She loved the sport, it's a lifetime passion but is losing interest. When your core fans begin to walk away, you know it's gone too far (and the doping, not that that needs to be said).
https://athleticsillustrated.com/the-liz-mccolgan-interview/
She loved the sport, it's a lifetime passion but is losing interest. When your core fans begin to walk away, you know it's gone too far (and the doping, not that that needs to be said).
https://athleticsillustrated.com/the-liz-mccolgan-interview/
I certainly don’t disagree. Easy to make changes. Ban agents of cheaters. Ban athletes under coaches that cheat. Quit having 15 East Africans in a Diamond League race (nobody cares).
Liz is convinced she was cheated out of a Gold medal.
Alfie,
Tip of the iceberg.
If you look at the women's 1500m final at 2012 London Olympics and at least half of those ladies have been caught on PEDs, you have to wonder what profound effect that the doping has had on all of the clean athletes. Sponsorship, appearance fees, invitations.....six figures?
Jeptoo won a lot of money winning the MMM. Do you think there is a recourse to get that money back? No.
Total tip of the iceberg. She probably was cheated out of a gold and perhaps other medals.
And not to be painted as anti-East African, because I am not, I am sure there are plenty of East Africans that were cheated too.
Let's consider Russia with its systematic doping. So 200-300 Russian athletes go to the Olympics
and they are pressured to dope. so if the vast majority of Russians dope, then every single medal is questionable. In that case the sum is absolutely massive.
"I feel strongly that the time has now come to cap technological input, all athletes should compete at the same level of shoe technology, no one should gain an advantage. Cycling and swimming saw this very early on in their sport and put a stop to it. Nike is dominant and has resources far above what other sporting brands have. Their shoe technology is aiding in athlete performances so they have a clear and unfair advantage. All athletes should be on the start line as equals and presently they are not."
Extremely well said. Very concise and to the point.
Wet Coast wrote:
Alfie,
Tip of the iceberg.
If you look at the women's 1500m final at 2012 London Olympics and at least half of those ladies have been caught on PEDs, you have to wonder what profound effect that the doping has had on all of the clean athletes. Sponsorship, appearance fees, invitations.....six figures?
Jeptoo won a lot of money winning the MMM. Do you think there is a recourse to get that money back? No.
Total tip of the iceberg. She probably was cheated out of a gold and perhaps other medals.
And not to be painted as anti-East African, because I am not, I am sure there are plenty of East Africans that were cheated too.
Let's consider Russia with its systematic doping. So 200-300 Russian athletes go to the Olympics
and they are pressured to dope. so if the vast majority of Russians dope, then every single medal is questionable. In that case the sum is absolutely massive.
Totally agree.
I was listening to an interview with Liz's daughter Eillish. She remarked that it has got to the stage that the finalists in a race do not really know where they have placed. As inevitably the placings will change as dopers are caught.
Isn’t she one of Mo Farah’s biggest fans? I’d love to see her escape from that glass house.
El Keniano wrote:
Isn’t she one of Mo Farah’s biggest fans? I’d love to see her escape from that glass house.
Are you not thinking of Paula Radcliffe?
I don't think so. I just read an article where she told him to "wise up" and to be careful with who he hangs out with. There was a picture of Mo with Justin Gatlin.
I am not sure I would refer to her as a Mo fan.....
She is against the Nike Carbon Plated shoe. She is for the ASICS carbon plated shoe. Fyi , she is still on Asics contract , along with her daughter.
The problem with the shoes is that you could have two athletes of similar fitness on the line and the one with the better shoes will win. That's not the point of the athletics; the point is to determine who is the best athlete, not who has the best shoes.
I've noticed myself losing interest due to the ridiculous shoes, constant doping busts, incompetent management of the sport, terrible coverage, clandestine training groups, and athletes that rarely compete. What's the point of following a sport that is dirty, secretive, and poorly managed? I'd rather focus on being a local road race hero.
She is wrong about cycling. New bikes and materials come out every year to improve speed.
And for those that think two athletes line up and the one with the better shoes wins, does not understand racing and running. I can provide 1000 examples of runners in Next% losing to athletes without Next%.
