Always Look on the Bright Side of Life wrote:
American's are too fat.
The US has probably a very small talent pool for running compared to the 330 million people living here.
Most of you have it wrong. It's not a fat problem at all. In the United States, our talent pool is
Bankers
Lawyers
Investors
Doctors and Nurses
Firefighters
Police or other law enforcement
Scientists
Innovators
Entrepreneurs
Athletes (in any sport but distance running)
Teachers, Professors and paraprofessionals in education
Insurance Agents
Chefs
Etc.,etc.etc.
from within them, the idea of running a marathon on a big weekend maybe in 3 or 4 high
Or a 5k in 17-whatever is much more alluring than wracking their bodies to hit the A standard in the 1500m.
If a lawyer can net $300k a year and maybe race 3 5ks in an okay time,99.9% of Americans would take that.
Why?
Because in most countries, the government pays their Olympic athletes and not just for medals.
We have a lot of talent in the US. But it takes a rare breed to do nothing but run and reach a standard, and many of them have sponsors or rich parents.
So, It's not a fat problem at all. It's an "I have to work too" problem until the US pays Olympians