How dumb was wayde van niekerk?

I think he could have, many prime years were left. Such a reckless decision.

the part you're struggling with is that the quality disparity that results in them being way ahead can also make them get bored. year we won state in select soccer we beat some poor neighbor team 15-0. the starters are subbed off by half and we're throwing a nerf football on the sideline. in league we beat the team that ended up second in state 5-1 in front of a crowd of hundreds. before we pretend they sucked that team had several future college players. but so did we. the way to try to make a game out of it was to park 11 players back in the box and dare us to score through 11 bodies in front of the goal. in some of the laughers it's almost boring.

running XC and TF that year was more fun as it wasn't just being handed to me.

what you really need is a bol to your mclaughlin that keeps you honest. or maybe a season running the 400 instead of the hurdles, the 1500 instead of the 800.

to be fair, i get it, it cost him wins and money, but it takes some discipline to "edwin moses" it and just run off cycle after cycle doing the same thing. when we won state there were bigger things to chase, regionals, nationals, elite tournaments. what is the next big thing when you win the olympics? another one?

fwiw WVK made it at least 3 years into a marketing degree at a south african university. not sure if they do 4 year degrees like here or 3 like UK. not sure if he was FT or PT, as it matters if it's 3/3 vs. 3/6. but anyhow, he'd be somewhere between halfway and nearing completion.

"smart" arguably could cut both ways here. yes, a smart grinder might know where his bread is buttered. but some bright people are easily bored if not challenged or multitasking.

He would’ve got injured at some point anyway

that WR was his danger zone imo. Don’t think it changed much for his career

There is a photo somewhere of a fat Benny McCarthy (ex premier league and now a coach) laying on top of Wayde

You have a current WR holder at height of prowess and a bunch of ex players thinking they are faster, stronger etc...its called testosterone.

When I was 'just' running sub 2:30 , I did little else that could injure me, and when I did I made sure I was the one in control...no team stuff

He played in the A league here a couple of games, not great but that standard was high

That was not "dumb" from Santiago Canizares - it was simply a reflexive action trying to stop something small from falling, it could literally have happened to anyone and was just a freak accident / injury.

Contrastingly Wayde made the conscious choice to go out and play rugby, a game well known for its physicality and subsequent injuries, when he is a delicate sprinting athlete... lol

There is a reason cheetahs are extremely risk averse when it comes to conflict and engagements with other predators - not only do they lack the physical heft but they seem to be also keenly aware that any small niggle and drop of their sprinting performance would have serious consequences to their survival.

If a wild cat could work this out... lol

I’m fairly confident that Wayde doesn’t hunt for his food.