Shocking error in Alberto Salazar's "autobiography"

Living in the Past wrote:

In "Fourteen Minutes," Salazar and his coauthor, John Brant, write that Salazar finished seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, which were held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But Salazar did not even run in the race. He qualified for the US team at the cross country trials the month before, where he finished eighth. The trials were held on the same course as the actual championships, and Salazar apparently later confused his eighth-place finish at the trials for seventh at the championships. His coauthor did not bother to fact-check this dubious assertion.

I say "dubious" because most Americans who followed the sport in the 1980s are familiar with this race. American Pat Porter led for much of it, whittling down his competition to just Tim Hutchings, Steve Jones, and 37-year-old Carlos Lopes, who made a decisive move with a bit more than a mile to go to win his second title (his first was in 1976). American Ed Eyestone was sixth. Salazar's statement that he finished seventh is magical thinking.

Here is what Salazar (and John Brant) wrote:

A few months earlier, in March, I had competed in the world cross-country championships, held that year in the United States in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Our baby was due at about the same time. Molly went into labor during my final preparations for the race, and Alex was born the day before the championships. I stayed in Oregon until the last possible moment, then caught a red-eye flight and arrived in New Jersey about 4 hours before the race....I finished seventh but twisted my knee in the process, an injury that would dog me for the rest of the year. (p. 140)

In reality, Salazar's son was born the day before the cross country trials, which were held in February. It's strange that Salazar would mistakenly write that his son was born in March. These glaring errors make me wonder how much else of Salazar's "autobiography" is fiction. John Brant, his coauthor, apparently swallowed everything Salazar fed to him.

What remains unanswered is why Salazar did not race in the championships after qualifying for the national team. Maybe it was because of the twisted knee or maybe it was because his training wasn't going well, so he knew he would not race well. This issue normally would have been clarified in an autobiography. But since he falsely claims that he placed seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, he can't very well explain why he decided not to race in those same championships.

Here's a good summary of the cross country trials in February 1984. Pat Porter annihilated the field in 34:47. In the actual championships--on the same course--he ran 33:34 to finish fourth.

Link:www.nytimes.com/1984/02/20/sports/port...

Living in the Past wrote:

In "Fourteen Minutes," Salazar and his coauthor, John Brant, write that Salazar finished seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, which were held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But Salazar did not even run in the race. He qualified for the US team at the cross country trials the month before, where he finished eighth. The trials were held on the same course as the actual championships, and Salazar apparently later confused his eighth-place finish at the trials for seventh at the championships. His coauthor did not bother to fact-check this dubious assertion.

I say "dubious" because most Americans who followed the sport in the 1980s are familiar with this race. American Pat Porter led for much of it, whittling down his competition to just Tim Hutchings, Steve Jones, and 37-year-old Carlos Lopes, who made a decisive move with a bit more than a mile to go to win his second title (his first was in 1976). American Ed Eyestone was sixth. Salazar's statement that he finished seventh is magical thinking.

Here is what Salazar (and John Brant) wrote:

A few months earlier, in March, I had competed in the world cross-country championships, held that year in the United States in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Our baby was due at about the same time. Molly went into labor during my final preparations for the race, and Alex was born the day before the championships. I stayed in Oregon until the last possible moment, then caught a red-eye flight and arrived in New Jersey about 4 hours before the race....I finished seventh but twisted my knee in the process, an injury that would dog me for the rest of the year. (p. 140)

In reality, Salazar's son was born the day before the cross country trials, which were held in February. It's strange that Salazar would mistakenly write that his son was born in March. These glaring errors make me wonder how much else of Salazar's "autobiography" is fiction. John Brant, his coauthor, apparently swallowed everything Salazar fed to him.

What remains unanswered is why Salazar did not race in the championships after qualifying for the national team. Maybe it was because of the twisted knee or maybe it was because his training wasn't going well, so he knew he would not race well. This issue normally would have been clarified in an autobiography. But since he falsely claims that he placed seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, he can't very well explain why he decided not to race in those same championships.

