He is short and not very good looking. Makes it harder to attract sponsors.
He is short and not very good looking. Makes it harder to attract sponsors.
he's probably not asking for all that much, but he wanted more than he had been getting, given the silver medal, which may become gold some day. Manzano is a lot more than 1.7 s off the American mile record. That's 3:46.91. Manzano's never broken 3:50. His 1500m best is 3:32 something. That's 3 seconds off the American record. And the AR should be Lagat's 3:27 from 2004 after he became a citizen but before he publicly declared that, since he wanted to compete in the Olympics that year. Both Manzano and Centro are great racers under pressure. But what you have to understand is that Manzano was simply not at the world elite level most years prior to 2012. He had one bronze at the World Cup in Berlin (maybe silver), but the proper measure for him was the US champs, where he always made the team. At the Olympics he proved he could compete with anyone in a slower race. Centrowitz won multiple NCAA championships, a bronze medal behind Kiprop and Kiplagat at World's, and just missed out on an Olympic bronze last year, with two North Africans ahead of him, so that might very well turn into a bronze or even silver some day, given the doping history of middle distance Moroccans and Algerians. (Iguider and Makhloufi). And Centro's already won several U.S. championships and he was injured yesterday.
yuiop wrote:
Leo is a great guy wrote:I'd love to see Leo win a medal, get offered an American and a Mexican flag, but just take the Stars and Stripes.
Unfortunately I believe he would take both flags.
Really??? It actually bothered you to see Leo carry an American and Mexican flag at the Olympics?
Really... It probably bothered most Americans regardless of heritage, and it's quite understandable why it would bother most Americans with more than a passing interest in the Olympics that one of their own American athletes was hoisting the flag of a nation with which we have some significant disagreements/problems.
I personally believe the flag issue is the real reason Manzano is lacking sponsorship right now. Corporations are hypersensitive to potential backlash whether it's real or imagined, and recent events in other fields only confirm this.
Didn't bother me.
Running on Empathy wrote:
yuiop wrote:Really??? It actually bothered you to see Leo carry an American and Mexican flag at the Olympics?
Really... It probably bothered most Americans regardless of heritage, and it's quite understandable why it would bother most Americans with more than a passing interest in the Olympics that one of their own American athletes was hoisting the flag of a nation with which we have some significant disagreements/problems.
I personally believe the flag issue is the real reason Manzano is lacking sponsorship right now. Corporations are hypersensitive to potential backlash whether it's real or imagined, and recent events in other fields only confirm this.
Running on Empathy wrote:
Really... It probably bothered most Americans regardless of heritage, and it's quite understandable why it would bother most Americans with more than a passing interest in the Olympics that one of their own American athletes was hoisting the flag of a nation with which we have some significant disagreements/problems.
I personally believe the flag issue is the real reason Manzano is lacking sponsorship right now. Corporations are hypersensitive to potential backlash whether it's real or imagined, and recent events in other fields only confirm this.
While you may be correct that corporations shy away from anything that isn't 100% PC when it comes to sponsorships, I think you'd be very hard pressed to find any crowd outside of the deep south in which the majority gives a rip about him carrying two flags.
150M wrote:
well, leo normally runs poorly under pressure.
2007 - out first round
2008 - semis
2009 - last in finals
2011 - out first round
2012 - 2nd
Don't agree he was finishing where his pr should put him apart from in 2011
In 2012 he ran way above and if he never does anthing else will have had a great career
Standards have really dropped though 10 yrs ago 3:33 would gave put him well back in a golden league race
cascade ice wrote:
Running on Empathy wrote:Really... It probably bothered most Americans regardless of heritage, and it's quite understandable why it would bother most Americans with more than a passing interest in the Olympics that one of their own American athletes was hoisting the flag of a nation with which we have some significant disagreements/problems.
I personally believe the flag issue is the real reason Manzano is lacking sponsorship right now. Corporations are hypersensitive to potential backlash whether it's real or imagined, and recent events in other fields only confirm this.
While you may be correct that corporations shy away from anything that isn't 100% PC when it comes to sponsorships, I think you'd be very hard pressed to find any crowd outside of the deep south in which the majority gives a rip about him carrying two flags.
Ah yes .... "deep south" ...... otherwise code for "everyone who disgrees with me is a racist!" Play that race card, cascade.
I personally thought it (the flag flap) was poor judgement on Manzano's part from a professional standpoint, and it negatively affects more than just the "deep south".
Running on Empathy wrote:
I personally thought it (the flag flap) was poor judgement on Manzano's part from a professional standpoint, and it negatively affects more than just the "deep south".
Well that line of thinking is both in the minority and also petty.
2007:
1st round, heat 2:
1 556 Mehdi Baala FRA 3:38.65 Q .
