It is Mu's life and she can do what she wants; however...
As a fan it is saddening to see someone at the pinnacle of our sport treat it with such apathy.
Is being a professional track and field athlete such an unfulfilling thankless job that the reigning world champion doesn't even care to defend her title???
As a fan of the sport... THANK YOU to all the athletes that show up year after year and compete. THANK YOU to the athletes that might not be in contention for a medal but still show up to push themselves, and their competitors.
Well said.
I was totally willing to excuse Mu for starting her season late and sparingly if she competed in the WCs and in the DL final in Eugene. But if she’s done competing this year while supposedly being healthy then I won’t be able to root for her in the future. Especially if she comes back in the Olympic year and is threatening the WR under Kersee’s coaching, it will be suspicious as all hell.
As a track athlete you should a) want to race and b) want to do what’s best for the sport.
Lots of posters saying “this sport is a joke,” but I don’t see Ingebrigtsen, Cheptegei, Lyles, Shericka Jackson, Kipyegon, Warholm etc. pulling this crap—this isn’t a T&F problem, it’s a Kersee problem.
As someone who said the sport is a joke, allow me to elaborate. Ingebrigtsen, Lyles, Kipyegon, etc behave like total professionals. The infrastructure of the sport is what is a joke. Executives and governing bodies who allow athletes to be MIA all season and then compete. Sponsors who seem not to care. Coaches who either don't communicate or who outright lie about what is going on.
A professional sport would have athletes who compete full time. "You must run X number of legit events or you cannot compete in the WC/Oly/etc this year" could be put into the rulebook by World Athletics. Injured and could only do one meet? Too bad, see you next year. Run a team time trial on Nike campus, doesn't count. Miss your doping controls? Banned for life. Coach lies in media communications, sanctioned and fined, eventually stripped of credentials if the commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport.
Other than the real display of talent when people actually show up and compete, and lots of youth participation, what part of track and field isn't a total and complete mess?
I was totally willing to excuse Mu for starting her season late and sparingly if she competed in the WCs and in the DL final in Eugene. But if she’s done competing this year while supposedly being healthy then I won’t be able to root for her in the future. Especially if she comes back in the Olympic year and is threatening the WR under Kersee’s coaching, it will be suspicious as all hell.
How does she race the DL final with no DL points???
How did Ricky Petrucciani compete in the 400 in last year’s DL final in Zurich? He’s Swiss. Mu would be given a spot if she wants it.
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I don't believe their explanation, I think they are saying that to try and cover up a mental health issue she is going through. She hasn't raced like at all this year and then she was supposed to run worlds but is now essentially pulling out right before.
If this was the plan all along and they announced it earlier in the year, I might believe them. But this seems like she is dealing with some mental health issues and they are going to sit out worlds to get her back to normal.
Used to be a big fan of hers but no more. Sick of this crap. Will NEVER cheer for her again in fact will pull for every other 800m in the world except her.
There is a possibility this is a Simone Biles type deal and that the proper response is compassion. Let us not tear her down at this juncture. She is a champion.
To be clear Simone Biles was dealing with the "twisties" a neurological issue that occurs in gymnasts when they are twisting. She wasn't having some anxiety about competing and needed to rest. She just, for whatever reason, made it sound it was. Maybe an eff you to USAG who failed to protect her from years of abuse and profited off her of success all the same.
There have been a lot of good points made about Athing and this situation I'll probably just repeat a lot of them
1. I used to be a big fan. No longer. She's sus as hell.
2. There's just no explanation that fits outside of drugs drugs drugs. If she has so much anxiety about racing, then she shouldn't be a pro athlete. Like I said earlier, Simone had the twisties. Athletes who don't compete in events and claim mental health, like sir or ma'am what on earth are you doing then, there's a desk job with your name on it.
3. In complete agreement about how utterly disrespectful it is to her competitors. That being said there's no universe where it makes sense for her to skip worlds to "train for the olympics" or others would be doing the same every year.
As someone who said the sport is a joke, allow me to elaborate. Ingebrigtsen, Lyles, Kipyegon, etc behave like total professionals. The infrastructure of the sport is what is a joke. Executives and governing bodies who allow athletes to be MIA all season and then compete. Sponsors who seem not to care. Coaches who either don't communicate or who outright lie about what is going on.
A professional sport would have athletes who compete full time. "You must run X number of legit events or you cannot compete in the WC/Oly/etc this year" could be put into the rulebook by World Athletics. Injured and could only do one meet? Too bad, see you next year. Run a team time trial on Nike campus, doesn't count. Miss your doping controls? Banned for life. Coach lies in media communications, sanctioned and fined, eventually stripped of credentials if the commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport.
