I hope she gets back in form. She could have broken the WR by now and retired as a track legend. Hope this doesn’t become a story of what could have been
Kersee ruining Mu. Salazar ruining Cain. Maybe we stop sending our most talented young women to famous coaches, and instead just keep doing what's been working until it stops working.
Hang on. All of Cain's PRs came AFTER AlSal had been coaching her for awhile. Later she fell apart, and got even worse after leaving AlSal. It is sometimes the fault of the coach, but sometimes an athlete simply loses it mentally, and no longer has the drive, the focus, the willpower, to put in the tremendous dedicated effort this sport requires. I believe this is what happened to both Mu and Cain. Once you lose it mentally, your competitive career is over.
I think Cain's problem was the change in physique that comes, for some woman, with maturity. I doubt it would have matter who'd coached her.
Agree, Kersee is not a great 800m coach, but there are other factors. We should remember, that she was running competitively in track and field at the club level since she was like 6 years old and quite seriously since middle school. When she arrived on the national and world scene at 16 or so, most of us just assumed it was because she was a "generational talent", maybe not giving enough credit to the years of hard work she and her coach and her family had already put in. Well, what if she is NOT a generational talent? What if she is not a physiological super-human and is just a great talent (like Ajee, Raven, etc.) who just worked very hard for many years and matured a bit early? It can certainly lead to burnout, career fatigue, IMHO. Plus, she was so young when she started she really did not have much of a conscious choice in selecting this sport for herself. If she is just a "great talent" and not a superhuman, she knows how hard she has to work to get back up to where Kelly and others are now and she just dreads it and does not have the passion or drive for it anymore. She's got her awards and accolades and she has a good financial start to life. I would understand her being conflicted about committing 110%.
yes. stay out of club. let your kid run in high school and HAVE FUN WITH FRIENDS!
one year of A&M is probably the only fun she's ever had in this sport.
I believe so many athletes are really happy with their college teams. "Have fun with friends!" says it all. It is tough for pro athletes to be chasing the almighty dollar, often at others behest, at a young age.
I'm sensing some misogyny in some of these posts...we never see criticism of male athletes who post images of themselves throwing some hoops, or attending a basketball game, & then get accuse of being a wannabe basketball star; or dressed up like a rapper attending a music event.
Every athlete has interests outside the sport, I'm sure.
The problem all started with Kersee. KERSEE IS NOT AN 800M COACH. PERIOD. Because of his bizarre fixation at not wanting Mu & SML to race, he stopped Mu running 400m & 'made' her run 1500's. She was, and is, a 400/800 woman, she is NOT an 800/1500...or 3000 woman. On top of that, she has zero middle distance training partners and trains alone. This is not the way to do it, I don't know any elite middle distance runner that trains alone.
He used her as a bizarre experiment and it has clearly gone wrong. It's no wonder she is a reluctant racer when her coach is doing things she isn't comfortable with. She has been programmed to say 'trust the process'....we have been lead to believe Kersee is this Master Coach....well he is, at the sprints. He is NOT, and never will be, a middle distance coach.
She has now lost all enthusiasm. And I don't blame her.
I'm sensing some misogyny in some of these posts...we never see criticism of male athletes who post images of themselves throwing some hoops, or attending a basketball game, & then get accuse of being a wannabe basketball star; or dressed up like a rapper attending a music event.
Every athlete has interests outside the sport, I'm sure.
The problem all started with Kersee. KERSEE IS NOT AN 800M COACH. PERIOD. Because of his bizarre fixation at not wanting Mu & SML to race, he stopped Mu running 400m & 'made' her run 1500's. She was, and is, a 400/800 woman, she is NOT an 800/1500...or 3000 woman. On top of that, she has zero middle distance training partners and trains alone. This is not the way to do it, I don't know any elite middle distance runner that trains alone.
He used her as a bizarre experiment and it has clearly gone wrong. It's no wonder she is a reluctant racer when her coach is doing things she isn't comfortable with. She has been programmed to say 'trust the process'....we have been lead to believe Kersee is this Master Coach....well he is, at the sprints. He is NOT, and never will be, a middle distance coach.
She has now lost all enthusiasm. And I don't blame her.
Is she not free to find another coach? She is an adult and if she is unhappy with her situation she can make a change.
Kersee may be the world's worst coach but it's up to the athlete to take charge of her own career if she is not progressing.
It's two years in a row now that the best athlete in her event couldn't even make the national team. If this year's results don't motivate her to make a change then what will?
I'm sensing some misogyny in some of these posts...we never see criticism of male athletes who post images of themselves throwing some hoops, or attending a basketball game, & then get accuse of being a wannabe basketball star; or dressed up like a rapper attending a music event.
Every athlete has interests outside the sport, I'm sure.
The problem all started with Kersee. KERSEE IS NOT AN 800M COACH. PERIOD. Because of his bizarre fixation at not wanting Mu & SML to race, he stopped Mu running 400m & 'made' her run 1500's. She was, and is, a 400/800 woman, she is NOT an 800/1500...or 3000 woman. On top of that, she has zero middle distance training partners and trains alone. This is not the way to do it, I don't know any elite middle distance runner that trains alone.
He used her as a bizarre experiment and it has clearly gone wrong. It's no wonder she is a reluctant racer when her coach is doing things she isn't comfortable with. She has been programmed to say 'trust the process'....we have been lead to believe Kersee is this Master Coach....well he is, at the sprints. He is NOT, and never will be, a middle distance coach.
All of this could have been easily avoided if she had just stuck to the 400m. Separate lanes, shorter distance—her game entirely. With a 48-low, she would’ve dominated any field.
Let this be a lesson for anyone trying to convince sprinters to move up to the 800m: two laps don’t forgive. They’ll chew you up and spit you out.