Former marathon WR holder Tegla Loruope slams super shoes - says those that use them are "Cheating...It's almost like doping."

Congratulations! You’ve figured out that all records are chemically enhanced. What are you 18? 21?

Nice try. Eating healthy, all things the same, isn’t going to make you run faster. Eating healthy only allows the body to recover in order to be able to train consistently. Training is, and always should be, what makes an athlete run to their ability. Well, until peds (chemical or otherwise, i.e. shoes that make you run faster). What are you going to do regulate food?

But the fact that you try and argue that training innovation is the equivalent to inserting a carbon plate in your shoe that propels the runner forward is hilarious. Nice try. “Sorry, you can only run 50 miles this week, no more.” Training is the equalizer. Who trains the hardest/smartest should win - as it should be.

I have no problem keeping said cheater shoes legal as long as they legalize every ped on the planet. Legalizing peds would only result in their use being more safe. As it stands, pretty much everyone at the world class level is on them with no oversight. Wouldn’t legalizing them make it safer?

Damn, you're smoking the good stuff! I'm not young enough to do that anymore, good for you.

fxhjb wrote:

Who trains the hardest/smartest should win - as it should be.

Oh that's good as I thought innate natural ability, good genes, body build, type of muscle twitch, etc, etc came in to it too.

There's hope for me yet.

She is right.

She is also a former world record holder, whereas everyone on this forum is an amateur. Hence her opinion has more credibility.

a dude with tiny calves wrote:

God these debates are stupid. If you don't like the new shoes because they make past records irrelevant then let's go back to cinder, or even dirt tracks and no spikes. Instead of starting blocks, give each runner a shovel and dig footholds. That would make things "fair" again. I doubt Jesse Owens would be crying that it's unfair that people on mondo tracks, wearing modern spikes are running faster than him.

It might make track more popular in Western nations if you did that - tennis has grass and clay courts and there is zero logical basis from a performance perspective to have those surfaces. Furthermore, from an entertainment point of view (which is what elite level sport is for the spectators), tennis should absolutely go back to wooden rackets as the quality of games would be much higher for the spectators. Diamond league track races on cinders and grass tracks would definitely be interesting if reintroduced and would also create more employment in terms of ground maintenance.

On the other hand if the spring shoes are allowed in road races I don't have problem with that but then I also see zero reason why inline skates are not allowed as the athlete is still producing the energy themselves and the sole of the skates should be seen as just a technological innovation to help the athlete cover the race distance more efficiently. When we have sports gear with unlimited restrictions, the point is about covering the race distance with the footwear that allows you to move the most efficiently.

In-line skates are fundamentally very different from shoes. The super shoes are shoes with built-in features that help athletes with combating fatigue because they absorb shock a lot better than conventional shoes up till now.