2 408 Rashid Ramzi BRN 3:38.72 Q (SB)
3 822 Mohamed Moustaoui MAR 3:39.54 Q .
4 773 Shedrack Kibet Korir KEN 3:39.55 Q .
5 583 Andrew Baddeley GBR 3:39.60 Q .
6 509 Sergio Gallardo ESP 3:39.92 Q .
7 879 Nicholas Willis NZL 3:40.18 q .
8 827 Juan Luis Barrios MEX 3:41.05 q .
9 745 Fumikazu Kobayashi JPN 3:41.19 q .
10 680 Sajad Moradi IRI 3:41.49 q .
11 537 Deresse Mekonnen ETH 3:43.15 .
12 307 Kamal Boulahfane ALG 3:43.88 .
13 1117 Leonel Manzano USA 3:45.97 .
14 796 Saysana Bannavong LAO 4:19.80
2008:
Semifinal, heat 2:
1 Mehdi Baala France 3:37.47 Q
2 Andrew Baddeley Great Britain 3:37.47 Q
3 Augustine Kiprono Choge Kenya 3:37.54 Q
4 Nicholas Willis New Zealand 3:37.54 Q
5 Bernard Lagat United States 3:37.79
6 Deresse Mekonnen Ethiopia 3:37.85
7 Tarek Boukensa Algeria 3:39.73
8 Kevin Sullivan Canada 3:40.30
9 Mohamed Moustaoui Morocco 3:40.90
10 Arturo Casado Spain 3:41.57
11 Leonel Manzano United States 3:50.33
2009:
Finals
1 Yusuf Saad Kamel Bahrain 3:35.93
2 Deresse Mekonnen Ethiopia 3:36.01
3 Bernard Lagat United States 3:36.20
4 Asbel Kiprop Kenya 3:36.47
5 Augustine Kiprono Choge Kenya 3:36.53
6 Mohamed Moustaoui Morocco 3:36.57
7 Mehdi Baala France 3:36.99
8 Lopez Lomong United States 3:37.62
9 Belal Mansoor Ali Bahrain 3:37.72
10 Amine Laâlou Morocco 3:37.83
11 Abdalaati Iguider Morocco 3:38.35
12 Leonel Manzano United States 3:40.05
2011:
1 2 Asbel Kiprop Kenya 3:36.75 Q
2 2 Tarek Boukensa Algeria 3:36.84 Q
3 2 Mohamed Moustaoui Morocco 3:36.87 Q
4 2 Manuel Olmedo Spain 3:36.91 Q
5 2 Eduar Villanueva Venezuela 3:36.96 Q, NR
6 2 Ciaran O'Lionaird Ireland 3:36.96 q
7 2 Nick Willis New Zealand 3:37.39 q
8 2 Yoann Kowal France 3:37.44
9 2 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen Kenya 3:37.58
10 2 Juan Carlos Higuero Spain 3:37.92
11 2 Deresse Mekonnen Ethiopia 3:44.65
12 2 Chaminda Wijekoon Sri Lanka 3:44.81
13 2 Leonel Manzano United States 3:47.98
The fact is, Leo has been inconsistent. Really, 2012 was flukey. I wasn't actually trying to knock him, but I had been disappointed that he could never run well on the international stage - so when a poster mentioned that he had "always run well" it was really different than the way I remembered it over the years. As you can see, in one round or another, Leo generally finished LAST at some point in the international meet -- whatever round that was. In 2007, he did beat the guy that ran 4:19.
Leo has generally been a terrible racer internationally.
Sad thing is, I don't ever think he has choked. I think it is just extremely difficult for Leo to string 3 quality races together, back-to-back-to-back.
Who knows if this has anything to do with sponsorship. But as a sponsor, if you had to bet that Leo would do well in Moscow, it would be a very risky bet.
Leo is just as likely to get knocked out in the quarterfinals or the semifinals as he is to medal.
For those questioning why Leo doesn't have a contract. The majority has to do with how Nike words their contracts. Nike (the 1000lb gorilla of T&F sponsors) has a first right of refusal clause in their shoe contracts. This clause had a 6 month term and expired on July 1. It was not in any shoe company's best interest to negotiate with Leo while Nike could match the offer without breaking a sweat.
Now that his agent can talk to other companies without Nike lingering in the background, I would expect Leo to find a new sponsor soon. I would be shocked to see Leo go back to Nike as they offered him a pay cut from his previous salary following a Silver at the Olympics.
His head is too big for his body, a la, Khalid Skah.
For those of you in marketing out there, would it be hard to sponser someone with such a big head?
Hard to find another 1500m runner in the world that even participated in those same 5 championships.
Kiprop did, and he's pretty good.
2007 4th
2008 Gold (after DQ)
2009 4th
2011 Gold
2012 12th
But he often doesn't perform up to expectations.
Talent-wise, they aren't on the same track.