Hassan, who will run London, on Chepngetich's 2:09:56 WR: "I don’t care how [Ruth] did it, it just showed me it is possible."

looking at the comments about Siffan taking a step up at 26, I don't think it's a secret that many women run their best times at a later age than men.

In the top 15 for the womens 1500, Faith ran her best time at 30, Tsegay 27, Hull 27, Bell 30, Muir 31.

of course then there is the current crop of Ethiopeans and 90s crop of Chinese women which achieve PRs at scary young ages compared to the rest of the list.

While being indepdnently coached by a single person with no previous connections to elite level running and traveling all around the world to train. seems incredibly unlikely yet people will still accuse her of doping.

Can you name a current athlete that you actually like and cheer for?

I (and many others in this thread) like Sifan Hassan because she’s so fearless in taking on the best in the world.

The only thing she is likely fearless about is taking on WADA.

Setting aside the doping issue, Hassan has the best attitude towards competition of any elite T&F star in recent memory. Can you imagine the entertainment value if Syd had Hassan’s attitude? She would have competed in global championships by now in the 200, 400, maybe even the HH. She’d win some, lose some. Who cares? It would be compelling stuff and we’d all think even more highly of her. Jakob has some of Hassan in him. Loved when he tried the HM and failed. We should celebrate our stars who are brave and try stuff out of their comfort zones.

Your post is great and I obviously upvoted it. I don't really disagree.

The one thing that I think I see differently is the notion of the moral compass. The compass is intact. We just don't look at it as often as we should. I know and believe that cheating is part of the sport, is wrong, and hurts clean athletes.

The problem is that if you think Andrew Wheating is clean or Craig Engels is clean, how can you watch them without also watching Kiprop and Mo Farah?

It isn't like there is a second league for clean runners. So you have to ignore the reality that surrounds our sport (like football fans do) and just pick and choose your favorite athletes. You can love Nick Willis or Bryce Hoppel without also being a Kiprop or Nijel Amos fan.

When Nijel Amos dopes, it doesn't lessen my respect for Hoppel:

kuathletics.com

Hoppel Downs American 800m Record, Finishes 4th in Paris - University of Kansas

@@kansastfxc

PARIS - Former Kansas Track and Field star Bryce Hoppel broke the American record in the men's 800m after running a 1:41.67 in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games final.

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What part of elite sport brings you happiness? What event or result makes you smile and want to go lace up the running shoes?

If you say "none, I don't need or like those external, professional athletes to love the sport" then why are on this thread? This is a thread about pro running.

I would not go to a website about pugs and write a thousand posts how pugs are stupid, ugly dogs. Why would I bother to do that? To "inform" pug owners how "blind" they are?

Why don't you go to find this dog's owner and tell them the truth about pugs (and give the running community a break).

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Do pugs cheat?

So you have no answer.

You didn’t answer my question. Can you name a current track and field athlete that you like?

Some people think that even high school doping is common.

I don't feel hostility towards dopers until they're caught because I don't know who is doping and who isn't, so it makes no sense for me to try to guess who it might be. I simply watch for the races, not the times. I tune in for the World Champs and the Olympics because I like to see championship races.

Maybe that's why doping doesn't really bother me. I don't care about the world records, rabbits, and pacing lights. In my opinion, that's boring.

It's very personal to Coevett, Armstrong, and other accusers like them because they feed their egos here. They come here and act like they have the insider knowledge. They know the "truth". They're the smart ones that can see it all.

Anybody who doesn't see what they see is naive and dumb. The accusers don't need to wait for the test. They already know what is humanly possible.

Here are some of Armstrong's responses in this thread:

It's all doping.

That is the price of knowledge.

Doped sport is so funny, isn't it? I'm not angry; I'm not brain dead, like those who ignore it or can't see it. Recognise yourself?

Only to someone who is like Pollyanna.

His answers aren't actually rooted in anything other than proving he's smarter and others are dumb. He couldn't even answer which athlete he supports because it's not about the sport, it's about him and his "brains".

I do feel hostility towards dopers, but only after they're caught because it is cheating, but I'm not about to label every world record as doping the minute they cross the line, nor will I pretend to know the limits of human capability, so I'll just go on watching this as sport and not using others' performances as a measure of my intelligence.

i do like to see the gals from africa enjoy themselves and pick up a paycheck.

but that's the end of my interest in the most fake sport of all time.

the upcoming 208 will be amusing sure, and hopefully the last nail in the coffin for the farce.

An utterly irrelevant point. Athletics is a doped sport. So what does that have to do with the appearance of pugs?

Is liking an athlete a requirement? I suppose it is for a fan. I'm not a fan of the sport. I used to be.

You miss that I get asked dumb questions. You also miss that the sport has no credibility today. It's like what cycling became.

Pugs are better looking than you.

And yet you spend hours of your days writing about it. And getting angry. And arguing. For what? You are in desperate need of validation. You are old and you need to prove to yourself that you are better than younger people. And to that effect you spend your days here arguing that the athletes of your youth were strong and pure, and today's athletes are inferior because they dope to run fast.

Faacinating. And sad.

You expend so much energy in talking about me. Does anything else interest you here?