Renaldo Nehemiah...for switching to football. He was head and shoulders above everyone.
Renaldo Nehemiah...for switching to football. He was head and shoulders above everyone.
oldinOregon wrote:
Anybody else remember Houston McTear? A sprinter who could have had it all........
good one.
Renalda Nehemiah cut himself off at the knees with his football stint. I personally believe he was the greatest technical hurdler of all time, should have had a record it would take 30 years to exceed.
Dawn Sowell - what happened to her? 10.8 or so in college!
Magness definitely does not belong on the list. The guy is still training hard. He went to college and it didn't work out for whatever reason, and he is still trying hard to improve. True, everyone, Magness most of all, is disappointed that he hasn't improved more, but to call him a waste of talent is absurd.
Ryun is far more qualified to be on this list than Magness.
sanfrany wrote:
And how you can say his return after retirement was spotty when it seems like a very impressive rtn, setting a world indoor mile record 2 mths after coming back and then the fastses mile in 3 yrs by anyone.
He's clearly on the Top 5 list, but its a different one than this...
Tying a record is not the same as "setting" a record. Contrary to what you said, Ryun never set a world indoor mile record.
Lasse Viren came 4th in the 76 marathon and crapped out in 1980.
Zatopek never realy panned out
Abbe Baekele never even had a shoe contract in 1960...I assume.
Not having enough time to read through all of the blather, did anyone say "Ritz"? He had such great potential in HS and early college - dropping out of college, ditching Wetmore and hooking up with a coach who, if you met in person, most would agree has some severe mental health issues. It is my contention that Ritz could have run a 2:11 during his days at CU and ultimately has not really improved since leaving.
Michael Granville
Justin Gatlin
And a various number of females whohoose to starve throuh college
Plenty of people have explained it. He retired early and then came back as a head case. He could have run at LEAST 3:48 on cinders, if not faster, and he could have been far more consistent. I won't blame him for the silver in 68, but he should have upped the ante and come back strong for 72. Instead he went out with a whimper.
malmomalom wrote:
No one has really explained how being silver medalist and world record holder is a waste of talent. If that is your measuring stick then everyone is waste of talent
Right. If people applied the same criteria, then Herb Elliott would also have wasted his talent. I mean, come on, maybe the most physically-talented miler ever and he runs in only one Olympics?
Oh--but he won the gold in that one. So you're saying that a gold means Elliott's talent *wasn't* wasted, but a silver means that Ryun's *was*? Ridiculous.
Suppose Ryun had stopped after Mexico? (He was only a year younger than Elliott was in Rome.) I suspect people would be LESS likely to say that Ryun's talent was wasted. In other words, because Ryun fought on, with mixed success, for another four years, therefore he's MORE likely to be considered to have wasted his talent? Huh?
I'm not a jock sniffer and had "issues" with Ryun as a runner, person, and politician. But to say that he "wasted" his talent indicates that one doesn't know what those words mean.
Intergalactic wrote:
Ryun is far more qualified to be on this list than Magness.
Ummmmm, I think you lost any shred of credibility you had when you posted this.
Someone posted Adam Steele. Would have loved to see him move up and take some serious shots at the 800. I know he ran some 800's, but it never seemed like he was in great shape. He had 1:42 written all over him.
Granted he had a car wreck but growing up in Michigan Earl Jones had so much promise.
I acutally saw him a couple of years after the his car wreck. I was a couple of several years younger then him and had a feeling of awe when I saw him at the Hillsdale meet. It was a huge let down because he was totally learing and eyeballing every woman that walked by. He struck me as a total loser....making weird faces and crude sounds at the ladies.
Wow. Umh, he did. He got knocked down in a semi's, got up and made a heroic effort to try to make it to the finals.It was a tragedy because who knows what might have happened in the final. I also heard him speak about this once and he said that they appealed the incident and he was basically told the rules could be interpretated that you should advance but we haven't done that before so come back in 4 yrs and try again...
Intergalactic wrote:
Plenty of people have explained it. He retired early and then came back as a head case. He could have run at LEAST 3:48 on cinders, if not faster, and he could have been far more consistent. I won't blame him for the silver in 68, but he should have upped the ante and come back strong for 72. Instead he went out with a whimper.
Yeah, good gramatic point... you win... guess he wasted his indoor WR then too
Living in the Past wrote:
Tying a record is not the same as "setting" a record. Contrary to what you said, Ryun never set a world indoor mile record.
That's a good candidate too. But I think Skeets just got bored with his total domination in the sport. He was something to watch though...
Leopard Boy wrote:
Renaldo Nehemiah...for switching to football. He was head and shoulders above everyone.
Webb 2.0 wrote:
DANIEL KOMEN.
Seriously.
He was incredible, obviously, but we never saw the best he could have done.
Poker wrote:
I don't think he fits here, it's kind of like Noah Ngeny. Great runners who had major success, but who know how good they could have been if they'd had the long careers of a Geb or El G.
Honestly, for a runner of Komen's talent (and the performances he did rack up while he was at his best), the fact that he left without multiple championship medals and WRs still seems like unfulfilled potential. For Komen, I think that anything less than becoming a household name represents a bit of a disappointment.
Same for Ronaldo da Costa, who broke a decade old marathon WR by almost a minute in 1998. In only his second marathon (debut: 2:09), the guy split 1:04:42 - ***1:01:23*** for a 2:06:05. Plagued by injuries after that, but I think he could have put the WR below even where it is today, and likely taken some world/Olympic medals.
Andrew Pearman...he was a 46 400 runner as a freshman in high school and had sub 21 200 speed as well. Transfered schools to play football and only ran the 100. Had world class 200 and 400 speed. Plays football for UVA but wasted his track talent
Pete Richardson 1:47.xx high school record for 880-yards, Berkeley, CA High school, 1981). What happened to him?
Agree with Shannon Butler, Marc Davis, add Jeff Atkinson (all w/ too much partying to get it done).
Long Jumper: Eric Metcalf
Kenny Hall
HSR holder in the Triple Jump...went 56'+ as a JUNIOR...no one is really sure what he's been up to since. No record of him being enrolled in school.
relations wrote:
Agree with Shannon Butler,
How was Shannon Butler a waste of talent? He won 2 NCAA titles, and had several competitive years post-college. It wasn't his fault he was screwed from going to the Olympics, and his personal struggles have nothing to do with his running career.