betterbutter wrote:
I'm pretty sure he know who the current american record holder is in the mile. Now, if Jim Ryun walked in he probably wouldn't know who he was or maybe he might. Many times the young athletes who excel at his level in high school are students of the sport but many times they also are not.
When I was in high school, I didn't know anything about great mile runners or who the current top pro athletes were. I just knew what times other kids in the state were running and what I needed to run to beat them. I wasn't on Dyestat or Letsrun, lurking around the message boards.
Just because LV is a high profile runner, doesn't mean he knows who the pros and collegiate athletes are, especially if he sees them approach him in everyday wear. This says more about the failure of USATF's marketing than it does about LV.
Webb was not winning anything last year, or the year before that while he was injured. While Webb may perform very well this year (I agree that gaunt is the right look for male elites), his biggest years were had when LV was just starting to break into the sport.
I'm betting the kid didn't realize who was giving him the trophy at first. He wasn't being rude.