In the aftermath of that race, one of the craziest things is the polar opposite reaction from these boards vs the comments on Instagram posts about the race and YouTube comments. Every comment on social is about the heartbreak for Athing and talking about how unfair it is but LetsRun brought out the confetti and fireworks. I honestly feel bad for Nia Akins because she killed her race and it felt like her whole celebration got crosscut with Athing in tears heading down the tunnel.
social media people are generally pretty simple minded
Love how you think people who aren't a$$holes are just simple minded.
That so many people seem to be taking joy in Mu's misfortune is really disheartening. I agree that her recent lack of racing likely played a role in what happened, but at the end of the day it was still a terrible accident that absolutely crushed her and brought her to tears. Gleefully saying "I told you so" and kicking her when she's down is low, even for Letsrun.
It's encouraging that since I've posted a lot of people have chimed in saying they feel bad for Mu, while explaining that they think she was at fault & tie that to her lack of racing. That's totally fine. But that's not what has been posted on these threads. Read back through. Look at the up/down votes. There is a lot of glee/excitement over what happened. That's the part I find bizarre. &, yes, I think the people who run the site create an environment where that kind of stuff is normalized for certain athletes. Yes, a thread was started about possibly re-running the event. That just feels like some clickbait to me to get people talking. What you never see is a founder quoting something said that's awful & saying that that's not welcome on here. That's what I would like to see more of. They hide behind speech. It's fine to say whatever you want. But it's also fine to call stuff out if you were interested in cleaning stuff up on here. The discourse on Mu is not simply about who was at fault or if you feel bad for her or if she should have raced more. People are saying much more than that. Again, it's weird.
How are you able to measure this based on voting patterns? Are there any significant number of actual posts celebrating her fall?
People who know the backstory of Mu over the last year vs. people who don't know Jack about track or follow it.
It's funny I had the same thought reading the comments on social media because some of them were clearly from people who don't know anything about track saying "doesn't she get to go anyways because she's defending champ" or just talking about the medal count. I guess that's the difference between the casual fan vs the weirdly obsessed LetsRun dwellers like us. Everyone else gets to enjoy their spoon-fed coverage about ESP being a mom from a dairy farm, Athing and Sydney being the GOATs with the GOAT coach, Yared Nuguse being a Swiftie, and Noah Lyles being a DBZ obsessed super sprinter. Meanwhile us on the boards get to cynically pontificate over who's doping, who went home DEVASTATED, and who gets a coveted MF between their first and last name because they pulled off a board certified race.
I'll never understand LRC & just the blanket hate it gives to certain athletes. I think it starts with the brojos & the moderators. They get to frame issues/discussions. If they took a measured stance then people would adjust to that.
Our best 800 runner, working their way back to the top of the sport, went down & won't get a chance to defend her gold medal. How is the reaction glee from a lot of people on here? It's weird to root against your own athletes. I get that Mu disappeared for a bit & has dared to act/say that there's more to life than running. I'm guessing she has good reasons for the above -- reasons she hasn't shared personally with all of the people hating on her on here. My guess is it's tied to mental health/pressure. It's tough being a top athlete. She doesn't owe us anything to talk through it. That doesn't mean you should have some sharp negative opinion of her. Watching the race the reaction should be that's too bad/I would've liked to have seen her get back to top form/but the new team is good & deserving. Figure out who is at fault, fine, but the excitement if you come to the conclusion that it's her is bizarre.
My issue with Mu is that she was cocky/borderline arrogant when she won and wanted a lot of attention, but then when the going got tough, she totally disappeared. Then, with this mert approaching, she does a huge spread in sports illustrated and interviews saying she is going to get the gold again. I think she just needs to pick a lane of be the quiet type or deal with the fallout of being a bit cocky, can’t have it both ways depending on your mood or latest race.
I mean, this isn't hard. This board is full of dudes, none of whom have achieving anything close to Athing Mu. They want to, of course! But they're not as talented. So when they see someone who has the gift squandering it, they get mad.
It's so easy for them to say, "Man, if I was that good, I'd be racing all of the time! I'd love it, I'd bask in it, I'd do it so differently!". And maybe they would. But they're not that good -- they're just average runners turned sexist, vaguely racist haters on an online message board.
My heart goes out to Mu and it’s very unfortunate not to see her race this Olympics. 4 years from now leaves room for a lot of physical changes to happen. Devastating as it was for her it was still remarkable to see her get up and finish rather than stay down and accept a DNF. No way am I going to say she deserved that because she doesn’t satisfy the public demand that she race more often. What happened was unfortunate and she didn’t deserve to falter. Maybe her race strategy in the future will have to be ‘run on the outside’ because of her long strides. Best of luck to her in her future events. Let’s hope her competitive spirit isn’t diminished by the drama.
