Until the 1880’s the sport of track in America was not viewed as entirely legitimate. Other countries called into question the tracks and timing used in America. Therefore times or records set in America were often not ratified or accepted around the world. Track and Field in America would never reach legitimacy from the rest of the world until these problems were resolved. The NYAC tried to remedy this by building the first cinder track used specifically for track and field in America. In addition to this a Swiss stopwatch, which were invented in 1844, that could time with up to 1/5 of a second precision, became widespread in the 1870’s (Sears 2001). However track in America was not seen as genuine until a great American runner could run as fast as the Europeans. This occurred when Lon Myers came around in the 1880’s. He beat all competitors from Britain and established world record times on both American and British soil. Lon Myers domination of the sport finally changed the British view that running in America was inferior because of the belief that the difference in atmospheric pressure in America made it impossible for runners to run fast there. With the acceptance of track in the U.S. more and more meets popped up. In fact indoor races became popular with the using of Madison Square Garden as an indoor track facility in 1885 (Sears 2001). As a sport the momentum kept growing all the way until the foundation of the modern Olympics in 1896. Although held in Athens, the Olympics served
There are a few paragraphs preceding that about the spot, but the fist athlete mentioned.....Lon Myers. He was the guy who changed things now add....11 world records at 11 different distances, Dude....28,....national titles, so who ya got that compares to that, well?
Look guy do you just not understand how dominance of era works? Sammy Baugh is an NFL legend he couldn't start for most high schools today, but.......doesn't matter he was the first NFL QB of merit.
Tell ya what change that word best to most important, ok? Lon Myers did things never seen before or since a one of a kind, I put a lot into that.
I'm seeing a lot of mention of fast road and track times but that shouldn't be the measuring stick. The best runner is the guy best at running Ridgelines and up/down mountains. No one should case a out fast road/track times that is boring. I want to see fast runs in deadly mountain ridges. That is why Kilian is the only option as best as far as I'm concerned
As I said before, he was the running equivalent to the Model T-Ford, which was the dominant car of its era. But no one would say that because of that it was the best car of all time. His performances measured against what the best can now do are like a vintage car pitted against a Ferrari. You can assert that he was the best in his era, before the sport had become what it has today, but by modern standards his feats are little more than those of a schoolboy. You might even say that as soon as the sport began to develop his records and performances became utterly eclipsed. A pioneer has his place but it doesn't necessarily make him the best and in this case he is clearly not.
You have to go with dominance of era when talking "best of" in sports. What runner was more impressive than what Lon Myers accomplished as we saw above?
Don Hutson is still considered to be the best WR in NFL history, yep, nobody ever dominated their era like he did.
Always look at vs same era competition.
Are we really going to let this guy get away with crowning Don freaking Hutson as the best WR in NFL history?
What WR do you think was more dominant in his era?
As I said before, he was the running equivalent to the Model T-Ford, which was the dominant car of its era. But no one would say that because of that it was the best car of all time. His performances measured against what the best can now do are like a vintage car pitted against a Ferrari. You can assert that he was the best in his era, before the sport had become what it has today, but by modern standards his feats are little more than those of a schoolboy. You might even say that as soon as the sport began to develop his records and performances became utterly eclipsed. A pioneer has his place but it doesn't necessarily make him the best and in this case he is clearly not.
Armstronglivs is totally right on this one. Deno just loves being the exclusive purveyor of esoteric knowledge so that he can feel like he’s smarter and more cultured than everyone else. There are a couple posts in this thread where he verges on self-parody by bringing up forgotten blues musicians.
He says, “The thing about the guy, American records, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and the mile....who does that?”
Who does that? Probably a 46.0/1:46-high type talent in modern terms who happened to come along at the right time, when such a feat was achievable.
As I said before, he was the running equivalent to the Model T-Ford, which was the dominant car of its era. But no one would say that because of that it was the best car of all time. His performances measured against what the best can now do are like a vintage car pitted against a Ferrari. You can assert that he was the best in his era, before the sport had become what it has today, but by modern standards his feats are little more than those of a schoolboy. You might even say that as soon as the sport began to develop his records and performances became utterly eclipsed. A pioneer has his place but it doesn't necessarily make him the best and in this case he is clearly not.