Here's a good summary of the cross country trials in February 1984. Pat Porter annihilated the field in 34:47. In the actual championships--on the same course--he ran 33:34 to finish fourth.

Link:www.nytimes.com/1984/02/20/sports/port...

malmo wrote:

Living in the Past wrote:

In "Fourteen Minutes," Salazar and his coauthor, John Brant, write that Salazar finished seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, which were held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But Salazar did not even run in the race. He qualified for the US team at the cross country trials the month before, where he finished eighth. The trials were held on the same course as the actual championships, and Salazar apparently later confused his eighth-place finish at the trials for seventh at the championships. His coauthor did not bother to fact-check this dubious assertion.

I say "dubious" because most Americans who followed the sport in the 1980s are familiar with this race. American Pat Porter led for much of it, whittling down his competition to just Tim Hutchings, Steve Jones, and 37-year-old Carlos Lopes, who made a decisive move with a bit more than a mile to go to win his second title (his first was in 1976). American Ed Eyestone was sixth. Salazar's statement that he finished seventh is magical thinking.

Here is what Salazar (and John Brant) wrote:

A few months earlier, in March, I had competed in the world cross-country championships, held that year in the United States in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Our baby was due at about the same time. Molly went into labor during my final preparations for the race, and Alex was born the day before the championships. I stayed in Oregon until the last possible moment, then caught a red-eye flight and arrived in New Jersey about 4 hours before the race....I finished seventh but twisted my knee in the process, an injury that would dog me for the rest of the year. (p. 140)

In reality, Salazar's son was born the day before the cross country trials, which were held in February. It's strange that Salazar would mistakenly write that his son was born in March. These glaring errors make me wonder how much else of Salazar's "autobiography" is fiction. John Brant, his coauthor, apparently swallowed everything Salazar fed to him.

What remains unanswered is why Salazar did not race in the championships after qualifying for the national team. Maybe it was because of the twisted knee or maybe it was because his training wasn't going well, so he knew he would not race well. This issue normally would have been clarified in an autobiography. But since he falsely claims that he placed seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, he can't very well explain why he decided not to race in those same championships.

Here's a good summary of the cross country trials in February 1984. Pat Porter annihilated the field in 34:47. In the actual championships--on the same course--he ran 33:34 to finish fourth.

Link:www.nytimes.com/1984/02/20/sports/port...

LITP, I knew that you were a weird dude, but this is ridiculous. So the writer gets unimportant minutiae wrong? So what?

Living in the Past wrote:

In "Fourteen Minutes," Salazar and his coauthor, John Brant, write that Salazar finished seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, which were held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But Salazar did not even run in the race. He qualified for the US team at the cross country trials the month before, where he finished eighth. The trials were held on the same course as the actual championships, and Salazar apparently later confused his eighth-place finish at the trials for seventh at the championships. His coauthor did not bother to fact-check this dubious assertion.

I say "dubious" because most Americans who followed the sport in the 1980s are familiar with this race. American Pat Porter led for much of it, whittling down his competition to just Tim Hutchings, Steve Jones, and 37-year-old Carlos Lopes, who made a decisive move with a bit more than a mile to go to win his second title (his first was in 1976). American Ed Eyestone was sixth. Salazar's statement that he finished seventh is magical thinking.

Here is what Salazar (and John Brant) wrote:

A few months earlier, in March, I had competed in the world cross-country championships, held that year in the United States in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Our baby was due at about the same time. Molly went into labor during my final preparations for the race, and Alex was born the day before the championships. I stayed in Oregon until the last possible moment, then caught a red-eye flight and arrived in New Jersey about 4 hours before the race....I finished seventh but twisted my knee in the process, an injury that would dog me for the rest of the year. (p. 140)

In reality, Salazar's son was born the day before the cross country trials, which were held in February. It's strange that Salazar would mistakenly write that his son was born in March. These glaring errors make me wonder how much else of Salazar's "autobiography" is fiction. John Brant, his coauthor, apparently swallowed everything Salazar fed to him.

