Coevett wrote:
donkeydoug wrote:
Solid effort from Jacob- probably a high 1:45 with better pacing.
You old men need to quit arguing and just enjoy T&F.
You're right on both ccounts. Ex-runner needs to grow up and chill out. It's only a sport we're discussing
I don't understand the hate for Jakob. Why would anyone NOT want a bit of variety and a super talented European kid thrown into the mix? Even if you are racist against Europeans, surely anybody can see he'll raise the profile of the sport and that will be good for Kenyans and Ethiopian runners too?
It's like if there was a forum in the 70's and EVERYBODY was hating on Henry Rono and calling him overhyped and demanding everybody agree that he"ll always be too slow to compete with European runners.
I think Jakob ran a fantastic time under the circumstances, and if he raced the event more frequently, would undoubtedly go 1:45 or faster. However, asides from the trolling, I think some posters might be frustrated that Jakob is being overhyped, compared to Aouita (probably doped), your British superstars (Coe, Cram, Ovett) and El G already, when we could simply be enjoying T&F. I think is is especially unfair to compair him to Aouita as you have done, because anyone with half a brain knows he was on the sauce (no former clean athlete would coach others to take hgh). Now I`m not gonna pretend to know if El G, your british boys or Jakob are doped but I hope theyre all clean. I just think that we are undermining his achievements by comparing him to more speed based 800/1500 athletes in the 1:41-43 range who do not have the sheer endurance of Jakob, or saying he will not reach GOAT status like Guerrouj.
1:46 is great for a season opening 800 for a 3:30/13:02 strength based athlete, and moronic comments like "he wouldnt win NCAAs" mean nothing. Name me a current NCAA athlete who would beat Jakob in 1500 and 5000. Yeah, thats what I thought. Having said that, he does have a lot of catching up to do in the 5000 as the current group of ethiopians can or have already run in the 12:40s which is way out of Jakobs wheelhouse. It'll be interesting to see how he develops i guess.