Track/marathon guys, can anyone explain why Galen Rupp doesn't have a fan base?

Given that you didn't know about half of his marathons you probably don't know about all of the shady stuff that has surrounded his entire career. That is why there are "haters".

no excuse, i was wrong, i was remembering the nbc coverage where the announcer stated that rupp got a bronze in only his second marathon and being old i forgot the years in between. my misstatement of how many marathons he ran does nothing to justify hating the guy. you have to talk about specifics otherwise you sound like our big fat boss (great, wonderful, terrible). i was wrong on that fact about how many marathons he ran, tell me factually how many drug tests he failed, what specific banned drugs you know he took,...

You must be new here.

Do a little search on "Salazar" and "testosterone" and you can educate yourself on why many of us don't root for Rupp.

Glendower wrote:

The reason Dean Karnazes and Walmsley were/are popular is because they have some level of personality and can tell a story that keeps people interested in them, that's more important than their PBs in terms of having an actual fanbase. In the past runners would rely on race results to gain sponsorship, I think more and more companies are realising their money would be better spent on a YouTube star who has 10x the fanbase of an introvert like Rupp, if Rupp can't run fast one day he has no personality to fall back on to keep people interested in him. Walmsley didn't come close to winning but he still has 5x Rupps fanbase...

They are not popular. At all:

Just look at the Google Trends. Jim Walmsley's fanbase is effectively absent. Bluntly speaking, people don't know that he exists.

Add in Dean Karnazes, and that doesn't change:

Toss in Eliud Kipchoge, and you see that interest in Galen Rupp's Olympic performance in 2016 was equivalent to the interest that Kipchoge generated from Breaking2.

Comparing social media doesn't work, since Rupp doesn't have an account at all, but if you do a comparison with a FAKE Rupp account:

What we find is that:

1) Rupp's fake account, which hasn't posted in something like 7-8 years, has nearly 20K followers.

2) Jim Walmsley has 98K followers

3) Dean Karnazes has 73K followers

4) Kipchoge has 1 million followers

Effectively, Walmsley and Karnazes have several tens of thousands more followers than a fake Rupp account that is not verified, and has not made a post in almost a decade. Yes, Rupp is actually so popular that fake and dead accounts of his have numbers several tens of thousands away from Walmsley and Karnazes, who are CONSTANTLY self-promoting.

Compared to Kipchoge, an actual dominant athlete in the marathon from a country that barely has social media, they are jokes.

Keep in mind, Walmsley and Karnazes have historically promoted themselves in every single way they can. Compare this to a few other prominent distance runners:

Suguru Osako has over 150K. He is great domestically in Japan but never really measures up internationally.

Mo Farah has nearly 1 million

Genzebe Dibaba has nearly 50K, and she comes from a country that, like Kipchoge, effectively has no social media

Shalane Flanagan, the female who is about as dominant as Rupp, has over 350K

Des Linden and Jordan Hasay both have ~150K

Evan Jager has over 50K and the BTC men are effectively dead.

I coach 125 high school boys. 1/2 of them know who Rupp is. None of them know Walmsley.

Coach extrordinaire wrote:

I coach 125 high school boys. 1/2 of them know who Rupp is. None of them know Walmsley.

That's actually pretty interesting. When I was a high schooler in the midwest in the 90s, I was a big fan of Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams. At the same time, I knew exactly who Tim Twietmeyer and Scott Jurek were. And I was also a fan of them.

Ruppp wrote:

He is one of the reasons our sport suffers.

He doesn’t give a sheet about the slow runners that PAY his salary.

Not a fan.

Nothing more pathetic than the "fan" who pissing in his pants because he feels like the athlete owes him for the unhealthy obsession they have with the sport/athlete.

theclaws wrote:

Coach extrordinaire wrote:

I coach 125 high school boys. 1/2 of them know who Rupp is. None of them know Walmsley.

That's actually pretty interesting. When I was a high schooler in the midwest in the 90s, I was a big fan of Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams. At the same time, I knew exactly who Tim Twietmeyer and Scott Jurek were. And I was also a fan of them.

Cool so you were and are a running junkie.

I just checked with 2 of my friends who watched the trials. Neither recognized Walmsley's name.

It isn't complicated. Rupp is a very introverted and shy person. He's also rather machine like with his training. The few interviews where he speaks of his training there is very little insight or depth to his responses. Rupp just does what he's told and runs; he doesn't care to put effort into anything else. Heck, he doesn't even have formal social media accounts. Which is extremely rare for an active pro athlete in today's world. The result is fans have no way to relate him as he exerts no unique personality. Rupp is a bland machine built by Nike and most fans notice.

