It is proven that with hard training American runners can hold their own with the Africans. The great US runners of the past like Steve Scott, Jim Spivey, and Pat Porter trained hard and ran with the best foreign runners. Today US distance runners just don't train hard enough. The weak crop of current US distance runners can be attribute to a lack of training.
If they are not training hard enough then they are training foolishly and getting injuried in the process.
It has been 12 long years since an American has broken 3:50 for the mile. The Kenyans are getting better while the Americans are getting worse.
Attention American distance runners, a 3:40 1500meters and 13:30 5000 meters don't cut it anymore on the international curcuit. Those are fine college times, but are strickly "B" level on the international scene.
Young Kenyans don't worry about NCAA qualifying times. Instead they concentrate on running against the world. Why would someone like EL G. waste his time running 3:40 1500s in college.