Are there two more contrasting characters in our sport who were contemporaries? Joanie "The Little Engine That Could" defying all odds to shock the stellar marathon field and is still making OT's and age-records to this day vs. Mary the "Thoroughbred" not even making the final in the event she was virtually "given" as destiny, and who never overcame her injury plague despite her archetypical biomechanics.
ryan foreman wrote:
I remember running in Eugene on the Amazon trail at the tail end of Slaney's career. I was never a competitive runner but I was in pretty decent shape at the time and going at a decent clip. Suddenly Mary Slaney blew by me and my jaw just dropped. (And no I wasn't perving on her). It was just so smooth and effortless the way she was running. And it was only a jog for her. Total natural.
I read some years back a T&F coach who had seen all the great runners going back to the 60s. He said there were only two runners he had ever seen who were naturals at what they did: Henry Rono and Mary Slaney. That makes sense to me.
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Don't forget John Tuttle.
Mary and I had some good times. Good times.
She has great 'endurance'
I think this interview shows well her difficult-to-like personality and mannerisms.
....that's what I said
I don't miss her and whether you believe it or not, there were not a lot of women inspired by her.
She was a bitch on and off the track and several personal experiences only served to reinforce that.
Any chance that she had at salvaging her reputation were drowned with her drug use.
If there is any true karma, someone someday will release the set of athletes who tested positive in the USATF cover up/
She missed the boat by not going with platinum blonde/heavy mascara/studded dog collar. Punk sensibility matched her to "T".
Olds - here is an entire field, largely American, probably mostly clean, going out in 62/2:08
http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&member_id=4&video_id=13513
Just because it didn't happen at altitude in a tactical championship race, doesn't mean it doesn't happen ever.
I have been very fortunate to have witnessed some amazing performances in my 40+ years in the sport.
One of the greatest happened at the first Millrose Games in 1980....the first that I worked.
Legendary meet Director Howard Schmertz asked me if I would like to work at the Millrose Games as the statistician for announcer Bob Hersh. Howard said that one of my duties would be to provide the splits for Bob.
The quarter split for the Wanamaker Mile was a pedestrian 63.2. The crowd of 16,000+ booed. The race was eventually won by Coghlan with a furious last quarter to win in 3:58+.
Less then an hour later the gun sounded for the women's 1500. Mary Decker shot out like a bat out of hell. I clicked my watch at the quarter and it read 60.8. Then turned to Bob Hersh and said "holy sh-t, 60.8!). Bob announced "at the quarter 60.8". From that moment on, 16,000 fans were on their feet. The sound from their cheering was the loudest I have ever heard at any sporting event.
Thank you Mary.
David Katz wrote:
I have been very fortunate to have witnessed some amazing performances in my 40+ years in the sport.
One of the greatest happened at the first Millrose Games in 1980....
Mary Decker shot out like a bat out of hell. Bob announced "at the quarter 60.8". From that moment on, 16,000 fans were on their feet. The sound from their cheering was the loudest I have ever heard at any sporting event.
Thank you Mary.
In a "greatest running performance I ever saw" story, it's customary to mention the actual outcome of the race and not just the first one-fourth of it. In the 1980 Millrose Games, Decker set a new world record with a 4:00.8.
As for the fans booing the men's field because of the 63 opener, well, that's New York for you. They're idiots. They probably figured afterward that Coughlan had beaten Decker's time by only a couple of seconds.
Which means what? Mary ran a WR, likely by herself, and the men ran like dweebs. I don't believe that racing for time is the be-all and end-all either, but when athletes put it on the line people are impressed -perhaps why (PR aside) there is still so much love (even if much is misguided) for Prefontaine. Bayi is still seen as a star for the way he raced, and that 1974 CG 1500m WR is the epitome of "ballsy" racing. In other words don't hate on Mary because she went for it often, that's what made her a great runner (and she was). Mind you guys have more depth so you can't often get away with her kind of tactics, but that's not her fault. Equally impressive was Joannie Benoit putting the hammer down in the 1984 OG Marathon, some people at the time thought it was a stupid tactic, but people are impressed when it works.
i don't, all those drugs and tears
60.8/4:00 at MSG is INSANE. Must be one of the greatest women's performances ever, and I have serious doubts she was doping back then.
Athletes have been doping since the 50's, US Sprinters and throwers since at least '64...what makes you think Slaney wasn't doping in 80?
Ray wrote:
Athletes have been doping since the 50's, US Sprinters and throwers since at least '64...what makes you think Slaney wasn't doping in 80?
No way of ever knowing that. She never tested positive then but no one else did in those days until Ben Johnson in 1988.
I recall seeing her on tv whining about her Eastern European competitors and doping suspicions. She referred to all of them as the "Bulgarians" for whatever reason.
Doesn't mean she was also doping too, or not. Just like Paula Radcliffe's big sign at the World Champs one year that read "All Drug Cheats Out" or Seb Coe and Said Aouita's interviews that complained about their competitors' using.
Yeah she did get caught when she was 37. That could display her morality that would lesd you to always wonder.
She lives in Eugene. Why don't you go visit her and then tell us if you still miss her.