deanouk wrote:
Nonsense.
It was discussed in the pages of AW that Coe was capable of threatening the then WR of 1:43.4 in 1978, when he was 21.
John Walker said right after watching Coe run 1:42.3 in 79 that he thought he "looked like he could run 1:40"
Most Athletic pundits in the UK expected him to improve his WR later in 79 and he was going to have a go in Brussels, but got injured and curtailed his season after Zurich.
He ran 46.87 (not the 46.7 you claim to be his pb) after a heat of 46.95 easing up, a week or so after his Oslo 800, which wasn't a WR attempt but a tester to see how his training was going. By the end of August, with further speed work he was able to run a 45.5 relay leg in the European Cup, worth 46.0 - 46.2 for an open 400. That's over half a second improvement since the WR right there. So anyone with a brain could have predicted a run of sub 1:42 in late 79. If he is able to improve his 400 speed by 0.5 from July to August in 79, then why not improve by a similar amount from June (when he ran equivalent to an open 45.6) to August in 81?
When he didn't get a chance to improve his WR in 1980, it was considered a disappointment.
The pages of AW were already talking about how Coe was in WR 800 form a week before his Florence run, after front running a 1:44.0 and a 45.6 relay in 90 mins. This was based not just on the times he produced at Crystal Palace, but by the ease and manner with which he achieved them.
A new 800 WR was expected, just not necessarily as early as June 10th! Now Ventolin, ask yourself why it was not expected then!?
When he went to Italy on June 10 he was looking for another fast run to see what sort of form he was in. He was looking for a 1:43 low and his father didn't go as it wasn't a WR attempt. That was planned for Oslo over a month later. When he ran 1:41.7 (worth 1:41.5 due to running wide on the bend) he was not at a season peak. A top athlete like Coe does not plan to reach a peak in early June, and he is on record as saying that the focus/peak of his season was to win the Europa Cup 800 in late August, the planned Mile clash with Ovett in Brussels a week later, and the World Cup 800 in early September. There would have been a lot more speed work done between early June and Sept. Just because he didn't get to run a fast tt 800 later that season, does not mean he wasn't capable of doing so.
Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would realise that Coe was in better form in August 81 than June. The reason he didn't record a faster time over 800m later that year is due to 3 things:-
1) He had already set a WR earlier than expected, and it made him 1.71 sec faster than anyone else in history. The most dominant gap between No 1 & 2 since before WW2. There was no incentive to improve further that year.
2) He wanted to win the 2 titles up for grabs that year and prove his tactical ability, after losing the Moscow 800. He had no reason running various fast 800 races around Europe. He had nothing to prove in that department,
3) He wanted to break the 1500 & Mile records to end the season with a full set.
Your insistence that Coe was at some sort of career peak in early June is unconvincing. The idea that Coe, with his (and his father's) experience of peaking when it matters, somehow reached an unplanned peak in early June, before the serious speed work began, is ludicrous. Yes, it remains one of his greatest runs, but that doesn't mean it represents his ultimate ability.
Kipketer attacked the 800 WR in July 97 and ran 1:41.7. With further speed training and further planned WR attempts, he improved to 1:41.11.
Rudisha ran a 1:41.5 in mid season 2010, before getting down to 1:41.01.
This year he ran 1:41.74 just a day earlier than Coe' s WR from 81. He has already improved by 0.2 and I would strongly expect him to improve further when he has planned attacks at the record after the Olympics.
To suggest that Coe was not able to emulate a well trodden pattern of top guys improving over the duration of a season is just you being contrary. You can pluck Kaki out from arse as often as you want, but one example of an inferior athlete does not prove a point.
You can make all the excuses and massage the figures as much as you want to bring a 1:44.3/3:33.1 Ryun down to a 1:40.7/3:25 superman, and then ridicule anyone who doesn't agree with you.
But when others suggest a 1:41.7 performer could have run 1:41.0, you call them idiots. You have a very slanted and dis-jointed view on reality.
By your own admittance, Coe was a simultaneous 45.6/3:27- 3:28 guy by July 81. That combination of 400 speed and 1500 endurance is unmatched by anyone in history. It is not therefore unrealistic to claim that such an athletic combination was capable of 1:41.0. Neither is it unrealistic to claim that such an athlete could & should have gone on to run faster in the following 2 seasons had he not suffered from injury and illness, which is what you ridiculed the previous poster for writing.
What IS far more unrealistic is your claim that a man of 20, almost 50 years ago was capable of running 3.5 faster than his 800 pb and 8 secs faster than his 1500pb, and should be the WR holder still.
Deano--it's VENTOLIN. Our village idiot, and resident autistic. You are not dealing with an intelligent, rational person here.
Relax.