Is Solinsky the best US runner to never make the Olympic team?

rnehemiah wrote:

Come on guys. I was pretty good.

Skeets won the OTs in 1980. The USA did not go because of the Moscow boycott. Technically and officially, however, he did win the OTs and is considered an Olympian.

1980 1 13.21 1)TAC, 1)Oly Trials, 1)Coke, 1)Weltklasse

Lisa Rainsberger 3 marathons and 10000 m.

4th

4th

4th

and 4th

Can't remember any 3K results.

Former AR holder for 15K and 32:12 10K in the 80s.

No one over 30 has ever broken the mile world record.The vast majority of mile WR setters were between 23-27. I believe all modern 100M WR breakers were under 30 as well. Michael Johnson broke the 400 WR at age 31 and won the 2000 Olympic 400 at age 32 but he was an outlier in both talent and dedication. He retired immediately after the 2000 Olympics.

HG did break the marathon WR at age 35. However, IMO, a properly trained 1997 HG would have destroyed 2008 HG at the marathon.

Bottom line, most of us peak between 23-27. Period. A few lucky and resilient individuals stay healthy enough to improve marginally in their early to mid 30s. After 35, EVERYONE declines relative to their peak running ability.

Maybe powerlifting is different but I don't think most of us consider our deadlift max the best measuring stick for fitness/ athleticism.

KK came to the US on the Morrocain World University Games team for the championships in Buffalo NY. He won the 5000m looking like a million bucks, smooth and fast. Anyone in that race or who saw that race probably wasn't too suprised that he went on to claim the marathon world record. He could have run awesome on the track but went were the money was.

Mark Winzenreid.

No doubts about it

Chris Lukezic? Give me a break!!

Well There is Always This wrote:

Consider this.... wrote:

This is the undisputedly correct answer. End of thread.

The ONLY POSSIBLE correct answers to the question are:

'Yes'

'No'

'Maybe'

and

'I don't know'

Somehow I don't see 'Khalid Kannochi' on that list.

Ok, you got me there. But 'I don't know' is definitely NOT the correct answer, either.

But actually, now that I think about it, the question is in the present tense, not past tense, so it is actually asking for the current, active best US runner, which is none of the guys that have been mentioned thus far.

So the real correct answer is 'no', because it is either Ben True or Chris Derrick who IS the best US runner to never make the Olympic team (as opposed to WAS the best runner to never make the Olympic team, which was Khalid Khannouchi).

Seyta wrote:

Khannouchi arrived in the US in 1992 when he was ~21, and wasn't even relevant on the distance running scene until about 5 years later. When he set his World Record in London (US record as well when doing so), he had become a citizen and had been living here for 10 years.

No one is arguing that Solinsky is the best US runner, just the best one not to make the Olympic team. While Khannouchi was living and training in the US in his prime, he didn't contest an Olympic Trials until 2007, past his prime. It's not going out on a limb to say that Khannouchi was the best marathon runner in the world from 1997-2002. He made the call to run London instead of the Trials in 2000 when he wasn't sure he would have citizenship (he did in fact have it in time). USATF was willing to let him run the trials as long as they knew he would have citizenship by the Olympics, but Khannouchi wouldn't run the Trials unless he had citizenship a week before London (which was 3 weeks before the Trials in 2000). According to his lawyer, he would have had his citizenship sooner if he had made it more of a priority.

If he had run the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2000, he would have been an absolute lock to make the team. He could have made winning the Trials look easier than Rupp did this year.

While he had a few OK performances after 2002, he never placed top 3 in a marathon again, and he didn't compete at the 2004 Marathon Trials.

I think it's fair to say when you're talking about American runners who failed to qualify for the Olympics, Khannouchi is a different category than Solinsky. I'm fairly certain that Solinsky would have done everything he could have to run the Olympic Trials, as opposed to taking a payday in London.

Blah blah blah

Solinsky.

Blah blah blah.

Micro dosed.

Blah blah blah

Some of this is true. KK was definitely associated with drug users. When he moved to flagstaff he spent most of his time with Eddie Hellebuck and Teddy Mitchell. Eddie and Teddy's girlfriend Deeja of course both tested positive for EPO. Eddie used to tell people he was having an affair with Sandra, couldn't say if it was true or not, but Eddie used to like to brag about it.

1991premilechamp wrote:

Mark Winzenreid.

No doubts about it

Winzenreid fell to the two trials issue. Made the team at the "Trials", but then they made the do it over again at Tahoe a few weeks later. Is that right? And wasn't there a miler and/or a distance runner that had the same outcome?

The story of my high school teammate, Joe Lemay, deserves mention. Although not the best US runner not to make the Olympic team, he certainly was one of the most thwarted ones:

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/working-stiff?page=single