how good was kempainen?

I'd put Spence ahead of Kempainen due to Spence's bronze at WC marathon. They both won Olympic Trials. However, Kempainen did make two Olympic teams and had a faster PR.

Kardong and Moore both finished 4th in Olympic marathons, several places higher than Kempainen ever finished.

I think if Kempainen had stuck with the sport he would done even better.

That faster PR was a fluke

Cream of sum yung guy wrote:

I'd put Spence ahead of Kempainen due to Spence's bronze at WC marathon. They both won Olympic Trials. However, Kempainen did make two Olympic teams and had a faster PR.

Kardong and Moore both finished 4th in Olympic marathons, several places higher than Kempainen ever finished.

I think if Kempainen had stuck with the sport he would done even better.

Also Mark Plaatjes - 93 World Champ somewhere on the list.

Kempainen's 96 gatordade OT was awesome.

anyone have a link to a pic of that vomit fest? i'd love to see some of his blood and guts during that race.

Repairman wrote:

Kempainen's 96 gatordade OT was awesome.

Kempainen was definitely a stud. 2nd at NY and LA and 8th at that wind aided Boston at a time when Americans weren't exactly in the big city marathon mix were all great accomplishments. I believe he could have been a medal threat if he weren't injured going into Atlanta. His come-from-behind, strength-oriented tactics would have served him well, just as they did for Meb in '04 and Spence in '93.

The most amazing thing about Kempainen was that he was in and out of the sport at his peak. He'd go back to medical school for a couple of semesters, not really run very much, then take six months off to train and pull of some big feat, then back to med school. On the other hand, after he made the Olympic team both times, he suffered physically going right back into training for the games. So maybe the breaks helped him. Still, one of those guys you have to wonder "what if ..."

Scoop Jackson wrote:

anyone have a link to a pic of that vomit fest? i'd love to see some of his blood and guts during that race.

Repairman wrote:

Kempainen's 96 gatordade OT was awesome.

Dang! I can't find the really good mid-race Gatorade purges. I found them a few years ago and thought I'd saved 'um, guess not. The closest I found was this:

He got ugly

fluke 3 (flk)

Victory say:

>>That faster PR was a fluke<<

n.

1. A stroke of good luck.

2. A chance occurrence; an accident.

3. Games An accidentally good or successful stroke in billiards or pool.

1991 2)Twin Cities Marathon 2:12:12

1992 3)Olympic Trials Marathon 2:12:54

17)Olympic Games Marathon 2:15:53

1993

2)New York Marathon 2:11:03

1994 7)Boston Marathon 2:08:47

1995 2)Los Angeles Marathon 2:11:59

1996 1)Olympic Trials Marathon 2:12:45

31)Olympic Games Marathon 2:18:38

My brother and I taped that OT when he puked. When we rewound the tape, the puke flies back into his mouth! It was a wild camera trick.

I had 3 10 y.o's at my house that day. No interest in running really. "Guys you gotta check this out," boom, quiet and hooked for the rest of the race. Two became hs runners, 1 now D1 running. I believe it could be the single greatest recruiting tool for boys that age. Have the J.O. commercial, perfect.

Kemp all time tough. Good thread, except the Mets part.

Kardong was robbed of the bronze by that chemical plant Cierpinski.

Repairman wrote:

Also Mark Plaatjes - 93 World Champ somewhere on the list.

Kempainen's 96 gatordade OT was awesome.

yeak, plaatjes was a stud. but i think of him a khannouchi in the same light. hard to list them among great "american" marathoners, when so much of their respective careers took place before they became citizens (different from meb and salazar who were born abroad but lived and ran as US citizens from a very young age).

i know it's biased, it's just hard for me not to look at it that way.

Hodgie, I don't think he means "fluke" as in Kempained was not that good. I think he means the reason the time is so FAST relative to all of his others is because of the ridiculously good conditions on that day. As I recall, his 2:08:47 was only good for something like 7th that day, right? Isn't that the day that N'Deti set the course record?

"Kempainen"

Kempenian was very good, but that faster PR, well it had some assistance that day. Downhill followed by 20MPH tail wind? With all due respect to Hodgie-san, that PR isn't in line with the rest of his times, hence the use of the term "fluke".

Average_Joe wrote:

Hodgie, I don't think he means "fluke" as in Kempained was not that good. I think he means the reason the time is so FAST relative to all of his others is because of the ridiculously good conditions on that day. As I recall, his 2:08:47 was only good for something like 7th that day, right? Isn't that the day that N'Deti set the course record?

1993 NYC was a pretty decent field, and that 2:11 of Kemp's a solid effort, probably equal to his Boston '94 if not better:

ANDRES ESPINOSA M30 2 . MEXICO 2:10:04 4:57

BOB KEMPAINEN M27 25 MN 1 2:11:03 5:00

ARTURO BARRIOS M30 7 . MEXICO 2:12:21 5:03

JOAQUIM PINHEIRO M32 10 . PORTUGAL 2:12:40 5:03

KEITH BRANTLY M31 23 FL 2:12:49 5:04

INOCENCIO MIRANDA M32 34 . MEXICO 2:12:52 5:04

PAUL EVANS M32 9 . GREAT BRITAIN 2:13:36 5:05

SAMMY LELEI M29 26 . KENYA 2:13:56 5:06

GRZEGORZ GAJDUS M26 12 . POLAND 2:15:34 5:10

MOSES TANUI M28 4 . KENYA 2:15:36 5:10

And sure they didn't have good days, but that's (of later fame) 2:06:16 Moses Tanui, and 2:07:02 Sammy Lelei.

Also, Paul Evans, still coming up at that time, won Chicago '96 in 2:08:52.

I thought he was good,he dropped me like a bad habit in the last 1000m in a race.The Bastard,ha,ha

Some of you might enjoy hanging this up or checking out past race coverage

http://www.uwec.edu/hartnesg/seanweb/BOBK96ts.pdf

I also had the pleasure of watching the puke episode first. F***in' awsome!!, becasue he actually was picking up the pace as he was puking.