How did Athing Mu Escape the LetsRun Hype Machine?

sanchobaile wrote:

150+ pages of posts going back three years

Interesting question.

For comparison, it looks like Tuohy, who is just a few months older, has 540+ pages; Hocker, who is a year older, but is arguably at the same point in his career, has 420+ pages; and, Kessler, who is a year younger and less accomplished, has 150+ pages.

(I say "looks like" because these searches may not have picked up every mention, or may have picked up the wrong person. I'm pretty sure every Tuohy who's mentioned is Katelyn. I'm not so sure about every Hocker or Kessler.)

barney23 wrote:

I agree.

It is as insightful as the Atlantic/NYorker/LRB thinkpieces from 2016 about why Trump was so popular. Good on ideas, floating around the truth.

Five years later, we know the truth and float no more. So, yeah, "insightful". But we know the truth.

i believe exactly what said. let me comment on the other things so hopefully i appear less like i am dancing around.

-black vs. white played an absolutely enormous factor with Matt Boling hype. if Boling were black, literally nobody would care. I also imagine there would be insane hype if a black american won NXN/FLN. middle distance? the 800 at the HS level might literally be the most racially diverse event around. There are like 3 or 4 HS girls putting up the same 800m numbers that Mu was, both black and white. i don't see much of a difference in how J. Whittaker/R. Willis/S. Gorriaran are discussed. None are getting Hunter/Tuohy level hype.

-attractive vs. unattractive: yes, sydney is attractive and it got her extra fans. does that mean we only root for and hype attractive people? no, absolutely not! hasay would not be in this thread title.

if mu were a 6/10 white girl (which means 9/10 adjusted for speed goggles) i think she might get a few more pages, however she would NOT be a Tuohy because she was an speed-based 800m runner who didn't actually do anything that indicated world class outside of 500m/600m

Current rising HS seniors Roisin Willis and Juliette Whittaker have both already run a faster 800 than Mu ever did in high school. They got mentions but not a lot of hype until they ran at the trials but even then not what a top XC runner would get.

Her “high school” tactics earned a gold medal. She’s done more in one weekend than Boling has done in a career.

Rick Sanchez wrote:

She escaped the Letsrun.com hype because nobody knew about her until recently. I had no idea who she was until 2 months ago or so.

Not sure what you mean by "nobody." I read a lot about her on this board 2-1/2 years ago when, as a 16-year-old, she set an American record and came close to a WR in the indoor 600.