Fast runners who couldn't perform when it mattered most

Roger Bannister.

AJ ACOSTA. wth happened to him??

Hicham El Guerrouj. World Records in 1999 and only a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games to show for it. He must have decided to run the Olympics clean...

STEVE HOLMAN!!

Another problem I have with the "choker" label is the people at the other end of the spectrum: the "heroes" who come through in the clutch. Granted, there is obviously nothing wrong with doing really well in the biggest race of the year. Duh. But sometimes, doesn't the thought occur that like, wow, if you're that good, why don't perform like that the rest of the time? Sort of like when you have a runner on the XC team who just kind of scrapes by all season, then at the big meet - conference, or whatever - comes through with a breakout performance, beats a bunch of people he/she doesn't usually beat, and is the hero. You can argue that before that meet, none of the meets really "mattered", but that's not the reality on the ground in my opinion.

Or look at it this way: as a coach, wouldn't you want to coach an athlete who gave their all every race? Who approached every race as a do or die event? But for a runner like that, it's harder to come up with a big shocker of a race on the "big day", because they have already shown all their cards. Maybe if they'd wussed out a little bit in the races beforehand, they could have been the hero by "coming through for the team" on championship day.

It's just a thought. I'm not suggesting, for example, that Billy Mills should be remembered as a guy who usually underperformed, but had one good race when everybody was watching. I think his performance in the Oly 10,000 was one of the greatest highlights in running history, at least from a US standpoint. But I'm just saying that the choker label is often unfair, and similarly, the "clutch" performer may sometimes be somebody who just dials it in the rest of the time.

Steve Jones. Alberto Salazar. Bill Rodgers. Toshiheko Seko.

Wilson Kipsang and also the entire Ethiopian marathon team in London.

How many championship medals for DaCosta, Dinsamo, Mosop, G. Mutai, Daniel Komen. You could search out dozens of incredibly fast Kenyans who have either failed badly or not even made an OG team.

Same thing with that kid S Fox, amazing in hs but after 1 year in Washington he didn't do much noise after.

El G is a terrible answer for this. He won two Olympic gold medals and 4 world championships gold medals. Getting nipped at the line by history's second fastest miler on one occasion is does not make him a choker. Even if he choked in that race, he consistently performed under pressure.

halfhourbauer wrote:

Billy Mills! He did poorly in most of his major races. Though this was likely to to the fact that he struggled with low blood sugar and he did not realize it until late in his career. But he won the only one that really mattered.

What? Mill won a gold medal! He definitely performed when it mattered most. He was not even expected to medal. He ran a huge PR that day.

JIM BEATTY,STEVE PREFONTAINE,STEVE SCOTT,DYROL BURLESON,GERRY LINGREN,BOB KENNEDY,GLENN CUNNINGHAM,JOHNNY GRAY,BUDDY EDELEN. ALL HARSH BUT ACCURATE.

Do we not consider that holding a WR in 10,000m is a big deal? Major championships aside, he still held a WR for nearly 5yrs! Not too shabby I think, give the guy a break! He ran a faster 10k than Rono, and Rono beat Salazar. Salazar moved up to marathons, and became a legend for it. Had Mamede or Rono decided to be marathoners the story might have been very different.

cats the musical wrote:

El Geroooj. Take away the dope from 2004, and that guy would have really not lived up to his potential...Olympic choke artist

Okay. I'll play along.

Tripped in 1996 - could have happened to anyone in that race.

2000 - finished 2nd. To qualify as a choker he would have to have finished 11th in Sydney.

kite fliar wrote:

Byzzle wrote:

ASAFA POWELL

/end of thread

Yeah, he only has an Olympic gold medal, a WC gold medal, a WC silver medal, two WC bronze medals, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and a Commonwealth Games silver medal.

Asafa Powell only has two bronze medals in individual events in the 100m from the World Championships. His other medals are from relays. He is a big time choker.

I still sometimes pull out my VCR tape of his 5,000 debut at the Pre Classic. Dude had wheels at the end of that!

NITTANY68 wrote:

JIM BEATTY,STEVE PREFONTAINE,STEVE SCOTT,DYROL BURLESON,GERRY LINGREN,BOB KENNEDY,GLENN CUNNINGHAM,JOHNNY GRAY,BUDDY EDELEN. ALL HARSH BUT ACCURATE.

Hold on a second, buster!

You can't judge the old guys so harshly.

Prefontaine only competed in TWO international championships his entire career. Although if Pre had run & won the 1973 Pan Pacifics....his legacy would have been complete.

Gold in one; 4th in the other.

If you want to bash anyone, bash the Brits who got to compete in Olympics, Europeans, & Commonwealths. No nation had it so good.

Pre

that drunken stumble for 4th when it counted

What Zatopek called potato

as in gold, silver, bronze, potato

Pre made that race by pushing from a mile out. Just didn't work out in that race. Definitely a runner who could perform when it mattered. Same for Webb. Me? I'd have a hard time calling an American Record holder in the mile someone who chokes or can't perform when it matters.