Ya know, while visiting this website for the last 15+ years, I've realized that:
All the Rupp haters must actually ENJOY being wrong.
There has got to be a term for this phenomenon. Masoquism? Cognitive dissonance?
To all the Rupp haters: do you know how many times you have claimed from the rooftops "Rupp is done!"?
Do you know how many times you have shrieked with joy when Rupp showed the slightest bit of weakness?
Remember what happened with that infamous Rupp Solinsky 10k? Do you remember how many "Rupp is done" threads there were then?
Sure, as an elite, competitive athlete, Rupp lost that one. Fair and square. But thats competition. Win some, lose some. At least he stuck his neck out and competed, not afraid to race for everyone to see...(unlike a handful of other runners who I wont mention who sit in the shadows and cower from competition).
Where is Solinsky now? Where is Withrow now? How about Josh Mcdougal?
Those are three perfect examples of people who were of similar fitness to Rupp, who beat Rupp maybe once, maybe twice who have gone on to do nothing.
And now we have Sugaru. He is not any different. A flash in the pan.
Rupp has surpassed those aforementioned one-hit wonders. He has even surpassed Sugaru if both were to quit today and we analyzed their results over all races.
Sugaru cannot win. He wont win the Olympics because the possibility of choking under pressure is looming.