Similar to the El G one, FloJo's 100m WR was definitely wind assisted.
lol Flojo was assisted alright.
Haha yeah I know - and in more than one way. If you ever want to pull the numbers on her it's really fascinating. You have that 1988 season where if you adjust every time she ran based on the wind speed/altitude etc (including the assumption that the wind was around +4m/s in Indy for that run), her W0 or WAN (wind zero/wind adjusted neutral) performances are all eerily right at 10.68/9 seconds.
Of course prior to that she was a bonafide 10.95-11.00 runner and had been for 5 years from 1983-1987.
So getting away with doping + wind essentially gifted her around half second in that moment back in 1988 - over 100m. Unfathomable. I don't think we will ever see a combo like that occur again (someone get away with obvious doping AND somehow run a 100m with a near gale force wind behind them that also isn't recognized).
A great example of how conspiracy theories suck you in. Though I did question why you found it so hard to time when there are several videos:
Youtube - Hicham El Guerrouj 1500m World record (14/07/1998 Roma Golden League) High Quality
He clearly ran 3:26:00 on this. I'm not going down the whole 1200m 'official' split route, this is just from start to finish. Unless the conspiracy now extends to amending the video footage.
I'm sorry I don't understand how you can possibly say that and of course I've seen this footage - it's the one with the French commentary.
Yes you can see the start and finish of the race but there is no way you can sit there and time it with a stopwatch and get the exact number of 3.26.00. What is clear is that he runs way under 3.27 - that's not in dispute. But you completely discredit yourself by saying he "clearly" runs a time down to the hundredth of a second when you don't know exactly when the gun goes off and exactly when he crosses the line which would trigger the end of the race.
This is why even the hand times taken from official timers in stadiums at events are always around 1-2 tenths faster than the actual ET results. And this happens mostly because the the timers are starting their watches when they hear the gun but just like a sprinter in a 100m race, there is a reaction time that has to be factored in. So if you are sitting there timing and even in the event you hit 3.26.00 exactly, the chances are the real ET time is marginally slower.
Also, I specifically wrote this at the end of my post - or did I not?
"I honestly don't know what exactly I believe here (did he run 3.26.00 or was it more like 3.26.4/5)" - so I don't have a firm conclusion on anything.
So nothing is definitive. But this thread is about looking at things of interest and this race certainly is interesting because of a number of irregularities that were pointed out - maybe you missed the point of that. I also said I don't even think it's a conspiracy because even if this is the case, I don't think anyone conspired before the race to say "we are giving Hicham 3.26.00 no matter what and we are going to turn off the timing and hope he gets close enough). No video footage amending needed pal.
This post was edited 4 minutes after it was posted.
Don't know if this was ever confirmed or not as I never hear people talk about it, but the timing equipment wasn't calibrated correctly at the Eugene 2022 World Championships and caused an unprecedented amount of false starts. This caused Devon Allen to be DQ'd from the 110m hurdles final when he was in the shape of his life and could've broken the WR.
Also the whole thing with the 100mh world records and all the fast times that came out of those heats.
So this one doesn't hold up as well to statistical analysis. During only one of the last 7 years did this scenario (no one breaks 3:30 outside of Monaco) occur. We get loads of sub 3:30's all over the place these days; for example in '23 we had 11 non Monaco sub 3:30 individuals in 5 different stadiums. Last year we had 5, in 2022 we had 4. In fact, they easily outpace the Monaco times; over the last ten years it's been all other tracks 24 and Monaco 17. (Here I'm only counting an individual 1x per year, otherwise this would look far worse for Monaco). But if we're only counting an individual's single best performance over the last decade then we're nearly even at 12-11 for all other tracks.
Well how about some of this statistical evidence then?
when I was compiling this I noticed that rieta (spelling?) used to have one of the fastest 1500 times of the year, then Stockholm and a few others, but it was something like 09? When Monaco got “resurfaced” and boom that was the only place sun 3:30 happened.
See my comments above for the statistics.
And then, to your Rieta point, they paid Lagat to come a couple of years and he ran 3:29, 3:29, and 3:32. Those the fastest times run there from 2001-2011. Something like 6 guys total ran sub 3:34 there during the decade. 3:33 was the average winning time. Belgium or the Swiss track might be the better example as they actually produced yearly top 15 times on a consistent basis.
Oh, also, not EXACTLY a conspiracy but it's an unproven thing that is the subject of an insane amount of debate on this website:
El G's 800 PR. He supposedly ran 1:42.6 in training. Some people stand by it because he was a 3:26.0 runner, but most people don't because it was never official. Either way, theres been so much debate about this here.
No chance at all. El G ran 1:47, probably would have ran 1:46 or 1:45 at best. He is far more of a 1500m/5k guy than 1500m/800m. Similar to Jakob.
Oh, also, not EXACTLY a conspiracy but it's an unproven thing that is the subject of an insane amount of debate on this website:
El G's 800 PR. He supposedly ran 1:42.6 in training. Some people stand by it because he was a 3:26.0 runner, but most people don't because it was never official. Either way, theres been so much debate about this here.
No chance at all. El G ran 1:47, probably would have ran 1:46 or 1:45 at best. He is far more of a 1500m/5k guy than 1500m/800m. Similar to Jakob.
Even though he ran 1.46.8 for the last 800m of a 3.34 1500m in 2004 at the end of his career - literally the last 1500m he ever raced? Not sure that adds up but that's just me.
You had a good international career and a lot of experiences through the sport that would make for a good book. You are a good writer and I am confident people would enjoy hearing what it was really like on the inside. Another good writer and runner was Jim Spivey. He has put together some great journals that he wrote throughout his seasons when he competing.
The truth is on the surface the sport revolves around times and faceless names that come and go, but there is so much more to the ups and downs, the travel, the people, experiences, negotiations, etc. that go on. Most real fans would eat that stuff up. The best viewpoint is from the people who lived it, but maybe weren't superstars so they experienced all sides of the journey.
Anyway great stuff, keep the stories going!
Where are these Spivey journals, I'd love to read them.
Could be made up, but allegedly a former Nike runner may have unknowingly doped. He may have received a call shortly before his planned last race that he would "probably test positive" and he may have decided to retire after that. It's possible. Guess who was maybe coaching him then?
Here are some totally unrelated articles I thought would be an interesting read for no real reason.
MATT LAWTON: The crisis engulfing Mo Farah???s coach, Alberto Salazar, deepened as another former Nike Oregon Project member added his voice to doping claims against the American.
Theory: Houlihan was taking a supplement provided to her by a BTC/Nike employee. They never told her what was in it so that she could have plausible deniability to some extent. Other members of the team were taking the same thing. It would explain why so many team members continue to support her and pretend to believe the ridiculous burriot excuse. Nike probably also paid her to take the fall -- it's how she's been able to afford to continue training and traveling to meets.