I've been meaning to tell you that was one of your best interviews. I'm a big fan of hers. There's nothing she said there that didn't have me nodding in agreement. You're also bang on the mark here about East Africans and doping. Many of them are clean and being cheated out of money or expenses to races by the ones doping. I'm as happy as anyone to see the cheating ones caught but hate the idea that all of them are
...are dopers.
Sapel wrote:
She is wrong about cycling. New bikes and materials come out every year to improve speed.
And for those that think two athletes line up and the one with the better shoes wins, does not understand racing and running. I can provide 1000 examples of runners in Next% losing to athletes without Next%.
The poster said two athletes with equal fitness. Of course a 55 year old hobby jogger in vaporflys isn't going to beat a 29 year old pro athlete in a different brand.
Here's the perfect example: one athlete that made our Olympic team in the marathon turned down contract offers before the race just to run in the vaporflys. He knew running in any other brand would hurt his chances of making the team.
Another example - Kara Goucher said that if she was wearing the vaporflys she would have made the olympic team.
albanese wrote:
Sapel wrote:
She is wrong about cycling. New bikes and materials come out every year to improve speed.
And for those that think two athletes line up and the one with the better shoes wins, does not understand racing and running. I can provide 1000 examples of runners in Next% losing to athletes without Next%.
The poster said two athletes with equal fitness. Of course a 55 year old hobby jogger in vaporflys isn't going to beat a 29 year old pro athlete in a different brand.
Here's the perfect example: one athlete that made our Olympic team in the marathon turned down contract offers before the race just to run in the vaporflys. He knew running in any other brand would hurt his chances of making the team.
Another example - Kara Goucher said that if she was wearing the vaporflys she would have made the olympic team.
Kipruto ran 26.24 road (WR) beating over 20 elite runners in Next%, while wearing the Takumi Sen. Lots of competitive marathons were also won in the Takumi Sen vs over a dozen+ elite runners n Nike carbon shoes.
One marathon back in the days was won by a guy running barefoot. And btw, cycling is WAY more pay2win than running will ever be.
I know it’s not the point of the interview but I found it interesting that Liz was running 90 mph as a 16 year old girl.
Lots of armchair coaches would ridicule that sort of mileage for a teenage girl or boy.
albanese wrote:
Sapel wrote:
She is wrong about cycling. New bikes and materials come out every year to improve speed.
And for those that think two athletes line up and the one with the better shoes wins, does not understand racing and running. I can provide 1000 examples of runners in Next% losing to athletes without Next%.
The poster said two athletes with equal fitness. Of course a 55 year old hobby jogger in vaporflys isn't going to beat a 29 year old pro athlete in a different brand.
Here's the perfect example: one athlete that made our Olympic team in the marathon turned down contract offers before the race just to run in the vaporflys. He knew running in any other brand would hurt his chances of making the team.
Another example - Kara Goucher said that if she was wearing the vaporflys she would have made the olympic team.
Ah Kara said so!
The opinion of a defeated athlete - That widely accepted gold standard for burden of proof!
albanese wrote:
"I feel strongly that the time has now come to cap technological input, all athletes should compete at the same level of shoe technology, no one should gain an advantage. Cycling and swimming saw this very early on in their sport and put a stop to it. Nike is dominant and has resources far above what other sporting brands have. Their shoe technology is aiding in athlete performances so they have a clear and unfair advantage. All athletes should be on the start line as equals and presently they are not."
Extremely well said. Very concise and to the point.
She’s also very bitter that her daughter got canned by Nike.
sub sub elite local hobby jogger wrote:
I've noticed myself losing interest due to the ridiculous shoes, constant doping busts, incompetent management of the sport, terrible coverage, clandestine training groups, and athletes that rarely compete. What's the point of following a sport that is dirty, secretive, and poorly managed? I'd rather focus on being a local road race hero.
+1
At least we had high school and collegiate competition to fall back on from the mess at the pro level, but now covid has nuked those. I'll just work on my own progress and enjoy that process.