And it needs to be elaborate on that Rupp's introverted nature is a poor excuse for his lack of fan interaction or interview personality. Kipchoge comes across as an introverted and reserved person yet he's constantly making the effort for public speaking and fan interaction. He speaks with a lot of love and insight towards running and life that is inspiring. David Rudisha as well is also comes across as shy and quiet yet he always has volunteered his time for youth camps to help inspire others. Has Rupp ever given an insightful peace of advice towards running or used his free time to grow the sport?

Finally a non Rupp fan that posts something reasonably minded and non-ravenous. You actually sounded sane, showed a measured level of respect and constructed some rationale for you difficulty rooting for him. Excellent post.

Everyone is afforded the right to root for or against anyone they wish. People can dislike anyone they want for any reason they want. I don't always agree with the rationale, but do believe no one has the right to tell someone how to feel or what to think. At the same time, however, I think people who dislike others for irrational reasons that aren't based on something substantive are just f****ing idiots. They are haters on the level of racists.

Jim Walmsley Superfan wrote:

Galen Rupp has dominated the domestic 10k and marathon scene - almost to the same level that Jim Walmsley has dominated WS100 - yet Rupp has no "fans" to speak of. What gives?

WRONG!

Galen has a fan base of world-class runners who appreciate his amazing accomplishments and the amount of work that it took to achieve them. No bells and whistles just an unrelenting work ethic to be the absolute BEST runner he can be. For those of us who have competed at the highest level, we understand the sacrifices, hard work, and luck that it takes to achieve these goals. You may not like him, you may think he's a cheater but you can't deny how GREAT he is.

"Great athletes don't need a "Fan Base", they just need to believe in the person staring back at them in the mirror"

Go Run One!

babby wrote:

If life is Rocky IV, Rupp is the Russian guy Drago; a product of the system designed to be the champion, the ubermensch. He was scouted early by Salazar and has had access to resources most could never imagine. He's certainly accomplished and a fierce competitor, but at the end of the day it's hard for the average joe to relate to him. If he wins then he wins, but if he loses you get excited for the guy who beat him instead of disappointed for Rupp. Even if people can be upfront about talent, effort, etc., there's a part of us deep down that wants to see this giant felled, to prove that the common man runner still has a place.

It doesn't help when he does crap like draft off fan fave Meb and clip his heels several times in the last OT marathon, especially when there was no wind.

He’s literally had more “bells and whistles” than any distance runner in the history of the world.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Ghost of Jason Rexing's Trainers wrote:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who are you?

Odd response. Please explain why you think an ultra runner that has never appeared on television has a bigger fan base than a world class runner that that has won Olympic medals. If it wasn't for Letsrun, I would have never have heard of Walmsley and if I didn't live in the Sacramento area, the WS 100.

It was the only appropriate response. Here's another: awareness doesn't equal fandom. I don't know and I don't care whether one has a bigger fan base. I can see pretty well why Rupp's would be smaller in his own country than about anyone else with similar accomplishments. That list wouldn't include JW, certainly. I'm about equally indifferent to both, though that hardly matters.

Jim Walmsley Superfan wrote:

Walsmley is also an introvert, doesn't self-promote, just grinds out the miles and gets the job done. Yet he has no problem accumulating a fan base.

You don't call starting 6 threads/day about your self on letsrun self promotion?

casual obsever wrote:

GoldenMile wrote:

What else is there really to say other than this? #2 and #3 are really the huge ones.

^This. He'd be well advised to distance himself from the abusive Cheat Sal, but of course can't, like Hasay.

Nah. Nobody cares about 2,3, or 4. It is all about 1. If he was doing a dozen instragram and twitter posts and starting 3 letsrun threads a day, he would have a lot more visibility.

The. reality is that few runners are the self promoters like walmsey is. You can't blame him as he can't make enough money off his talent alone to get by so self promotion is needed. To some extent Galen is the last of the old school generation who. let their running to their talking rather than their mouths. There have always been a few charismatic runners. Most though aren't.

My wife thinks people are just jealous of Rupp. I think there is some truth to that. But, there must be more to it. Others have pointed out the obvious - Salazar, Nike, accusations of PEDs, etc. What do I think it is? I just get an uncomfortable feeling watching him interview. You just won the Olympic trials, and your smile looks almost pretend. It's just very odd.