Bill Huntington wrote:
My economics professor said there were three kinds of lies: "Lies, damn lies, and statistics."
I don't want to hear about how many fast Japanese marathoners or any other distance until one of them beats an American in a major event, Worlds, Olympics, or anything.
2007 Worlds: Lagat, Teg, Rupp, Kara Goucher.
2008 Olympics: Flanagan, Rupp, Ritz and Hall.
2009 Worlds: Ritz, Rupp, Lagat, Manzano.
Japan: 0
We're talking about the marathon here so let's look at the stats shall we?
In 2007, Japan put FOUR men ahead of our first in the marathon and FIVE women ahead of our first with one of them grabbing a medal.
In 2008, we did well on the mens side with 2 of ours beating Japans first (Ogata was 53 seconds behind Hall). On the womens side, both countries only had one finisher and Japans top women beat our top woman.
In 2009, Japan put THREE ahead of our first man. They put TWO ahead of our first woman (Miss Kara Goucher, who you have listed above although not for the marathon) and one of them won the silver medal.
So what were you saying?