Jenna Prandini The First White 200m American Sprint Champion Since 1953

Don't play dumb wrote:

IJS wrote:

Who says I'm offended. Its one thing to bring up historic firsts like the 1st black president when blacks had only been allowed to vote 40+ years prior. But you probably don't get it so I'll let you boys get back to feeding stereotypes & ignorance.

Yeah right, like race doesn't matter. When was the last Tibetan, Samoan, Filipino, etc. woman to break 11.00 in the 100? When did we last see a Kenyan Yokozuna?

At the threshold, when was the last time you saw Tibetan, Samoan, or Filipino women training on a track with a coach? Something about small populations and womens' sports not being terribly important in those countries might have something to do with it.

More importantly though, the real question is whether the genetic characteristics of a successful runner or weightlifter are so tightly bound with the genetic characteristics that you can see that judging runners/weightlifters/whatever by how they appear makes any sense whatsoever.

Running around saying that skin color is associated with good runner is a little like saying that the color of your car has an impact on its 0-60 time. Yeah-- there might be a lot of candy-apple red Porsches out there, but drawing the conclusion that only red cars are fast is pretty falacious.

[More importantly though, the real question is whether the genetic characteristics of a successful runner or weightlifter are so tightly bound with the genetic characteristics that you can see that judging runners/weightlifters/whatever by how they appear makes any sense whatsoever. Running around saying that skin color is associated with good runner is a little like saying that the color of your car has an impact on its 0-60 time. Yeah-- there might be a lot of candy-apple red Porsches out there, but drawing the conclusion that only red cars are fast is pretty falacious.[/quote]

Au contraire, mon aime, check out Bolt's home parish of Trelawney. The Jamaica Gleaner: "the parish has produced more than a dozen notable athletes who have made Jamaica proud over recent years., (including) sprint queens Merlene Ottey and Veronica Campbell-Brown, while

Sanya Richards-Ross, the 2012 gold medal winner for the 400 metres in the London Olympics and the World Championships in 2011 and disgraced sprinter, Ben Johnson were also born in Trelawny."

She reminds me a little of Jeremy Wariner - but for the 200m. She lacks the very top end speed or quick start but finishes like a champ and is able to maintain better than the others.

I don't why we think whites can't sprint. Pietro Mennea had the 200m for almost 17 years. Even the great Carl Lewis couldn't crack that nut.

No, it shouldn't be about race but no one race should have an inferiority complex. We had our first sub 10 Chinese man this year. Anything is possible.

"oh I am white, I can't sprint so I'll do distance"... is the wrong thought process.

Montesquieu wrote:

Dave Sime is of some relevance here. He won the silver in the 100 meters in the Rome Olympics, and at one time held the WRs in the 100 yards and 200 yards on a straightaway! He went to Duke, and prior to attending college, he had never run track and field: he was a football player.

He was a baseball player in HS, went to Duke on a full or partial baseball scholarship.

[quote]zohan wrote:

[quote]Conundrum wrote:

A white girl hasn't won the 200 in years, to ignore even mentioning that fact seems to be an abnormal reaction.

Also, if you are a white sprinter running the 200, and you are inspired by that, its probably a good thing for the sport. Its always a good thing when racial barriers are broken.

Tiger Woods break through was great for the sport of golf. A white kid winning the NBA dunk contest was good for basketball. No big deal. Let's all relax. "

I agree, diversity is good and having a white sprinter make the WC team is interesting and newsworthy. However, there should not be an over emphasis on race; this is not like Tiger Woods for example, who competed in a sport where Blacks for many years were denied access to play on certain courses. White sprinters themselves don't like it when people over emphasize their race. Warner would never give more than a one sentence answer when asked a question about race and it appears Prandini does not like discussing it either. Prandini isn't a novelty, there is enough to discuss about this 21 year old NCAA athlete making the worlds best sprint team with out discussing her race.

She is actually going to be 23 (b.1992) , this year.

This is not common for American born Ncaa'er to turn 24 the year of their senior year, which will be the case her

How does it happen ?

She will be 23 at the end of next school year because she was allowed to redshirt her freshman year at Oregon. The reason it is a bit unusual is because most schools don't allow the luxury of allowing a redshirt year when their athletes are freshmen. It may be a moot point, because like English Gardner, who also came from Oregon, Prandini could go pro this Summer.

She was in a medical boot for a long time her freshman year.

It's fine to point out. It's an attention grabber even if it shouldn't be, sort of like that Chinese hurdler from years ago.

I'm black, and I sort of feel about Prandini the exact way I felt about Gabby Douglas. Douglas was the "First Black Olympic All-All Around Gymnastics Champion." Obviously, winning the AA title is huge and worth celebrating. But, the whole "first" thing was sort of "meh". First, obviously, black athletes have won tons of golds in all sorts of Olympic events. Further, black gymnasts have won gold before her, though not the all around (Dominique Dawes in the team competition 1996 off the top of my head).