Armstronglivs is totally right on this one. Deno just loves being the exclusive purveyor of esoteric knowledge so that he can feel like he’s smarter and more cultured than everyone else. There are a couple posts in this thread where he verges on self-parody by bringing up forgotten blues musicians.
He says, “The thing about the guy, American records, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and the mile....who does that?”
Who does that? Probably a 46.0/1:46-high type talent in modern terms who happened to come along at the right time, when such a feat was achievable.
I think you're just jealous that somebody here knows more about the history of the sport than you do.
Actually, not difficult when you believe track started in 1987.
Now that progress in shoes, tracks, training, nutrition etc, is finally exceeding the unique and unnatural WRs of the full throttle EPO era, we can again expect that world records will pretty much continue to come down every decade.
No doubt the mile WR will be under 3:35 in 50 years time. The 5000m WR will be well under 12 minutes. The marathon will be under 1 hour 50. Will that mean that the likes of El G, Bekele, or Kipchoge are *r*p and deserve to be forgotten?
As I said before, he was the running equivalent to the Model T-Ford, which was the dominant car of its era. But no one would say that because of that it was the best car of all time. His performances measured against what the best can now do are like a vintage car pitted against a Ferrari. You can assert that he was the best in his era, before the sport had become what it has today, but by modern standards his feats are little more than those of a schoolboy. You might even say that as soon as the sport began to develop his records and performances became utterly eclipsed. A pioneer has his place but it doesn't necessarily make him the best and in this case he is clearly not.
Jim Brown is still considered to be the best RB in history, could he play today, well? Do you really not get how this works? Jesse Owens is far more important than Vincent Henderson, trust me nobody here has ever heard of him, he runs a sub10.00.
Dude, it's real obvious you just don't get this so go with whatever ya want, But.....pick up a book on American running se how far ya get before ya read the name Lon Myers, Hell, might be on the cover.
As I said before, he was the running equivalent to the Model T-Ford, which was the dominant car of its era. But no one would say that because of that it was the best car of all time. His performances measured against what the best can now do are like a vintage car pitted against a Ferrari. You can assert that he was the best in his era, before the sport had become what it has today, but by modern standards his feats are little more than those of a schoolboy. You might even say that as soon as the sport began to develop his records and performances became utterly eclipsed. A pioneer has his place but it doesn't necessarily make him the best and in this case he is clearly not.
Armstronglivs is totally right on this one. Deno just loves being the exclusive purveyor of esoteric knowledge so that he can feel like he’s smarter and more cultured than everyone else. There are a couple posts in this thread where he verges on self-parody by bringing up forgotten blues musicians.
He says, “The thing about the guy, American records, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and the mile....who does that?”
Who does that? Probably a 46.0/1:46-high type talent in modern terms who happened to come along at the right time, when such a feat was achievable.
I don't know anything about....
baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, rugby, hockey, yep....nothing, so...DUH!....fits, I do have a few interests, track, rasslin', boxing, music, literature, football, there I have that historian level knowledge, Not about knowing more it's about having serious interests,
Myers held 11 world records at different distances, he won 28 National Championship, 8 in one week. His accomplisments are what are really being talked about here. He was doing things never seen before or since.
You may want to check in how many different distances Paavo Nurmi and Haile Gebreselassie held world records.
Only a few strange people would argue endlessly about Lon Myles. Does anyone really care THAT much about this guy? He died on his 41st birthday of pneumonia. Otherwise maybe we could argue about whether he was one of the best masters runners.
Lon Myers. It would be like arguing about who is the best video game player of all time when someone did great at the beginning of video games being a thing.
Myers held 11 world records at different distances, he won 28 National Championship, 8 in one week. His accomplisments are what are really being talked about here. He was doing things never seen before or since.
You may want to check in how many different distances Paavo Nurmi and Haile Gebreselassie held world records.
Key word here is.....runner.....Myers could sprint and run middle distanceon a level never seen before. Who else was doing that?
Now that progress in shoes, tracks, training, nutrition etc, is finally exceeding the unique and unnatural WRs of the full throttle EPO era, we can again expect that world records will pretty much continue to come down every decade.
No doubt the mile WR will be under 3:35 in 50 years time. The 5000m WR will be well under 12 minutes. The marathon will be under 1 hour 50. Will that mean that the likes of El G, Bekele, or Kipchoge are *r*p and deserve to be forgotten?
So are you agreeing with the OP or not, or just going off on your own tangent?