Roisin Willis pulls out of 800 semi's

They're also the answer to the Jeopardy question, "Who are three female athletes who accomplished more before they were 21 than 'Synonymous, Right?' has in their entire life?" - you are truly an unkind person who needs to take a swim in the empathy pool to see if you can find some.

You don’t say…I keep hearing this over and over and over again…of course it’s a serious issue

so the remedy is to keep putting yourself in the the one situation that’s giving you the most trouble then bailing when it gets tough?

I’ll never understand that logic

Juliette Whitaker ran 2:11 and finished dead freakin last…you think that’s what she wanted or have people see?

at least she saw it through

NB shouldn't have done an NIL deal with her, that only further put pressure on her, even if it's not "for performance" technically, she knows it is and that adds further pressure onto someone who publicly stated she was having trouble dealing with the pressure. She's still in college, she didn't need the money to continue running. NB wanted to put her on a pipeline to being their athlete and not lose her To BTC. They didn't think about her at all, and that she was absolutely not in the mental state to deal with the added pressure of a sponsor.

Ryun absolutely did. He quit for a period, and I have read that he just stopped and walked off in one race.

John Robson a Scottish miler (3:52.44) and also fifth World X-Country Championships in 1980, had a lot nerve problems. In the Scottish Road Relay Championships he just stopped halfway through a leg, and it took a lot of persuading from his team mates to get him to start again. There is a great story on that here - 21 years later as a 41-year-old he ran the same leg and took his club to the lead -

heraldscotland.com

Old ghost exorcised as Robson leads charge

JOHN Robson exorcised a 21-year-old ghost yesterday, but his club still continue to haunt their Scottish athletics rivals.

Link:www.heraldscotland.com/news/12352091.o...

I can certainly related to some of Willis's problems. When I was young a combination of a very hectic work life and hard (over)training got my nervous system so revved up, I had a lot of trouble sleeping, and would feel weak and ill when I wanted to race (I think too much adrenaline or cortisol).

I eventually found a solution to both problems with hypnotism and I'm still racing 40 years on, so it can be overcome.

Because they care. Its a human thing. You should try it sometime.

It must just be hitting Roisin like a ton of bricks that despite all of her HS accolades she’ll never be relevant in the US with Athing only 2 years older, and not only that but she’ll never win the outdoor NCAAs. She’s probably trained harder than ever this year and is realizing a la Mary Cain, Alexa, etc that while she’s phenomenally talented, she just won’t make it to the Olympics. It’s a lot to put on an 18 yo. Many ppl have cracked from far less.

What are you talking about???? You make these conclusions from one outdoor season? Naaaaa

To the poster who mentioned Gorriaran, she did the smart thing and is in the U20 800 and 1500. getting valuable racing experience instead of being thrown to the wolves with too much pressure too early. Long term, I feel like she is best suited for a longer, more steady future at 800 and 1500.

Not based on one race. Willis wrote about her year of mental health issues.

I really had a hard time picking what to bluntly trump first. How about the Athing Mu being two years older

Comparing her to Mary Cain and Alexa? The only thing these three have in common is they are biological females that ran competitively. Just a gross generalization.

Let's move on to the Olympic qualifying topic. Have you ever heard of Breeda Dehheny? She ran 15:12/32:11 during her career and represented Ireland at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. This is Roisin's mother. Point 1 - This increases the likelihood that Roisin will make an Olympic team. It just does. Point 2 - If Roisin completed citizenship paperwork prior to age 16 or 18 she will have dual citizenship and could seamlessly represent Ireland like her mother.

In Roisin's world, she knows something isnt right and she is trying to fix it. I give her a lot of credit for being honest with herself. Ive seen people her age go through similar where they believe they are running to appease others and not for themselves. We need her to be on better terms in her relationship with running. Otherwise we will lead this horse to water but be unable to make it drink.

Maybe you know their names because they were good at handling pressure. You should look up Fernando Mamede.

No idea if this is contributing in this situation, and obviously hoping for the best.
But have to believe some of these issues stem from some of these kids racing non-stop from a young age. Going to every AAU Meet, National meet, indoor meet, etc...
Some of the kids like that have had to try to be "on" non-stop for the last 6-7 years. That wears on you physically and mentally.

And it is fully the fault of the parents and the institutions that support having meets like that. This is our version of terrible travel ball sports situations.

The underlying problems are the phones, screen time, false realities, poor coping mechanisms and social media.

Much like Molly Seidel, Roisin was sheltered from social media. She's not ready for it and it's also not her.

Too many major championships won too young. Winning doesn’t feel the same anymore. Better to be that second tier runner that hasn’t won anything that stays hungry. Many win nothing throughout high school and college, and as pro’s they start winning. Too fast, too soon, never the best road.

In current year? No, especially not if the athlete is a woman. Anything less than perfect mental health is an excuse to not show up and compete, and no one is allowed to question it.

maybe those two(Stanford freshmen women) have raced too much this season...

I think Jim Ryun quit four races. I was at the Drake Relays when he dropped out the first time. As a high school boy, it was hard to watch his idol drop out when I was expecting him to come from behind to win in the sprint medley. Afterwards, he was quoted in the newspaper saying that he just quit. Bear in mind that he was under tremendous pressure at that point in his career to always win.