it may be largely due to the fact that he is in the public eye being asked "what do you think about this and what do you think about that?" all the time.
I like Centro. He won Olympic Gold and that's an incredible achievement. Nick is great too. They are in the same conversation and ballpark.
I looked up this Nick Willis guy up on WA and on his profile page under 'Honours' it lists four races all of which he lost.
Doping apologists out in force with their hate in this thread.
If it wasn't for the Tokyo delay to 2021, and the fact that in 2004 as a 21 yo he was up against literally dozens of full throttle EPO cheats, he would have reached 5 successive Olympic 1500m finals.
No, if I was such an apologist I'd have claimed Kiprop was better, or Lagat. I have no time for either. But I can't remember a single race that was exciting because of something Nick Willis did in it.
Doping apologists out in force with their hate in this thread.
If it wasn't for the Tokyo delay to 2021, and the fact that in 2004 as a 21 yo he was up against literally dozens of full throttle EPO cheats, he would have reached 5 successive Olympic 1500m finals.
No, if I was such an apologist I'd have claimed Kiprop was better, or Lagat. I have no time for either. But I can't remember a single race that was exciting because of something Nick Willis did in it.
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While I generally agree that Willis has often seemed to kick for a medal rather than for the win, at the 2016 World Indoors 1500 he took his shot. Interestingly, it worked out about the same as his typical strategy when it was all said and done.
Something that has been forgotten in this discussion: Gladwell does the voiceover for Tracksmith commercials and Willis now works for Tracksmith. They probably have met before, and Gladwell has some bias based off this interaction. It’s not wrong to have a favorite runner, but don’t down play the career of legend while he is down (Centro just had season-ending surgery). For what it’s worth I view Willis and Centro in the same tier for mid-distance runners of the past two decades.
they were both world class milers of similar abilities, I think Centrowitz came away with more hardware in his career and an Olympic title.
No idea why MG would try and suggest they are so different.
You know exactly what hardware that Centrowitz came away with.
Both have had solid careers but winning a gold medal on one day when the stars aligned for you doesn't make you better than Nick Willis and his long career.
They should both be mentioned in the same breathe.
It’s like Gladwell in that Salazar doc. Dude is such a homer for his favorite runners/teams. Which is fine as a fan, but let’s not pretend that he’s providing any objectively sound analysis in these cases.
MG's whole thing is that he "examines" some concept through an ultra-specific lens and purports the "results" as an observable truth. In this case, he's looking at some stat categories and ignoring others, in order to support his original opinion. Pretty stupid for a smart guy, right?
Nick has had a great career but he never even tried to win a major race, except commonwealth games after Mottrom fell. Nick always hung back timidly and picked up the scraps in the last lap. Centro tried to win races and was aggressive about it. The only conversation Centro ain’t in is the one about 1500m greats without Olympic 1500m gold, and that is an extensive list.