Other than the real display of talent when people actually show up and compete, and lots of youth participation, what part of track and field isn't a total and complete mess?
I hear you. Honestly I think I disagree with all of your suggested rule changes though. Injured and can only compete in one meet before championships means a star athlete misses the championship? Bad for the sport. Miss your doping controls once means banned for life?—seems insanely strict for someone missing a test or unknowingly ingesting some minor banned substance. Team time trials on the Nike campus (I can think of one notable occurrence of this in 2019 + some time trials on high school tracks during Covid lockdowns) are fine in their place. As for coaches being stripped of credentials if their commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport, I’m more on the side of freedom of speech and besides, who is going to be the arbiter of this?—seems like some BS waiting to happen.
I like track a lot as is and although I wish it were more popular in the U.S. I’m not down on the sport like you seem to be. This isn’t a good precedent for Mu to set, though.
There is a possibility this is a Simone Biles type deal and that the proper response is compassion. Let us not tear her down at this juncture. She is a champion.
To be clear Simone Biles was dealing with the "twisties" a neurological issue that occurs in gymnasts when they are twisting. She wasn't having some anxiety about competing and needed to rest. She just, for whatever reason, made it sound it was. Maybe an eff you to USAG who failed to protect her from years of abuse and profited off her of success all the same.
There have been a lot of good points made about Athing and this situation I'll probably just repeat a lot of them
1. I used to be a big fan. No longer. She's sus as hell.
2. There's just no explanation that fits outside of drugs drugs drugs. If she has so much anxiety about racing, then she shouldn't be a pro athlete. Like I said earlier, Simone had the twisties. Athletes who don't compete in events and claim mental health, like sir or ma'am what on earth are you doing then, there's a desk job with your name on it.
3. In complete agreement about how utterly disrespectful it is to her competitors. That being said there's no universe where it makes sense for her to skip worlds to "train for the olympics" or others would be doing the same every year.
4. Drugs
5. Drugs
6. More Drugs.
Any chance you could educate yourself? You sound like a complete moron.
Just my take. If you train and don't race you are basically (particularly in Mu's case) a REALLY fast part timer- who gets paid by Nike et al to train and just turn up a handful of times a year to fulfill contactual obligations. She is an incredible talent - but is she bored? Burnt out? Watching her race, she appears to need to do it more, because tactically she appears less than ideal. If she doesn't go to the Worlds it doesn't matter. The show will just go on without her.
As someone who said the sport is a joke, allow me to elaborate. Ingebrigtsen, Lyles, Kipyegon, etc behave like total professionals. The infrastructure of the sport is what is a joke. Executives and governing bodies who allow athletes to be MIA all season and then compete. Sponsors who seem not to care. Coaches who either don't communicate or who outright lie about what is going on.
A professional sport would have athletes who compete full time. "You must run X number of legit events or you cannot compete in the WC/Oly/etc this year" could be put into the rulebook by World Athletics. Injured and could only do one meet? Too bad, see you next year. Run a team time trial on Nike campus, doesn't count. Miss your doping controls? Banned for life. Coach lies in media communications, sanctioned and fined, eventually stripped of credentials if the commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport.
Other than the real display of talent when people actually show up and compete, and lots of youth participation, what part of track and field isn't a total and complete mess?
I hear you. Honestly I think I disagree with all of your suggested rule changes though. Injured and can only compete in one meet before championships means a star athlete misses the championship? Bad for the sport. Miss your doping controls once means banned for life?—seems insanely strict for someone missing a test or unknowingly ingesting some minor banned substance. Team time trials on the Nike campus (I can think of one notable occurrence of this in 2019 + some time trials on high school tracks during Covid lockdowns) are fine in their place. As for coaches being stripped of credentials if their commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport, I’m more on the side of freedom of speech and besides, who is going to be the arbiter of this?—seems like some BS waiting to happen.
I like track a lot as is and although I wish it were more popular in the U.S. I’m not down on the sport like you seem to be. This isn’t a good precedent for Mu to set, though.
I didn't fully elaborate. Obviously you have to have something reasonable in your doping rules, but I think banned for life if you disrespect the process. Otherwise just allow doping. Athletes dodge meets and tests so they can dope and get away with it. If they aren't going to enforce it, just allow it, at least then the athletes would show up and compete. If they are going to enforce it, kick out completely the dopers. So sure, allow 3 whereabouts failures, but if you have 3, you're gone for good because you're not professional enough to be in the sport. Maybe you're not even a doper but you are making the sport look like it is full of cheaters.
