Aliphine Tuliamuk complains of NBC Trials coverage on twitter

Ricardo Rude wrote:

We have athletes going back and re-watching footage of themselves running and checking if they get mentioned enough in the commentary. Meanwhile POC and specifically African Americans are being murdered brazenly and unapologetically by the police.

This is EXACTLY the point that you don't understand. Police murders are fortunately very rare in the scheme of things. But murders take place in the context of a culture where much more banal expressions of racism are incredibly common. If we lived in a society where it would be unthinkable to largely ignore the winner of a race just because she's black, then we'd live in a society where black people weren't killed by the police as often. The point is to see people of other races as people. The failure to do so expresses itself in big ways and small ways.

I agree that running has issues with race, but I'm not entirely on board with this angle. Drawing the distinction between (East) Africans and non-Africans makes sense because Africans have dominated the sport like no people have ever dominated any mass participation sport. Non-Africans care about other non-Africans for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that competitive non-Africans can inspire runners to think that their ethnicity isn't going to be an insurmountable barrier to being a successful runner. Getting excited about that isn't necessarily racist.

On the other hand, I think it's shameful the way that the best runners in the world are routinely dismissed as "the Africans," notwithstanding that they are all unique individuals with their own stories, and that they come from widely varying cultures. Though I do think that some of the blame goes to the agents. They need to do a much better job of educating western media about their athletes. It is genuinely difficult for commentators to research the stories of a lot of up-and-coming athletes.

I also don't mean to suggest that skin color has nothing to do with it. If all the best runners in the world were from Norway, I think we'd know a lot more about them, even accounting for the fact that information would be more accessible. It's also clear from the way the track media reports on other African American athletes that the issue isn't just about being born in the Rift Valley. Elite runners of West African descent whose families have been in the US since slavery are also routinely given minimal coverage, at least in events that also have competitive white athletes, such as the 800.

800 dude wrote:

Ricardo Rude wrote:

We have athletes going back and re-watching footage of themselves running and checking if they get mentioned enough in the commentary. Meanwhile POC and specifically African Americans are being murdered brazenly and unapologetically by the police.

This is EXACTLY the point that you don't understand. Police murders are fortunately very rare in the scheme of things. But murders take place in the context of a culture where much more banal expressions of racism are incredibly common. If we lived in a society where it would be unthinkable to largely ignore the winner of a race just because she's black, then we'd live in a society where black people weren't killed by the police as often. The point is to see people of other races as people. The failure to do so expresses itself in big ways and small ways.

Do you not watch major marathons? Nearly every winner is a black male or female. They aren't ignored. Do you watch track races? There is a healthy amount of black winners who get plenty of coverage.

Do you watch sprints? Do they ignore the black runners to focus on the few and far between white sprinters? No, they don't have never have going all the way back to Jesse Owens.

It's like you people refuse to acknowledge the reality of our sport just to make a SJW point.

AU wrote:

cloudcover wrote:

... They won't talk about how tough Aliphine is or well suited to the cross-country style course because of the particulars of her buildup and training with NAZ Elite. If they see her in the lead, they won't show any surprise or excitement even though she's not supposed to be there. They just chock her up as another Kenyan with the right genetics ...

So, you're saying she's suffering from black privilege because Kenyans are privileged to have good running genetics?

Lets' be honest. The only reason Letsrun had anything on Aliphine is because HOKA paid for coverage. That's how it works in a niche sport.

I re-watched the trial. They focus on ONE male runner before the race - Galen. (and if you don't see why then you are beyond help)

On the women's side they focus mainly in Des Linden - they also mentioned Emily Sisson and Seidel's first race. They didn't mention a lot of other white runners.

But to hear Aliphine tell it...they basically promoted all the white runners and ignored the black runners.

Sports reporters...when it comes down to it are lazy. There isn't any race animus there just isn't. They focused on Molly's story because it was unique AND she made the team. Sorry, Aliphine's story isn't unique at all.

If Aliphine's team wanted more coverage they should have flooded the reporters covering the race with information about her etc. I think the NAZ team blew all their budget buying coverage on Letsrun.