What remains unanswered is why Salazar did not race in the championships after qualifying for the national team. Maybe it was because of the twisted knee or maybe it was because his training wasn't going well, so he knew he would not race well. This issue normally would have been clarified in an autobiography. But since he falsely claims that he placed seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, he can't very well explain why he decided not to race in those same championships.

Here's a good summary of the cross country trials in February 1984. Pat Porter annihilated the field in 34:47. In the actual championships--on the same course--he ran 33:34 to finish fourth.

Link:www.nytimes.com/1984/02/20/sports/port...

Living in the Past wrote:

In "Fourteen Minutes," Salazar and his coauthor, John Brant, write that Salazar finished seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, which were held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But Salazar did not even run in the race. He qualified for the US team at the cross country trials the month before, where he finished eighth. The trials were held on the same course as the actual championships, and Salazar apparently later confused his eighth-place finish at the trials for seventh at the championships. His coauthor did not bother to fact-check this dubious assertion.

I say "dubious" because most Americans who followed the sport in the 1980s are familiar with this race. American Pat Porter led for much of it, whittling down his competition to just Tim Hutchings, Steve Jones, and 37-year-old Carlos Lopes, who made a decisive move with a bit more than a mile to go to win his second title (his first was in 1976). American Ed Eyestone was sixth. Salazar's statement that he finished seventh is magical thinking.

Here is what Salazar (and John Brant) wrote:

A few months earlier, in March, I had competed in the world cross-country championships, held that year in the United States in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Our baby was due at about the same time. Molly went into labor during my final preparations for the race, and Alex was born the day before the championships. I stayed in Oregon until the last possible moment, then caught a red-eye flight and arrived in New Jersey about 4 hours before the race....I finished seventh but twisted my knee in the process, an injury that would dog me for the rest of the year. (p. 140)

In reality, Salazar's son was born the day before the cross country trials, which were held in February. It's strange that Salazar would mistakenly write that his son was born in March. These glaring errors make me wonder how much else of Salazar's "autobiography" is fiction. John Brant, his coauthor, apparently swallowed everything Salazar fed to him.

What remains unanswered is why Salazar did not race in the championships after qualifying for the national team. Maybe it was because of the twisted knee or maybe it was because his training wasn't going well, so he knew he would not race well. This issue normally would have been clarified in an autobiography. But since he falsely claims that he placed seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, he can't very well explain why he decided not to race in those same championships.

Here's a good summary of the cross country trials in February 1984. Pat Porter annihilated the field in 34:47. In the actual championships--on the same course--he ran 33:34 to finish fourth.

Link:www.nytimes.com/1984/02/20/sports/port...

Avocado's Number wrote:

It may be an annoying error, but "shocking" seems a bit overwrought. First, the book names two co-authors, Salazar and Brant. Normally, if the book is merely ghostwritten, the title will name the "celebrity" author, followed by the word "with" and the ghostwriter's name, but this book names Salazar "and" Brant as co-authors, which strongly suggests that Brant, a freelance sportswriter, was responsible for the writing, editing, and fact-checking. (Brant was also the lone author of Duel in the Sun, which focused largely on Salazar.) Second, the U.S. trials for the 1984 world championships in February were also at the Meadowlands, so Salazar, who probably did little more than a cursory review of that section of the book, could easily have missed Brant's error; it's very unlikely that Salazar actually forgot that he didn't run the world championships that year or forgot when his son was born.

As for the purported seventh-place finish at the 1984 world championships, I have no idea where Brant got that information, but Salazar had a string of also-ran performances early in 1984; a seventh-place finish in some race during that period would have been consistent with his other race results.

malmo wrote:

Avocado's Number wrote:

It may be an annoying error, but "shocking" seems a bit overwrought. First, the book names two co-authors, Salazar and Brant. Normally, if the book is merely ghostwritten, the title will name the "celebrity" author, followed by the word "with" and the ghostwriter's name, but this book names Salazar "and" Brant as co-authors, which strongly suggests that Brant, a freelance sportswriter, was responsible for the writing, editing, and fact-checking. (Brant was also the lone author of Duel in the Sun, which focused largely on Salazar.) Second, the U.S. trials for the 1984 world championships in February were also at the Meadowlands, so Salazar, who probably did little more than a cursory review of that section of the book, could easily have missed Brant's error; it's very unlikely that Salazar actually forgot that he didn't run the world championships that year or forgot when his son was born.

