WTF Was that hocker

Hi all,

Just came by to say that Hocker isn't very good. His OG title is the result of using a new drug.

He doesn't win races that matter (except cheating at the OG).

Thank you for your attention,

Peter Whelan

Hill I'll die on. It also indicated someone else has to push for Hocker to win. I truly believe if roles were reversed Yared beats Hocker at the trials

Hocker is possibly the biggest Olympic Champion fluke in the 1500m since Peter Rono. He is Pekka Vasala level of uncharacteristically running super fast at the Olympics and then fading afterwards. Mel Sheppard and Jim Lightbody were far better runners than Hocker.

He is likely off the sauce now and won't be able to replicate his performance from Paris in Tokyo. Kerr is the clean Olympic Champion with Jakob in silver and Kessler with Bronze.

It wasn't a fluke, he cheated.

The goose would be silver in the clean olympics. The goode has talent unline Hocker, and doesn't need to cheat like Hocker.

So while that's deliberately hyperbolic, 155 downvotes is a lot of emotion and maybe not a lot of logical reasoning.

If a "major international race" means OG/WC then yeah, the odds are actually in favor of that not happening.

Since the year 2000, only El G and Kiprop won a "major international race again" after winning one. Not even Jakob has been able to do it. This stat has been wheeled about before I feel more than once, but no man in history ever won the World Championship 1500m in the season immediately following his Olympic win. And only one guy ever won a world title after his Olympic win and it was Kiprop who well, was a doper. Coe the only man to ever back up an Olympic title with another one.

If "major international race" means at a bare minimum a Diamond League meeting, well also not a given. Firstly it is still hard to win a DL meet, and especially the ones that Hocker would want to target with his ability and cache. Typically he doesn't start his outdoor season (where he isn't still training hard) until Pre, and that is never an easy race to win first up. So sure, he could go to Xiamen or Rabat and possibly get a cheapish win early season but he doesn't want to. So when you are talking about races potentially like Monaco, London, Paris, Lausanne, Zurich, Brussels etc, nothing is a given because they are all world finals level races.

One thing we don't mention with Hocker is potentially a little bit of the "Mu-effect", as in he climbed the mountain at such a young age, winning Paris when he was only 23. You simply can't do much better than winning that Olympic final in 3.27.6. I don't care what anybody says, your career "desperation meter" is simply not registering the same after that win. Even many of the greats simply lost that factor after winning the Olympics. Morceli fell off a cliff. El G retired. It's not easy.

So if you had to ask me if we will see him win a big race again (even just a DL), I do think so. But your original statement, even though seemingly blunt and reactionary, really might not be that far off the mark, all emotions aside.

The goose was let slide on some funny whereabouts business, aomething that would get most other American distance men crucified.

Also not helping is he runs the 3k at Millrose. He would’ve won that mile this year I bet. With all that being said, he should be able to win a European DL at some point.

One hit wonder? He was great even before winning the Olympic Gold last year, so shut up

Was the onslaught of downvotes to the OP's comment emotional and lacking logical reasoning, or was it merely a lot of people rationally recognizing that the OP was trolling and hating on Hocker based on the OP derisively calling him a "one hit wonder" and using an inflammatory thread title? I suspect the latter.

Yes, winning a global championship after winning an Olympic title in the men's 1500m has been rare, but I don't think it's necessarily due to a loss of hunger in Olympic champions. If that was the case, then why wouldn't it affect other Olympic champions who've backed up their wins with more global titles, like Bekele, Geb, Farah, Rudisha, Bolt, Johnson, and more? Why hasn't it affected Kipyegon?

Morceli didn't fall off a cliff after 1996. He still ranked top 5 in the world from 1997-1999, and he won races during that span in Lausanne, New York, Reiti, Rio, Nice, Tokyo, and more. And how about Fermín Castro? It doesn't get any better than winning Olympic gold in your home country, yet after doing that, he came back and won 3 silvers. He evidently had a lot of hunger left after winning gold in Barcelona.

Comparing Mu and Hocker is apples to onions. Hocker wasn't the same level of prodigy in middle school and high school that Mu was. A lot of her issues stem from burnout resulting from being in the spotlight for so long starting from such a young age, then having that attention and pressure increased exponentially before she was ready for it. There's an enormous difference between winning Olympic gold at age 19 vs 23. Someone who's 23 (generally) is much more cognitively developed and mature than a teenager one year out of high school. It's a night and day difference.

I haven't seen any signs that Hocker has lost his desire to be the best since winning gold. If anything, it's been the opposite. Far from resting on his laurels, he's continuing to target the 5k; he took a special trip to Europe and back to test himself at that distance. He looked devastated after losing that 3k race to Fisher indoors. He clearly trained through Grand Slam Track because he's been keeping his eyes on the Tokyo prize. He's already run PBs at 800, the mile, 3k, and 5k this year. His words, demeanor, actions, and results are all aligned; they indicate that he's doing everything he can to get back to the top of the podium.

Yes, the odds are against Hocker winning another gold, but if he never does, it won't be from lack of effort.

Actually no he wasn't great before the Paris Olympics (wasn't bad either, but deffo not great).

He was a 3:30-3:31 guy from 2021 to 2024 (pre OG final), mile time included.

No OG medal, DL victory, no world championship victories ir medal indoor or outdoor, in any distance, only a couple or lesser wins such as the USA trials/champs (where top three qualify...).

His only glory to date is the OG final win, where he lowered his 3:30 mid PR by three seconds. Most definitely sus!

You are one hit wonder on your own. Providing "excuses" to the new wonder of USA who was running non stop since January.

OK, Passant.

WORLDS BEST RACER HAHA

To try and quote Lydiard: When the early season races start they will be first and you will be last but when the important championship races arrive, they will be last and you will be first ...

that's true for almost everyone. who has won from the front? timmy c and centro. and centro led such a slow pace there was no disadvantage to being in the front.

Vasala ran at near wr levels before the Olympics but was injured after the Olympics and didn't fully recover. So not the same.

Didn’t even make the final

😢Didn’t even make the final