Webb. Top of the world to suddenly barely able to break 4. Even in that era, that wasn't enough to continue as a pro. Webb attempted to come back to track for several years without real success.
He then tried the triathlon for a couple years but couldn't make it to the upper echelons of that sport.
His comeback attempt was like 6 years long.
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Steve Magness - 401 high school miler. Never pr'd again after that in the mile or if he did he didn't even take another second off. He ran in college and post collegiately for a couple years. His pr's were few and far between after hs. He brought his 800 about in line with the mile and dropped a little time in the 5000. I don't think there has ever been a runner so good who didn't get a big pr in college.
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Bekele - the best distance runner in the world by far for years. He could not duplicate that success in the marathon. He has had some good marathons here and there and after years of sub par results clawed himself back for one more attempt at the olympics. The deprioritization of world xc really hurt him. When world xc was big, he was the most dominant xc runner in the world.
I don't agree about Bekele, and Magness was never fast enough to be in the conversation, but if we're talking strictly performances, then Webb is close to the top as he pretty much fell off a cliff.
As to Magness, maybe its because I originally heard about him on dyestat when he was huge - it was the season he did this: . Everyone on the boards at that time was sure he would end up doing big things in college and every year he was at Rice was going to be the year he broke through. I think he brought high mileage to the forefront for runners of my hs/college generation.
Okay, Steve made a huge improvement from his junior to senior year by upping his mileage to 90-100mpw. He went from 1:55, 4:15, 9:28 to 1:52, 4:01, 9:06. What kind of mileage was he putting in as a junior? Is that kind of imp...
Bekele was 24th ranked in the world in 2023, 21st in 2022, 48th in 2021, not in the top 100 in 2019. When you are East African you wouldn't expect that guy to make the Olympics, unless he happened to be a former world record holder.
Fine. Edit: I will concede. Bekele was having a career that would make most people jealous even in the late 20teens. You just don't expect someone so dominant to be 48th in the world. But its certainly nothing like happened to Webb or Magness. You'd be happy to retire with the career Bekele has had regardless of what happens in Paris.
Webb had results that would make most happy too, but his career seemed to end just as most expected him to be entering his prime.
Magness was only national class for like a year in high school. He has to be the most hyped runner who never did anything of note in college. The fact that he was active on the boards and discussions of the time make him worth mention.
This post was edited 11 minutes after it was posted.
Cain certainly. I don't think the others fit, as its too soon to see if they really have reached the apex of their careers. For female phenoms, Amber Trotter.
No one has fallen farther than salazar, no. Suzy Hamilton is second. Mary Decker might be third although that one isn't really fair.
Remember this one? When all-time great Ed Moses was arrested for soliciting a prostitute and possession of marijuana at the height of his fame.
"Edwin Moses , the two-time Olympic gold medalist and one of track and field's biggest stars, was arrested in Los Angeles early Sunday on charges of soliciting a female police officer for prostitution and was later released on his own recognizance. The 29-year-old Moses was one of 82 men arrested in a Hollywood prostitution sweep by the police, who said that he had also had a small amount of marijuana in his possession."
As I said before, English isn't my first language, but I believed "fall from grace" to simply mean a loss of status, respect, or prestige, which certainly is a byproduct of performance decline. So I was right, from a certain point of view.
No you aren't. You miss the crucial part of the meaning. Armstrong, Ramzi and Kiprop have shown a fall from grace. That isn't what you are talking about. You are merely discussing performance decline. That might be Cheptegei, but you wouldn't put him in the company of the examples I gave. Yet.
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