Where are they?
Yes we've got transplants Lagat and Meb, but what about in general? Why not more?
Some argue that they simply in other sports like football and basketball?
I'm not sure about that theory because we have great African American participation and world dominance in the sprints.
So why not in distance events? Is it just not popular enough here?
Stereotype, I'm thinking.
I was lucky because my HS (in NM) had a black guy who was all-State in xc and ran distance (well) in track, so I just figured that black guys could do any distance.
Then I was in college with Charlie Bevier, who holds/held? a course record at Van Cortlandt.
However, there's a lot of stereotyping (by coaches and self) that can keep a black guy from even trying the longer stuff.
Yes, the average American of West African ancestry probably has a higher percentage of fast-twitch than the average American of European ancestry. But those are just averages, not individuals. I think more coaches should be willing to try different tests (with all their athletes) that might reveal latent distance talent.
How about the three time US 1500m champion?
Although defining an African American is not always clear, hear are a few:
U.S. 1500 all time list
3:31.52 Steve Holman
3:31.93 David Krummenacker
Also
Jon Rankin, Seneca Lassiter and Bryon Dyce are Black.
About 6-7 years ago, Muard Campbell out of NJ won the NON 3200 and the Penn Relays 3000m twice. Franklin Sanchez ran a 8:46 2mile in H.S. and a 13:38 as a college freshman.
...to name just a few
Why in the world would they want to be distance runners? White girls aren't impressed with a fast 3k time.
i knew a guy in HS who came out for sprints because of his friends but had to jump in for our 4x800 team. it turned out he was a true distance runner and ended up running 9:4x in the 2mile and high 15's in 5k cc
for idiots...yes he was african american
Somehow, runner=man
Try:
Treniere Clement
Nicole Cook
Nikeya Green
Samia Akbar
Alyssia Johnson
Hazel Clark
Kim Gallagher
Meredith Valmon
Herm Atkins from Seattle was pretty good in his day. He ran Boston in 2:11 in 1979.
check the thread archives. this topic comes up every few months.
Amazing to me, but the name Ted Corbitt hasn't yet come up. He's inarguably one of the greatest American distance runners:
As for the comment by bling: well, it's cravenly racist comments like that that might help explain a whole lot of things.
But I'm sure bling isn't representative of much of anything except his own cretinism....
Yes, YOU. I'm talking to you, bling. It's okay, baby. You're gonna be okay. You have my permission to love yourself. No need to project your own self-hatred onto phantasmic black people. Let those little internalized voodoo dolls GO, Jones. Life is a whole lot more fun when you just let....it.....go.
Steve Holman is one of my favorite American runners.