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

TAbdi is a completely different story and yes his PB is better than Ward's but that PB was nearly 15(!) years ago and prior to the trials Abdi looked to be on his retirement tour the past few years. He raced like crap most of 2018 and 2019, everyone thought he was just racking up appearance checks. You can't tell me that you see Abdi putting up a 1:04 in two half marathons and really expect his name to generate hype leading up to the trials.

Wasn't talking about Abdi; was talking about Korir. But if you relied on the coverage of the event, I could see how you completely missed the fact that he had debuted with a 2:07:56 and thus had the 2nd best PR in the field.

I had no issue with them not mentioning Abdi in the opening. Not mentioning Korir or Kipyego were blatant oversights.

C jessup wrote:

runnerz wrote:

+1. Nice summary.

No. It’s not. It’s a gross mischaracterization of what happened. I guess the media never covered Meb.

Please feel free to point out mischaracterizations. Meb is not relevant, he wasn't racing. Though he was likely still the most mentioned black athlete.

Here's some citations of things of mentioned:

Listing off "big names" and skipping AT despite her being in the front and middle of the lead pack:

Listing of leaders, again skipping AT:

At mile 14 of the men's race, the total time spent on black male athletes in the race was saying Abdi's name twice.

At mile 23 of the women's race, the total time spent on black women athletes was zero.

That is not an appropriate way to cover an event where half the team ended up being black athletes. If you think that is a mischaracterization, cite to something about people in the actual race, not someone who retired years ago.

adflkj;laac. wrote:

But to hear Aliphine tell it...they basically promoted all the white runners and ignored the black runners.

They didn't mention AT or Kipyego for the first 23 miles of the race. They did ignore the black runners.

I agree that running has issues with race, but I'm not entirely on board with this angle. Drawing the distinction between (East) Africans and non-Africans makes sense because Africans have dominated the sport like no people have ever dominated any mass participation sport. Non-Africans care about other non-Africans for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that competitive non-Africans can inspire runners to think that their ethnicity isn't going to be an insurmountable barrier to being a successful runner. Getting excited about that isn't necessarily racist.

On the other hand, I think it's shameful the way that the best runners in the world are routinely dismissed as "the Africans," notwithstanding that they are all unique individuals with their own stories, and that they come from widely varying cultures. Though I do think that some of the blame goes to the agents. They need to do a much better job of educating western media about their athletes. It is genuinely difficult for commentators to research the stories of a lot of up-and-coming athletes.

I also don't mean to suggest that skin color has nothing to do with it. If all the best runners in the world were from Norway, I think we'd know a lot more about them, even accounting for the fact that information would be more accessible. It's also clear from the way the track media reports on other African American athletes that the issue isn't just about being born in the Rift Valley. Elite runners of West African descent whose families have been in the US since slavery are also routinely given minimal coverage, at least in events that also have competitive white athletes, such as the 800.[/quote]

Re-read the first paragraph of what you wrote. That is truly the most racist thing ever.

insertname wrote:

adflkj;laac. wrote:

But to hear Aliphine tell it...they basically promoted all the white runners and ignored the black runners.

They didn't mention AT or Kipyego for the first 23 miles of the race. They did ignore the black runners.

This is simply not true. And They also didn’t mention MOST white runners

hgjvkvbbbhhhbb wrote:

insertname wrote:

They didn't mention AT or Kipyego for the first 23 miles of the race. They did ignore the black runners.

This is simply not true. And They also didn’t mention MOST white runners

Link it. The race is on youtube, find them saying either name before that.

Most runners didn't make the team, so that's not relevant.

insertname wrote:

adflkj;laac. wrote:

But to hear Aliphine tell it...they basically promoted all the white runners and ignored the black runners.

They didn't mention AT or Kipyego for the first 23 miles of the race. They did ignore the black runners.

False. Watch it again.

When these races are actually run, everyone on these boards is unanimous in lamenting the inexcusably lazy and stupid coverage of our sport by the morons who managed to obtain broadcasting rights. But the moment it is pointed out that this extreme stupidity and laziness clearly results in racist coverage as well, all the snowflake conservatives start to hyperventilate. They can't bring themselves acknowledge the existence of racism anywhere (even from lamestream media outlets like NBC!) because they think racism in general is just a liberal hoax. Tuliamuk was right to be upset and anyone who thinks otherwise is a mean-spirited moron.