Same for Prandini. Clearly, white people have had all sorts of Olympic success, including in wide variety of track and field events. Maybe not in the traditional fastest of the sprints, but still. If the entire sport of T&F was dominated by non-whites, I might be a little more excited or find this more noteworthy. Likewise, if there had never been a black gymnast competing at a high level or winning medals of any color (while Dawes only has that 1 gold, she had numerous Olympic and WC medals), I might find Gabby Douglas' feat a little more "wow" (beyond the general "wow" of winning Olympic gold).

[Note: Another black gymnast, Simone Biles has won the WC All-around twice and is a favorite in Rio.]

ventolin^3 wrote:

Hibiscus wrote:Prandini dominated the 200m Trials because the horses Tori Bowie and Allyson Felix were both absent

thank you

it's inexplicable bowie didn't enter 200

she ran 22.2 into a hurricane in new york & probably capable of 21.8/21.9 with any decent wind

felix obviously already 21.9

prandini wouda got 3rd at best if those 2 were running the 200 as they surely will at next year's trials

I found Bowie not contesting the 200 interesting as well since no one is going to best SAFP in the 100m; the 200m is wide open even if Alyson decides to run it. Bowie's 22.23 into a negative wind is almost on par with Alyson's 21.9. I think Bowie is definitely leaving food on the table.

TrackCoach wrote:

White sprinters themselves don't like it when people over emphasize their race. Warner would never give more than a one sentence answer when asked a question about race and it appears Prandini does not like discussing it either.

Did someone ask her about it? I watched her post-win interview but didn't hear a peep about race.

TrackCoach wrote:I found Bowie not contesting the 200 interesting as well since no one is going to best SAFP in the 100m;

eh ???

bowie had a prelim of :

10.72 Q 0.315 with +3.2

there was nothing wrong with RT measurements as there were others in race of 0.15/0.16/0.18

with a normal RT expected of ~ 0.14s, that wouda been :

10.545 with 3.2

that is basic of :

10.71s !!!

bowie can mostly definitely beat fraser providing she gets the start

the 200m is wide open even if Alyson decides to run it

no chance

she will be in probably 21.8 shape by champs & that won't lose

Bowie's 22.23 into a negative wind is almost on par with Alyson's 21.9. I think Bowie is definitely leaving food on the table.

it comes out as 21.96 basic

which with +1.6 in doha of felix wouda been ~ 21.84 !!

that is better than felix's 21.98 with nice +1.6

eh ???

her times for 100 or 200 are nowhere in same universe as jw's 43.45

as for jw's 200, garry hill, owner of t&f news saw the meet where jw ran 20.1+pb & said in the prelim he cruised around & looked definitely a 20-flat guy if he'd run it hard

he tightened up in final

he was intrinsically at worst a 20-flat guy which is again, a level beyond this gal for 200

admirable

but she is no threat over 100 & 22.20 shoud never be a threat

they can

they just don't do it fast

a man who was a notorious lane-cutter & probably ran about 1.5m short of 200 on the bend in mexico & they didn't bother much with RTs back in '79

oh, he also admitted human growth hormone use :

a thoroughly despicable runner in his bend-running & drug-use

his fault entirely

here is brief clip of his 19.75 where he stoopidly celebrated 15m out, costing him probably 19.65 :

he also won gold in '84 with 19.80 into a wind after all those rounds of 100/200 & i believe lj

just a decent + wind wouda got him into 19.6s

he basically then gave up 200m for 4y until '88 as more interested in 100/lj

no one shoud, but in sprinting that appears the case

he may sliver a few hundredths off that in due course, but no real threat

perhaps in 20 or 30y this may be different

yes, but it appears the case

magic flight wrote:

TrackCoach wrote:

White sprinters themselves don't like it when people over emphasize their race. Warner would never give more than a one sentence answer when asked a question about race and it appears Prandini does not like discussing it either.

Did someone ask her about it? I watched her post-win interview but didn't hear a peep about race.

bump, i too am curious

That's nice.

BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche all come from Germany.

BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche are all fast.

Therefore, all cars from Germany are faster than all cars not from Germany.

ventolin^3 wrote:

she ran 22.2 into a hurricane in new york & probably capable of 21.8/21.9 with any decent wind

You've redefined a hurricane wind as -2.8 m/s.

Randy Oldman wrote:You've redefined a hurricane wind as -2.8 m/s

no

i offered running into

2.8

as hurricane

seeing as i like watching meets on satellite/web of enclosed paris-like stadia with sniff-off-wind at worst

i don't need that much environment insurance...

D-Nice wrote:

Is she "really" white though? Lol.

What is "race". Is it merely the color of one's skin?

I highly doubt "black" sprinters win because they have darker skin or broader facial features.

So, what is it about black people? If you say it's because they (well, at least the elite athletes) have a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscle, and Prandini has a high proportion of fast twitch muscle, then is she "black" in that regard?

Well the head of the Spokane NAACP identified as black...

She will not get out of the semi-finals.