"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.