The Gallant Pig Man wrote:

When these races are actually run, everyone on these boards is unanimous in lamenting the inexcusably lazy and stupid coverage of our sport by the morons who managed to obtain broadcasting rights. But the moment it is pointed out that this extreme stupidity and laziness clearly results in racist coverage as well, all the snowflake LIBERALS like me (Gallant Idiot) start to hyperventilate. They can't bring themselves acknowledge the existence of racism anywhere (even from lamestream media outlets like NBC!) because they think racism in general is just a liberal hoax. Tuliamuk was right to be upset and anyone who thinks otherwise is a mean-spirited moron.

Fixed your liberal bias

Give it a rest Francis wrote:

*picks booger, considers it carefully, eats it*

"Suck on THAT liberals"

Good one, man. You got me.

800 dude wrote:

Ricardo Rude wrote:

We have athletes going back and re-watching footage of themselves running and checking if they get mentioned enough in the commentary. Meanwhile POC and specifically African Americans are being murdered brazenly and unapologetically by the police.

This is EXACTLY the point that you don't understand. Police murders are fortunately very rare in the scheme of things. But murders take place in the context of a culture where much more banal expressions of racism are incredibly common. If we lived in a society where it would be unthinkable to largely ignore the winner of a race just because she's black, then we'd live in a society where black people weren't killed by the police as often. The point is to see people of other races as people. The failure to do so expresses itself in big ways and small ways.

No I understand this point totally my friend. I think the point is that "commentary mentions" in a marathon aren't a freaking barometer of racial bias. If this was the case then we are getting into the granular level where ANY thing you say, ANY point of view can be dissected and morphed into a context of racism, gender bias, religious hate, anti-lgbtq - I mean seriously what kind of nirvana'istic, quixotic world are you living in where you think we have any chance of this not happening?

In this case you have a situation where Aliphine Tuliamuk feels she wasn't "mentioned enough" because she is a black naturalized American born in Kenya and not a white American (like Molly Seidel is). I mean that's the conclusion? That simple huh? You wrote, and I quote "The point is to see people of other races as people". WTF?!?!?! You are contending that this is an example of Aliphine Tuliamuk being overlooked as a person? Jesus Christ dude.

Have you even done a time check of AT commentary vs MS commentary? Do you even know? How much time do you think NBC has for in-depth commentary on all competitors.? Maybe, just maybe the better story had to win on the day - not the color of skin. Did you ever contemplate this? Maybe Molly Siedels story just is better, I've alluded to it - eating disorder on the verge of ending her career. Never run further than a half before qualifying for the Olympics in her first ever crack at the distance. Yeah dude, maybe that is just better. Sorry Aliphine - it's not personal.

But of course let's make it personal. "Sign of the times". Can't we just keep positive memories in our minds of two great races and 6 outstanding individual efforts by great athletes? Of course not. Hey man keep living in your dream world - I hope you are practicing what you preach and are speech analyzing everything you say for every kind of bias. Have fun with that life pal.

The Gallant Pig Man wrote:

When these races are actually run, everyone on these boards is unanimous in lamenting the inexcusably lazy and stupid coverage of our sport by the morons who managed to obtain broadcasting rights. But the moment it is pointed out that this extreme stupidity and laziness clearly results in racist coverage as well, all the snowflake conservatives start to hyperventilate. They can't bring themselves acknowledge the existence of racism anywhere (even from lamestream media outlets like NBC!) because they think racism in general is just a liberal hoax. Tuliamuk was right to be upset and anyone who thinks otherwise is a mean-spirited moron.

Or, the coverage is usually crap on NBC and EVERYONE knows it. They routinely focus on feel good stories or known commodities instead actual racing or they do things like cover the water stop planning.

But that doesn't mean it's "racist" at all. people are using the crappy coverage to cry racism, racism when it's jus crappy coverage. No one said racism is a liberal hoax but it's not a reason for every bad thing.

Anyone who watches track and field with some regularity knows that black people are hardly ignored. Tuliamuk is just whining and trying to use recent events to reframe it as racist.