Regarding the thread title: who is actually debating this? I'm fairly sure track fans unanimously agree he was a deserved winner on the day. Not by a big.margin though, ha!
However, I'm keen to see Cole win some races before 2026. Reliving last year's triumph over and over is for retirement.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
Does anyone know how to find the International feed from the race? It was so much better. It was on Peacock for awhile and then they got rid of the Olympic stuff.
It's more. He has not won one race since his OG gold I believe
He's run in almost no meaningful races since Paris. The DL after Paris? That's a post championship let down. GST races are like pre season football games. Millrose losing to Grant and Pre, that's it. He ran well enough in both. I'd only worry if Hocker is worried. I hope he's not. He's no lock to win anything, the men's 1500 is the hardest event in T&F it seems, but he's good. Some are doubting, and it comes with the territory.
No matter how many excuses you make, Hocker has not won a single international race since that gold. He just isn't that good no matter how many excuses you fanboys make.
Youngin', you're hot takes are piss poor and I realize you are probably trying to be edgy or stir the pot, you just come off as a loser who doesn't understand how the real world works.
Yet you can't correct what he says. What has he won that matters since Paris?
Winning a gold medal is a accomplishment but not the only thing that makes a successful running career. There are many ways to perform (Diamond League, World Championships and fast times) The Olympics are just another pinnacle track meet.
Olympic Gold medal in Olympic record time is the very top of the mountain, homie.
The only possible way he could beat that is to win an Olympic gold medal in WR time in the next Olympics as repeat champ. nothing else is as impressive.
Diamond League and WC's do not compare. Think of how much more you have to do to qualify for the Olympics, make it through the rounds, perform in front of a billion+ people viewing. So much more effort and pressure and more athletes trying to achieve the same goal in the Olympics.
"fast times" LOL. Have you ever won a big race before?
The WC is not as important as the Olympics but it’s stlll the race this year where everyone is going to show up, they’re going to be in peak shape and they want to medal. Winning a paced DL just doesn’t compare.
Winning an Olympic gold is a definitive achievement, but the athlete's standing in the sport also requires backing it up. That Hocker has yet to do. He has done little outside his Olympic triumph. It is similar to the converse situation of an athlete who regularly wins at an international level but fails to win at an Olympic or global championship level in that event. There is a significant gap in the resume.
Hocker did not just win. Beat the previous winner. Jakob, who had held the Olympic Record and ran under his previous record but still only got 4th. All of the top 4 were under the previous OR. To win on a day when so many brought their best is a major achievement. I think most would trade multiple other wins that would be “backing it up" (Diamond League, etc) for that gold and that OR. Especially in the current super-charged group of 1500m runners.
It's just one race - as important as it is. I can't imagine the reduced standing that Elliott and Snell would have had in their careers if the only race they won that mattered was their Olympic final. Great champions make a habit of consistently beating the best over the course of a career - as Elliott and Snell did - and not in just one final.
Winning Olympic gold is all that matters. Regardless of what anyone says as far as times, DL wins, World Champs; OG is the only thing they really want and Hocker has it. And he did it in Olympic record time against the best field ever assembled. It is nearly impossible to top that. At 24, everything he accomplishes from here on out is just a cherry on top. Remember, El G could have easily never won an Olympic gold. Jim Ryun and Steve Scott never did. Alan Webb was never even close. Hocker was smart to take the Grand Slam money(if he actually got paid) and everything that goes with being Olympic Champion. I always view the post-Olympics World Champs as meaningless, particularly for a mid/distance runner, because most athletes put everything into the Olympic year. So regardless of what happens this season, Cole Hocker is Olympic Champion and the best the USA has ever had at 1500 meters.
If winning Olympic gold is all that matters why would an athlete compete in any other race? One race is not a career. Great athletes have a career and are not a flash in the pan. So far, that is all Hocker is. A one-hit wonder.
"The people who view him as a flash in the pan are kind of right."
Wow. No offense, but have these folks even been paying attention to what Hocker has done in the 10+ months since the Olympic final? For example:
* Finished 2nd to JI at Lausanne in 3:29 (and even JI expressed gratitude to CH for showing up notwithstanding the blizzard of attention/level of exhaustion following the Olympics)
*Finished 3rd in Zurich (behind Nuguse and JI, but AHEAD of Laros, Kerr, Habz, both Cheruiyots, etc.)
* Missed 2nd in the DL final by 1/100 second (behind JI and Potato Tim), but again, ahead of every other world class 1500m runner in the field
*Broke the old world record in the 3000i in an epic duel with Fisher
*PR'd in the 5000 (12:57) and the 800 (1:45.13).
Yeah, sounds like a real "flash in the pan." Sure, he has not yet won again in another world-class international race. Yet. We are living in unprecedented times with so many unbelievably talented 1500m runners across the globe. Let's revisit Hocker's "flash in the pan" status after Tokyo.
You're just admitting he hasn't won anything since his Olympic final; in every race since someone has been better than he was. Is that what you expect of the Olympic 1500m champion?
When someone keeps saying that they don't care how people view them, they definitely care.
Of course he wouldn't trade any of this for his olympic gold, but it must bug him that he's been getting dog-walked by his main competitors race after race since the olympics, and that people are doubting him.
Not always true and he isn't always saying that. Most of the fans here have no idea how competitive the sport is these days and these fans seems to think an athlete should be able to always win every race and set records. If Hocker retires tomorrow he has achieved the pinnacle of accomplishment in the sport and no one can ever take that away from him. Personally, I think he is wasting his time continuing in track and should switch to a different career, enjoy his life and not have to put up with all the fools in this sport.
That's the advice you would give someone who keeps getting beaten.
