Wrong, he got lucky nobody decided to push the pace, he most certainly would have lost that way, and it’s why he never won again.
No, wrong.... it might have been lucky if he had had no resume at the world championship level. However, he has a bronze from worlds, a silver from Worlds, a fourth place finish in an olympic final, and a gold from an indoor World Championship 1500 m final. The gold in Rio was clearly Within the realm of possibility.
Imagine getting 3rd, then 4th, then 2nd, then. 1st and people say its lucky.
Centro was always in the mix.
He got 8th too, did you leave that out?
And Carl Lewis didn't make me 100 m or 200 M Olympic team in 1992. Maybe all those sprinting medals he had won in 1983 and 1987 and 1988 and 1991 were just lucky? Do you even know what you sound like?
Totally agree with OP. For someone to win gold, they have to win the genetic lottery, land in the right programs for most of their lives, stay healthy throughout grueling training regimens, peak at just the right time, and out-compete everyone else in the world. For each event, the confluence of all of these factors happens to exactly 1 person in nearly 8 billion.
Not to mention that the vast majority of gold medalists (something like 95%) won't win a repeat gold.
In addition to Hocker, here's a list folks for whom luck certainly played a factor:
Oh yeah, that was such a lucky win, it was so lucky and devoid of skill, fitness, and execution that he only won gold with a new Olympic Record... yep, just takes luck to get that. I swear, some of the takes on here...
It was not lucky, he had superhuman Ramzi like fitness on that day.
Every olympic champion got lucky, but none get there through luck alone.
Does anyone really think the olympic champion in any individual sport is always the most talented or hardest working? A lot more has to come together to win Olympic gold. Talent and preparation just increase the odds substantially.
No one runs 3:27 on luck. Yes, Hocker didn't win in the races after the Olympics, but every one of them was a far higher finish than Centro finished in a DL event his entire career.
He will never win another big race, he is a fluke who got lucky.
Lucky he wasn't sick on race day? Lucky that he didn't twist his ankle during warmup? Lucky that nobody tripped in front of him in the race? OK, so he was lucky....and yes, that Gold Medal will be his forever along with the title Olympic Champion.....lucky, hah!
Life is about hard work, complete preparation, and LUCK!!!
Will he win another global title? Who knows. What makes his odds better than most to repeat is that he already knows what to do. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat!!!
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.