My heart goes out to Mu and it’s very unfortunate not to see her race this Olympics. 4 years from now leaves room for a lot of physical changes to happen. Devastating as it was for her it was still remarkable to see her get up and finish rather than stay down and accept a DNF. No way am I going to say she deserved that because she doesn’t satisfy the public demand that she race more often. What happened was unfortunate and she didn’t deserve to falter. Maybe her race strategy in the future will have to be ‘run on the outside’ because of her long strides. Best of luck to her in her future events. Let’s hope her competitive spirit isn’t diminished by the drama.
She didn't deserve that AND the top 3 deserved to be on the team. In other words, tough luck and we move on.
My heart goes out to Mu and it’s very unfortunate not to see her race this Olympics. 4 years from now leaves room for a lot of physical changes to happen. Devastating as it was for her it was still remarkable to see her get up and finish rather than stay down and accept a DNF. No way am I going to say she deserved that because she doesn’t satisfy the public demand that she race more often. What happened was unfortunate and she didn’t deserve to falter. Maybe her race strategy in the future will have to be ‘run on the outside’ because of her long strides. Best of luck to her in her future events. Let’s hope her competitive spirit isn’t diminished by the drama.
She didn't deserve that AND the top 3 deserved to be on the team. In other words, tough luck and we move on.
Agreed. I also thought Nia had some great comments in her post-race interview. I had totally forgotten that she fell at the last trials but her response to that was just "that's life" and she even gave credit to that experience for making her the person/runner she is today. This is a tough lesson to take in the moment but I really hope that Athing can bounce back from this. Even though I understand the general frustration on here with her lack of racing and some of her comments recently, she will always be one of the biggest talents in the US. I still remember at 2019 US indoors when she showed up as just a high school kid and burst on the scene by beating Raevyn Rogers. If she can comeback from this stronger and more determined, Athing is going to SCARY for LA in 2028.
Disagree, you take a risk when you run in the pack rather than staying out of trouble like Nuguse made sure to do in the 1500. If you're a medal contender, you're leaving things to chance by running in a bunch.
Yeah, the Mu of 2021-22 would not have fallen, because she would have been in front of it. She was a front runner, which gave her less experience being jostled in a pack even when she was running more frequently. Now the recent change in strategy could be due to her injury (if she’s not fit enough to try taking it from the gun), but just say’in.
I'll never understand LRC & just the blanket hate it gives to certain athletes. I think it starts with the brojos & the moderators. They get to frame issues/discussions. If they took a measured stance then people would adjust to that.
Our best 800 runner, working their way back to the top of the sport, went down & won't get a chance to defend her gold medal. How is the reaction glee from a lot of people on here? It's weird to root against your own athletes. I get that Mu disappeared for a bit & has dared to act/say that there's more to life than running. I'm guessing she has good reasons for the above -- reasons she hasn't shared personally with all of the people hating on her on here. My guess is it's tied to mental health/pressure. It's tough being a top athlete. She doesn't owe us anything to talk through it. That doesn't mean you should have some sharp negative opinion of her. Watching the race the reaction should be that's too bad/I would've liked to have seen her get back to top form/but the new team is good & deserving. Figure out who is at fault, fine, but the excitement if you come to the conclusion that it's her is bizarre.
Very well said.
The celebration of joy that some posters have expressed for someone's misfortune on this board no longer shocks me. And that, in and of itself, screams how miserable a life some posters here are living, that they thrive on the misfortune of others.
it is shocking how few people, even on a die hard running website like LR, don't realize that Mu has been hurt the last two months, and that's why she wasn't ready to go. Why she looked mediocre in rds 1 & 2. And why she wasn't 2 meters out in front like she should have been at that point.
I'll never understand LRC & just the blanket hate it gives to certain athletes. I think it starts with the brojos & the moderators. They get to frame issues/discussions. If they took a measured stance then people would adjust to that.
Our best 800 runner, working their way back to the top of the sport, went down & won't get a chance to defend her gold medal. How is the reaction glee from a lot of people on here? It's weird to root against your own athletes. I get that Mu disappeared for a bit & has dared to act/say that there's more to life than running. I'm guessing she has good reasons for the above -- reasons she hasn't shared personally with all of the people hating on her on here. My guess is it's tied to mental health/pressure. It's tough being a top athlete. She doesn't owe us anything to talk through it. That doesn't mean you should have some sharp negative opinion of her. Watching the race the reaction should be that's too bad/I would've liked to have seen her get back to top form/but the new team is good & deserving. Figure out who is at fault, fine, but the excitement if you come to the conclusion that it's her is bizarre.
Very well said.
The celebration of joy that some posters have expressed for someone's misfortune on this board no longer shocks me. And that, in and of itself, screams how miserable a life some posters here are living, that they thrive on the misfortune of others.
The bar is low for LRC, but I did not see much of that kind of posting. Criticizing her for her tactical disaster and not sugarcoating it is not expressing joy.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.