Sensational 800 m Guys, where are they now days.

A good reason (there are many) for not considering the Olympics the be all and end all when rating athletes. Despite this blemish in their careers, both Coe and Kipketer clearly remain the best 800 m runners ever.

Wilson Kipketer an Robert K Andersen both came from Kenya to Denmark to study. I think it was engineering, can't really remember. During the first half of the nineties both focused on their studies and did not take their running very seriously.

When they completed their studies they decided to focus on athletics.

Swedish manager Daniel Wessfeldt once said that one of the funniest things he experienced was when Robert K Andersen, who had been a little bit troublesome to be manager for, said to him in the fall of 1996 that he was going to focus on running now. The following year he was fifth at Worlds ran 3.31 1500m and beat Hicham el G in the Grand Prix Final over the mile. I think his time was 3.55ish.

dick wrote:

Speaking of sweet 800m guys, what happened to Vebjorn Rodal? what is Jonny Gray up to?

johnny gray is coaching KD and other athletes at the moment including Julian Clay (former Georgetown) and some high schoolers.

I always think Cruz deserves to be ranked very close to Coe and Kipketer. He has a better Olympic record winning gold and silver and ran pretty close to Coe's WR (4 1/100ths). His 84 sequence of Olympic runs was awesome: 1:45.66/1:44.84/1:43.82 on consecutive days and 1:43 dead in the final. Then after the Olympics in Europe he ran 1:42.34/1:42.41/1:41.77 in less than a week. All this before his 22nd birthday. Although he ran sub 1:43 the next year, his career was blighted by injuries and he was never able to recapture his earlier form. Certainly he never had the longevity of the other two, but if he hadn't been so injury-prone who knows what he might have achieved.

Good points on Cruz.

And he did take the silver at Seoul in '88 - not too shabby after all the injuries with which he dealt in '86/'87

one of the best wrote:

I always think Cruz deserves to be ranked very close to Coe and Kipketer. He has a better Olympic record winning gold and silver and ran pretty close to Coe's WR (4 1/100ths). His 84 sequence of Olympic runs was awesome: 1:45.66/1:44.84/1:43.82 on consecutive days and 1:43 dead in the final. Then after the Olympics in Europe he ran 1:42.34/1:42.41/1:41.77 in less than a week. All this before his 22nd birthday. Although he ran sub 1:43 the next year, his career was blighted by injuries and he was never able to recapture his earlier form. Certainly he never had the longevity of the other two, but if he hadn't been so injury-prone who knows what he might have achieved.

The thing I was always struck by re: Kipketer were his slow mile and 1500 times, relatively speaking. I never heard much about his training - was it more speed-oriented or strength-oriented? He seemed more like a speed guy given his times. I wonder what a little concentration on the 1500 and some strength work would have done?

I recall reading somewhere that Kip had a very low VO2 max for such a high level runner. I think his speed, long legs, and efficient form made up for that in the 800m but for longer distances he would pay the price.

1:49 as a 12 year old!?!?!? Imagine going to a meet and seeing a 6th grader run 1:49. That is just sick. This is why I think he was clean.

Dick, you've got to stop putting this crap into people's heads.

That's it, I'm putting itching powder in your sleeping bag at the mancation.

You are too nice, and not good at reading deceptive people, but that's why it's so fun to play poker and make shadow porn with you.