Hocker did not just win. Beat the previous winner. Jakob, who had held the Olympic Record and ran under his previous record but still only got 4th. All of the top 4 were under the previous OR. To win on a day when so many brought their best is a major achievement. I think most would trade multiple other wins that would be “backing it up" (Diamond League, etc) for that gold and that OR. Especially in the current super-charged group of 1500m runners.
It's just one race - as important as it is. I can't imagine the reduced standing that Elliott and Snell would have had in their careers if the only race they won that mattered was their Olympic final. Great champions make a habit of consistently beating the best over the course of a career - as Elliott and Snell did - and not in just one final.
You have to go back 70 years with your examples because that's when athletes could repeat their wins in the 800/1500. Those days are gone. There's a lot more competition today.
It's just one race - as important as it is. I can't imagine the reduced standing that Elliott and Snell would have had in their careers if the only race they won that mattered was their Olympic final. Great champions make a habit of consistently beating the best over the course of a career - as Elliott and Snell did - and not in just one final.
You have to go back 70 years with your examples because that's when athletes could repeat their wins in the 800/1500. Those days are gone. There's a lot more competition today.
I give those examples (which aren't about the 800 and 1500 but about being great md runners) because they are good examples - but not the only ones. Great athletes win more races in their careers than just a championship gold. We saw that with Ovett, Coe, Cram and of course El G and Bekele.
Winning Olympic gold is all that matters. Regardless of what anyone says as far as times, DL wins, World Champs; OG is the only thing they really want and Hocker has it. And he did it in Olympic record time against the best field ever assembled. It is nearly impossible to top that. At 24, everything he accomplishes from here on out is just a cherry on top. Remember, El G could have easily never won an Olympic gold. Jim Ryun and Steve Scott never did. Alan Webb was never even close. Hocker was smart to take the Grand Slam money(if he actually got paid) and everything that goes with being Olympic Champion. I always view the post-Olympics World Champs as meaningless, particularly for a mid/distance runner, because most athletes put everything into the Olympic year. So regardless of what happens this season, Cole Hocker is Olympic Champion and the best the USA has ever had at 1500 meters.
If winning Olympic gold is all that matters why would an athlete compete in any other race? One race is not a career. Great athletes have a career and are not a flash in the pan. So far, that is all Hocker is. A one-hit wonder.
Running nerds may like to geek out about the number of diamond league wins, world championship, and various records, but every runner, once they get to a certain level, values Olympic gold over everything else. Most, including Cole, would rather not be one hit wonders and want those other things as well, but if those were the only two choices - one hit wonders all the way, baby! Saying otherwise is just a huge rationalization.
Winning Olympic gold is all that matters. Regardless of what anyone says as far as times, DL wins, World Champs; OG is the only thing they really want and Hocker has it. And he did it in Olympic record time against the best field ever assembled. It is nearly impossible to top that. At 24, everything he accomplishes from here on out is just a cherry on top. Remember, El G could have easily never won an Olympic gold. Jim Ryun and Steve Scott never did. Alan Webb was never even close. Hocker was smart to take the Grand Slam money(if he actually got paid) and everything that goes with being Olympic Champion. I always view the post-Olympics World Champs as meaningless, particularly for a mid/distance runner, because most athletes put everything into the Olympic year. So regardless of what happens this season, Cole Hocker is Olympic Champion and the best the USA has ever had at 1500 meters.
If winning Olympic gold is all that matters why would an athlete compete in any other race? One race is not a career. Great athletes have a career and are not a flash in the pan. So far, that is all Hocker is. A one-hit wonder.
Well you know, that "great athlete" you mentioned was actually someone you keep posting about - Jakob. He has the Olympic Gold, and keeps churning out sub 3:30, 3:29, 3:28, and even 3:27. He has the full package. Better yet, he's also a formidable 5k runner.
You have to go back 70 years with your examples because that's when athletes could repeat their wins in the 800/1500. Those days are gone. There's a lot more competition today.
I give those examples (which aren't about the 800 and 1500 but about being great md runners) because they are good examples - but not the only ones. Great athletes win more races in their careers than just a championship gold. We saw that with Ovett, Coe, Cram and of course El G and Bekele.
True. Hocker's still young so, we will see. he and his coach are clearly good at peaking at the right time.
BBC's Sportsworld interviewed Cole Hocker for 45 minutes in the following podcast - The Warm Up Track 2025: How Cole Hocker won Olympic 1500m gold - BBC Sounds
Here are some key highlights and notable quotes from Cole Hocker in the podcast:
1. On Winning Olympic Gold (32:00) "I truly felt like the only one in that stadium... 50 meters to go was just completely out of body. I kind of described it as like, it sounds kind of cliche, like out of the movies, but I was the only one in that stadium."
2. On His Running Journey (6:21) "I've been doing the sport my entire life... At nine years old, I started running. I had buddies doing it, and one thing I think, looking back on, is that we worked hard. It doesn't take long to realize if I work at something, I'm going to get better at it."
3. On the Current Era of Running (23:11) "I think everyone kind of understands it right now, who's in the 1500m, how good it is right now... You have to be top five in the world to make this USA team."
Around the 45 minute mark, he praised GST saying it's "pushing the sport forward" despite the cancellation of LA.
Bonus Quote on His Olympic Mindset (36:34) "There's nothing up for debate. Olympic record, Olympic gold. I don't even care how people view me. I know what I've done at that point."
Cole Hocker won that Olympic 1500 because ingebregtsen let him by on the inside. Without that opening, no way Hocker wins that race. Larry Rawson must have been pulling out what little hair remained on his head "...you high school kids at home..."