As for the purported seventh-place finish at the 1984 world championships, I have no idea where Brant got that information, but Salazar had a string of also-ran performances early in 1984; a seventh-place finish in some race during that period would have been consistent with his other race results.

That's not the point of Living in the Past's post. Who of a sound mind culls through a book published 13 years ago looking for minor factual errors?

Maybe he should just call Salazar and Brant up and scream at them. Leave me out of this petty bullsheet!

Avocado's Number wrote:

It may be an annoying error, but "shocking" seems a bit overwrought. First, the book names two co-authors, Salazar and Brant. Normally, if the book is merely ghostwritten, the title will name the "celebrity" author, followed by the word "with" and the ghostwriter's name, but this book names Salazar "and" Brant as co-authors, which strongly suggests that Brant, a freelance sportswriter, was responsible for the writing, editing, and fact-checking. (Brant was also the lone author of Duel in the Sun, which focused largely on Salazar.) Second, the U.S. trials for the 1984 world championships in February were also at the Meadowlands, so Salazar, who probably did little more than a cursory review of that section of the book, could easily have missed Brant's error; it's very unlikely that Salazar actually forgot that he didn't run the world championships that year or forgot when his son was born.

As for the purported seventh-place finish at the 1984 world championships, I have no idea where Brant got that information, but Salazar had a string of also-ran performances early in 1984; a seventh-place finish in some race during that period would have been consistent with his other race results.

Living in the Past wrote:

In "Fourteen Minutes," Salazar and his coauthor, John Brant, write that Salazar finished seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, which were held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But Salazar did not even run in the race. He qualified for the US team at the cross country trials the month before, where he finished eighth. The trials were held on the same course as the actual championships, and Salazar apparently later confused his eighth-place finish at the trials for seventh at the championships. His coauthor did not bother to fact-check this dubious assertion.

I say "dubious" because most Americans who followed the sport in the 1980s are familiar with this race. American Pat Porter led for much of it, whittling down his competition to just Tim Hutchings, Steve Jones, and 37-year-old Carlos Lopes, who made a decisive move with a bit more than a mile to go to win his second title (his first was in 1976). American Ed Eyestone was sixth. Salazar's statement that he finished seventh is magical thinking.

Here is what Salazar (and John Brant) wrote:

A few months earlier, in March, I had competed in the world cross-country championships, held that year in the United States in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Our baby was due at about the same time. Molly went into labor during my final preparations for the race, and Alex was born the day before the championships. I stayed in Oregon until the last possible moment, then caught a red-eye flight and arrived in New Jersey about 4 hours before the race....I finished seventh but twisted my knee in the process, an injury that would dog me for the rest of the year. (p. 140)

In reality, Salazar's son was born the day before the cross country trials, which were held in February. It's strange that Salazar would mistakenly write that his son was born in March. These glaring errors make me wonder how much else of Salazar's "autobiography" is fiction. John Brant, his coauthor, apparently swallowed everything Salazar fed to him.

What remains unanswered is why Salazar did not race in the championships after qualifying for the national team. Maybe it was because of the twisted knee or maybe it was because his training wasn't going well, so he knew he would not race well. This issue normally would have been clarified in an autobiography. But since he falsely claims that he placed seventh in the 1984 world cross country championships, he can't very well explain why he decided not to race in those same championships.

Here's a good summary of the cross country trials in February 1984. Pat Porter annihilated the field in 34:47. In the actual championships--on the same course--he ran 33:34 to finish fourth.

Link:www.nytimes.com/1984/02/20/sports/port...