Is there ANY runner who letsrun posters would unanimously be sad to see lose?

Bekele. But he'd DNF instead of lose

Possibly Yared or another 'underdog' American as well

Allison Felix

I feel like Meb is universally loved. His wins were more of a surprise than his losses though.

The only thread I've ever seen that had no thumbs down was a thread on Karrie Baloga after she won Footlocker/Champs Sports XC National Championships in fall 2022. She gave a really happy excited interview after the race that everyone liked.

Allison Felix is a mother.

Generally a past great who is on some form of comeback gets universal love here. At the moment it would be Wayde, noone wants to see him fail, they want to see him run sub 44 again this year.

Rupp, but its a habit.

Oh, and the drunken car crashing bum, wotevs his name is.

The only real answer is Ed Whitlock. I believe he was the only universally-loved LR personality. Everyone rooted for him.

Allyson Felix was pretty close but the 2021 Olympic Games eroded lots of goodwill.

Katir. The board would go home devastated.

The very nature of sporting competition prevents unanimity of everyone loving one athlete or team.

It's a tough question because I think it really depends on how they lost. Something like Devon Allen losing because he 'false started' was the most unified I may have ever seen the board, in large part due to him being a favorite to win and getting unfairly DQed. But if he got to race on appeal and came DFL most people wouldn't have been sad because he got a fair shot and lost.

Something like Tuohy losing the 1500 and scratching the 5k this year left a lot of people sad, but Valby fans probably felt a high akin to heroin. I think everyone was sad last year when Fisher tripped in the 5k in the last 120m, but that's the closest I can think of.

For a hot take: I think people were unanimously sad when Shelby got popped for doping, and she lost a lot because of it. Everyone defending her was so sad that they were in denial because she was the best hope we had of medaling in the 15/5, and everyone else was sad because she doped. The week the story dropped was probably the most divided I've seen the boards, but I think ultimately the emotions stemmed from the same place.

Grant Fischer?

Abby Steiner?

Hobbs Kessler?

Donovan Brazier?

Maybe Forrest Gump breaking the ultra records? Who would not root for him?

Grant Fisher

I think the circumstances matter a lot as Peachboy was saying. So for instance if someone finished 4th at 3 Olympic Trials probably almost everyone would be sad to see them get 4th again, or like if a spectator tackled a runner and then they got up and fought hard and just missed a medal. Things like that would make almost everyone sad to see them lose.

You have to love LRC, where it's all cheap trolls all the time.

That's why, at the very same time, we have a poster in one thread attacking track fans for not celebrating SJ's blackness, and this knucklehead claiming they celebrate her because she is black.

In truth of course, neither is right. But because both are dishonest trolls out for lolz, truth is irrelevant.

In the meantime, Gresham's Law rules, and low-quality posters drive out high quality ones.

Not even a troll. A troll says dumb stuff to get people to argue with them, but they know it's dumb. This guy is just making a strawman of the other side. A good troll would make a post about how we should all support Johnson because she's black and a hero, and barely focus on her performances.

I read some post recently in defense of Nico Young that started out like "Nico Young is doing great, he came out as gay..." and I was like lmao why is that the first argument that came to mind in a running discussion? I don't think it was a troll because it didn't lean into it any more, but if it was a bit more heavy handed, it would've been good.