Bummed I didn't see his 1500M gold live. I was at a Jimmy Buffett concert in Mansfield, MA, and I found out from texts from friends while waiting in line to pee. I still get chills watching the video (of Centro - though Buffett was great, RIP).
No one can ever take away an Olympic Gold. What a legacy. Son of a son of a sailor.
I remember watching it live and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Thinking at some point that surely he was going to be out-kicked and/or would fade. One of the greatest moments in American distance running for sure.
No more than 2 minutes after the race ends, my mother calls me. "Oh my god (My name). Your 74 year old father just went crazy in the middle of the restaurant we are at and every one in here just stared at him like he had lost his mind."
Throwing my hat in the ring for most downvoted post:
USADA flagged him at some point prior to Pre Classic and he negotiated the quiet step aside to avoid officially being reported to AIU.
Michael Jordan (baseball), Peyton Manning, Matthew Centrowitz Jr. That is an illustrious list of everybody wins PR exits.
He showed up yesterday to get his credentials, I don’t think this was a long premeditated drop out plan. I think he was probably riding an injury wave and seeing if he was okay to race until the bitter end.
My source for him being spotted getting credentials is the Hanson’s twitter
Throwing my hat in the ring for most downvoted post:
USADA flagged him at some point prior to Pre Classic and he negotiated the quiet step aside to avoid officially being reported to AIU.
Michael Jordan (baseball), Peyton Manning, Matthew Centrowitz Jr. That is an illustrious list of everybody wins PR exits.
He showed up yesterday to get his credentials, I don’t think this was a long premeditated drop out plan. I think he was probably riding an injury wave and seeing if he was okay to race until the bitter end.
My source for him being spotted getting credentials is the Hanson’s twitter
This Knighton news led me to the USADA sanction list: https://www.usada.org/news/sanctions/Near the top there's a sanction that must have occured on the 15th or 16th of April this year for a listed Track and Field athlete, un...
it also doesn’t line up with the USA athlete busted for Ostarine on April 15th or 16th, Centro raced till the start of May. This case was listed as “name removed” and you could make an argument that it was Centro but the fact that he kept racing weeks after the “bust” shows it probably wasn’t him.
it also doesn’t line up with the USA athlete busted for Ostarine on April 15th or 16th, Centro raced till the start of May. This case was listed as “name removed” and you could make an argument that it was Centro but the fact that he kept racing weeks after the “bust” shows it probably wasn’t him.
Was that listing the guy who used his friend's sweaty arm/leg sleeves and was let off for contamination?
Throwing my hat in the ring for most downvoted post:
USADA flagged him at some point prior to Pre Classic and he negotiated the quiet step aside to avoid officially being reported to AIU.
Michael Jordan (baseball), Peyton Manning, Matthew Centrowitz Jr. That is an illustrious list of everybody wins PR exits.
The truth gets downvoted here more than anything else.
But I'll win for most downvoted on this thread for saying back in early May that it was 50/50 he'd even make the trials final.
I think you get downvotes because you're a right-wing, anti-vax, tinfoil hat-wearing moron who spams the board with your conspiracy and m*ga-worshipping nonsense. Let's just say that it colors reactions even to your running-related posts.
I said to my friends as soon as I saw the news that it was likely to avoid a positive/take down of him too. USADA/USATF/NIKE can't have his name smeared in an olympic cycle especially as the former gold medalist. So let's celebrate him quietly and let him ride off into the sunset and blame an injury.
Anyone who thinks he has been clean his whole career is really really naive. Look who his training partners were, look who his once girlfriend was, look who his coach was.
End of an era. Love him or hate him, he raised American distance running to a level where we could truly compete and win at the global stage. People nowadays are obsessed with running fast times and Cento certainly could have ran under 3:30 in his prime with the right conditions but he cared about one thing only: winning. He always put himself in a position to win in almost every race and his races should be studied by anyone who wants to win.
It blows my mind how many runners think "have ran" is correct.
it also doesn’t line up with the USA athlete busted for Ostarine on April 15th or 16th, Centro raced till the start of May. This case was listed as “name removed” and you could make an argument that it was Centro but the fact that he kept racing weeks after the “bust” shows it probably wasn’t him.
Was that listing the guy who used his friend's sweaty arm/leg sleeves and was let off for contamination?
I believe so, we already know who the unnamed runner was, and I don’t think there’s a second unnamed runner that was busted in May so I don’t think it can be Centro
Definitely heartbreaking for him. Fitness was getting better constantly and he really did look like he could challenge for a spot in a more tactical race. But I imagine he pushed his aging body just a bit too far unfortunately
Not a total shocker, but not out of nowhere. Centro was definitely on the upswing, but as I had posted months ago, he was "flying to close to the sun" and paid the price. Even if he ran the trials, I didn't think he was strong enough to withstand the rounds and would need to run 3:34-3:35 in the final. There was no way those other boys were going to let the pace be any slower than 3:34-3:35.
1. He is backing off now so he has a shot at one final season. If this was really his last year why not just put some DMSO and aspirin on that sucker and see what he can do? If he makes the team great, if he tears his hamstring kicking in a semi so what? He is gonna retire anyway.
If you've been following Centro's interviews over the past year or more, it seems pretty clear his real remaining goal was always just to make the team--not win another gold, or anything like that. It was a long shot but not impossible, and he was showing signs of coming into form. I think he was sincere in trying to do that and it was a meaningful target. We don't really know how much he can run. Blankenship tried the show up injured and give it a go for the last Olympics and he was way off. Maybe Centro doesn't feel like being in DFL just to say he was there.