Why are we afraid to get rid of talented athletes that damage the sport? If Tom Brady said the n word in an interview he'd be fined and suspended and maybe allowed back but if he did it a second time he'd be done for good. Who cares how talented they are if they ruin the sport? Same goes for coaches. Imagine if an NFL coach said whatever he wanted to in front of the camera...in fact it's already happened and many have been fired for running their mouth. Who is arbitrating that? Do you say whatever you want at work with no expectation of being able to be fired? Try lying on a financial form for a business and see what happens.
Team time trials (with exception of during COVID) can be done at a meet where other people not on your team are allowed to compete. Why let them set up a cultivated safe meet so they can qualify? Would the Chiefs play the Chiefs practice squad, wallop them, and then be allowed to play in the Superbowl? Make people compete, otherwise it's not a sport. It didn't bother me as much back in the day when an athlete would have a couple of key meets where everything was set up for them, then they raced the rest of the season, often losing or even bombing out. Manzano used to choke hard in some meets running something awful like a 4:07 mile and then show up medal a few weeks later. Now we see a couple cultivated efforts, complete radio silence, then nationals (unless they have a bye) and Worlds, and then nothing forever. Admittedly this is mostly an American problem.
Whatever, I probably shouldn't care at all, but track is the only sport I watch anymore...
It is not in reality to focus on 2024. It is to further delay the anxiety and fear around losing an 800m race. I thought maybe we were over that after she ran the 1500. But apparently in the 800, she will only run when Bobby and her think she absolutely has to OR she has a near-zero chance of losing.
How could she be afraid of Moraa? Mu's split low 48 and run 49 mid, a second better than Moraa, AND run 4:03 1500m this year. She need fear no one at the 800m when healthy.
Yeah people forgot how good Athing Mu is. She is fabulous. I did not like her joining Kersee but she is a decorated recently turned 21 year old who is a prodigious talent. If she skips the World Championships it is fine. I hope she does not retire yet but if she does I hope she is making the right decision for her and her family.
You are right! I believe many of us were shocked when she ran that 4:03. That is incredible range. She can be the greatest 800m runner ever and then some.
I know that the trolls say we live vicariously through these athletes and that we don't have lives with our sorry jobs and we're all a bunch of no good hobby joggers and a lot of that is true. So what? Without sport, life wouldn't be worth living. These people are orders of magnitude more interesting than our national politicians and many of our sleazy entertainers.
If this is true, Mu is dead to me. Not that she cares, but it's completely effing idiotic that she would not compete while healthy. I mean, is she just going to wait until the Paris summer olympics in 2024? Ridiculous. This sport is so incredibly frustrating. Would Tom Brady have taken a year off during then prime of his career? FFS, this is infuriating.
When they're young they will think will live/run/stay young forever. Middle distance runners have only so much time time where they can absolutely crush it. If you asked me 2 years ago where Keeley and Mu would be now, I would have never guessed. I would thought vice versa. There will be other fast runners coming up. Don't take anything for granted. At least Ajee showed up every time.
I said in a post about a month ago that her career as we know it was done. Three things: (1) There is no way Athing running 1:58-high in late June was going to beat athletes running 1:55 and 1:56 weeks earlier. She was not going to win gold in Budapest; she knew it and Bobby knew it. (2) In a recent interview, Athing clearly expressed her lack of commitment to running and how she wanted to explore other interests. Competing at the highest level requires total commitment (period). (3) She took too long of a break after the WCs last year, probably allowed herself to get too out of shape and is finding it difficult to back to where she needs to be. I suspect she a couple months last Autum 2022 and into the early winter where she did not do anything. Btw, not competing in 2023 will only make the situation worse.
...I hope I am wrong.
I understand the sentiment but her run in the 1500 at USAs was vastly superior to what I expected.
As for reduction clauses, I seriously doubt she's getting reduced much from skipping Worlds, otherwise I don't think she'd skip it.
Slappy800 wrote: I have read a lot of posts from folks on this site over the years. Why tf would anyone criticize the decisions of an individual that has already cemented a rarified spot in our sport? That’s some sh*t, people. “I was a fan until…” - an individual’s decision and choice. Btw, the decision and choice of World and Olympic champion. Comedy. A bunch of keyboard tough guys. Thank you for inspiring me to react and respond to this after more than a decade of LRdotC participation. WTF?
Why would we criticize anyone, because the whole point of the sport is to compete? If she is struggling mentally I hope she gets some help, but if my favorite soccer player says they are going to skip the year to focus on next year I'd be like WTF. Track is a bit different with the Olympics being the end all be all but if we want to take it that far then just focus on LA2028 as some have said.
