after being so young and such a dominant force in the late 90's....what ever happened to him? you'll randomly see his a results, but with times sub-par to his past status. will he ever return to that level?
after being so young and such a dominant force in the late 90's....what ever happened to him? you'll randomly see his a results, but with times sub-par to his past status. will he ever return to that level?
Probably the best example of an athlete's performance affected by increased drug testing in recent years. I'm not one to point the EPO finger at everyone who runs fast, but the timing just makes sense on this one.
Mr. Woodman -
Wrong! Daniel Komen got married, stop working with Moses Kiptanui, became very wealthy and supposely lost a lot of the fire. Also he no longer trains as hard as he used to.
i asked this of some friends the other day and was told that he got malaria and was never able to get back to the same level.
I think you're thinking of Wilson Kipketer, WR holder at 800m.
DJL
From a reliable source, he did get very wealthy, starting drinking more beer, and just didn't train as hard as he used to. You'll still see him running 7:40+ for 3000m and 13:10+ for 5000m.
He's the perfect example of a modern-day Kenyan: run fast, make big bucks, and stop and live a wealthy life. That's why people say Kenyans "burn out" so much. They don't "burn out", they just get on with their lives after they have acquired sufficient $$$ and spread the wealth.
Heard the exact same things as you guys. DK is kind of like a normal American now. Can you imagine how many Daniel Komen's we might have if they all had the same fire as he had in the late 90s?
M
For a short period of time, he was the best in history, bar none. Even a prime Geb couldn't beat him.
Conto wrote:
Heard the exact same things as you guys. DK is kind of like a normal American now. Can you imagine how many Daniel Komen's we might have if they all had the same fire as he had in the late 90s?
M
We might if all of our Daniel Komen's could live as wealthy a life as he apparently can in Kenya based on a few years' winnings. It's a completely different ballgame to them.
Absolutely correct. No one in history has a more impressive set of PRs for 800, 1500, mile, 2000, 3000 and 5000 than Daniel Komen. It's almost unreal.
1:45+
3:29+
3:46+
4:51+
7:20+
12:39+
Must say that ElG has an equally scary set of PRs
1:44+
3:26flat
3:43+
4:45+
7:23+
12:54+
Not that it matters much, but didn't El G run 4:44 and 12:50?
ttc
This is not accurate. Geb beat him strait up in 1997 at Zurich in the 5000 (breaking the WR in the process). Then Komen grabbed the 5000 record back roughly 10 days later in Brussels. Geb went after the awesome 3k Komen effort, but fell off pace and ended up running 7:25...then Tergat broke Geb's 10K WR at the same meet (26:29)...all three were increadible efforts, as Geb lost both records on the same night.
I attended the Zurich and Brussels meet in 1997...the Zurich 5000 was a killer race, with Tergat, Komen, and Geb locking horns...Geb took off from Komen with 250m to go to break the WR. Komen was very fit, but could not match Geb's effort that night...
Mike
mcmanus wrote:
ttc
This is not accurate. Geb beat him strait up in 1997 at Zurich in the 5000 (breaking the WR in the process).
I guess I stand corrected. But I still think that for a short period of time, Komen was the most impressive distance runner of all time. Even if he got beat by Geb, he was able to beat him on another occasion.
i know komen pretty well, and i think folks are right about his having amassed a pretty good pile of cash in a hurry. he was the right guy at the right time to take adavantage of decent economies, a slight upsurge in the interest in track and field, and a reliable rival to race in much hyped races that were both time trials and competitive - likely what hicham has been missing. as for what happened, who knows. some will argue that he was doped, and his times do fall conveniently into that window when EPO was around but a reliable test wasn't. on the other hand, he's hardly the only fast runner in his family, and komen is one of the most likely physical specimens i've seen to run those kind of ridiculous times. i'm sure the wealth could have played a role, like it does for many athletes across the sports spectrum. he remains one of the more articulate of the kenyan pantheon. i had the privilege of speaking with him at a first grade graduation last fall, and he did an outstading job addressing the school's parents - much better than i expected. one thing i think for sure - he burned out. clean or dirty - because he could still be doing whatever it was - legal or otherwise - but his times just no longer stack up. then again, maybe father time just said enough. goodness knows he's done that to my fitness level.
well its nice to see that a lot of people are attributing his fall off to reasons other than drug use that 720 is sick ugh :)
he ran a few races in Australia earlier this year. won one of the 5000m races in 13:54 not looking too flash. he did a massive surge in the middle...about a 60 second lap, and put a big gap on the rest of the pack, then died in the arse and only just held on for the win almost getting caught in the last 100
No doubt,
he stopped his drug use. It is estimated that one could run approx. 30 sek faster 5000m with EPO...
12.39 to 13.10.... well, an great example!
And he was caught for coffeine as well!
EPO wrote:
No doubt,
he stopped his drug use. It is estimated that one could run approx. 30 sek faster 5000m with EPO...
12.39 to 13.10.... well, an great example!
And he was caught for coffeine as well!
shut the fup uck and write about something you know about eh?