The Michael Jordan going to baseball comparison is interesting. I wonder if it's more Simone Biles or Osaka.
And the poster who said why float this idea unless the decision has already been made not to compete at Worlds? That actually makes sense to me but I hope it's wrong. Athing Mu is great for the sport and we need her competing. Someone needs to just tell her it's ok to lose if that's the issue. But Michael Jordan is a different story so there is some precedent.
Avoiding racing is not going to make it any easier. I really hope that she gets a psychologist or some voice in her ear that doesn’t just say yes and tell her what she wants to hear, because allowing her to do whatever she wants, avoid competition and racing, is only going to make things worse. If she skips Budapest I think she will never return to the track.
That's certainly possible, but after just very recently losing Tori Bowie, I believe we should be supporting our athletes' mental health. I do understand a lot of people have a Pre mindset of not wanting her to sacrifice the "gift," but imho, if she needs a break, she should get a break. Kersee's coached some athletes with incredible longevity (hey everyone - did you know Allyson Felix is a Mom?), so I'm going to trust he knows what he's doing.
Why is it that the majority assume a mental health issue, and not a doping/testing concern, when neither she nor Kersee have spoken to either? Is it because you have doubts but want to default to presumed innocence (notwithstanding Athing’s crazy improvement in the longer 1500m), or is it because you truly believe she is clean?
To be clear Simone Biles was dealing with the "twisties" a neurological issue that occurs in gymnasts when they are twisting. She wasn't having some anxiety about competing and needed to rest. She just, for whatever reason, made it sound it was. Maybe an eff you to USAG who failed to protect her from years of abuse and profited off her of success all the same.
There have been a lot of good points made about Athing and this situation I'll probably just repeat a lot of them
1. I used to be a big fan. No longer. She's sus as hell.
2. There's just no explanation that fits outside of drugs drugs drugs. If she has so much anxiety about racing, then she shouldn't be a pro athlete. Like I said earlier, Simone had the twisties. Athletes who don't compete in events and claim mental health, like sir or ma'am what on earth are you doing then, there's a desk job with your name on it.
3. In complete agreement about how utterly disrespectful it is to her competitors. That being said there's no universe where it makes sense for her to skip worlds to "train for the olympics" or others would be doing the same every year.
4. Drugs
5. Drugs
6. More Drugs.
Any chance you could educate yourself? You sound like a complete moron.
If she's having trouble dealing with the pressure for Budapest, being avoidant and putting the pressure off until the Olympics will just make things worse for her. If I were Kersee, I'd encourage her to race more, take her chances against top competition, and figure out that losing isn't the end of the world, but something to learn from and motivate you for the future.
If she just doesn't like the lifestyle of a track athlete, that's fair enough, and maybe she just needs to figure out what she really wants to do.
I was totally willing to excuse Mu for starting her season late and sparingly if she competed in the WCs and in the DL final in Eugene. But if she’s done competing this year while supposedly being healthy then I won’t be able to root for her in the future. Especially if she comes back in the Olympic year and is threatening the WR under Kersee’s coaching, it will be suspicious as all hell.
As a track athlete you should a) want to race and b) want to do what’s best for the sport.
Lots of posters saying “this sport is a joke,” but I don’t see Ingebrigtsen, Cheptegei, Lyles, Shericka Jackson, Kipyegon, Warholm etc. pulling this crap—this isn’t a T&F problem, it’s a Kersee problem.
As someone who said the sport is a joke, allow me to elaborate. Ingebrigtsen, Lyles, Kipyegon, etc behave like total professionals. The infrastructure of the sport is what is a joke. Executives and governing bodies who allow athletes to be MIA all season and then compete. Sponsors who seem not to care. Coaches who either don't communicate or who outright lie about what is going on.
A professional sport would have athletes who compete full time. "You must run X number of legit events or you cannot compete in the WC/Oly/etc this year" could be put into the rulebook by World Athletics. Injured and could only do one meet? Too bad, see you next year. Run a team time trial on Nike campus, doesn't count. Miss your doping controls? Banned for life. Coach lies in media communications, sanctioned and fined, eventually stripped of credentials if the commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport.
Other than the real display of talent when people actually show up and compete, and lots of youth participation, what part of track and field isn't a total and complete mess?
You can be certain that Nike will cut her contract to ribbons and take every reduction available to them. And that is either something of no concern to her or she simply has no one in her orbit with any experience in the sport (save Kersee) to give her proper guidance.
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