Are the young Aussie Runners better than the Young Americans

The population stat is overused. I used to hear this from commentators, "The USA has about the same population as all of Europe (minus Russia) but wins far less medals than Europe combined." Same kind of thing about Australia. However, Europe gets to enter three people per nation (about 45?) versus 3 total for the USA, therby invalidating the analysis. There have been years that if the USA entered ten 400 meter guys all ten would have been in the top 12 or so, same with 400h and other events. So...despite the population difference, each nation enters three and therfore can't take full advantage of the difference. I won't even get into the advantages Australia has in athletic funding, etc. that lead to overall strong performances. The USA's best 100 guy at the championships was recently selling shoes out of his trunk.

SHawn Forrest went 13:28 at the Firecracker Fast 5k in Little Rock this morning. Completely destroying the likes of Josaphat Boit. They were probably 4:15 for the first mile.

michael vikeses wrote:

The US clearly beats Australia in Olympic and WC medal count. After the confederation cup we are now a SOCCER POWER. Imagine finishing second to Brazil in the second most important FIFA sponsored tournament after the World Cup.

With its new found strenght in soccer is there any sport American can't do.

We are so GREAT!!

Bow to us Aussie flies.

BOW!!!

BOW - NOW!!!!!!!!

You obviously have not seen the latest Soccer World rankings -

Australia ranks right there with the USA in the top 16 and had the greatest rise in the rankings of any nation.

Australia has already qualified for next years Soccer World Cup - the USA hasn't yet!!

Australians don't need to bow to anyone!

You obviously have not seen the latest Soccer World rankings -

Australia ranks right there with the USA in the top 16 and had the greatest rise in the rankings of any nation.

Australia has already qualified for next years Soccer World Cup - the USA hasn't yet!!

Australians don't need to bow to anyone![/quote]

Current Soccer World Rankings:

Last Updated 01 Jul 2009

Next Release 05 Aug 2009

Ranking Team Pts

Jul 09 +/- Ranking

Jun 09 +/- Pts

Jun 09

1 Brazil 1672 4 Up 384

2 Spain 1590 -1 Down -171

3 Netherlands 1379 -1 Down -63

4 Italy 1229 0 Equal -63

5 Germany 1207 -2 Down -171

6 Russia 1161 3 Up -6

7 England 1135 -1 Down -90

8 Argentina 1091 -1 Down -112

9 France 1082 1 Up 15

10 Croatia 1031 -2 Down -169

11 Greece 1001 6 Up 79

12 USA 983 2 Up 36

13 Switzerland 930 3 Up -1

14 Serbia 925 6 Up 55

15 Denmark 909 9 Up 73

16 Australia 886 13 Up 107

17 Portugal 879 -6 Down -125

18 Côte d'Ivoire 874 20 Up 129

19 Ukraine 869 0 Equal -22

20 Uruguay 860 -3 Down -62

A troll master gets FIFA to respond!

Australia ranks right there with the USA in the top 16 and had the greatest rise in the rankings of any nation.

[/quote]

Ivory Coast had the greatest rankings increase.........

Firecracker 5k results Little Rock July:

1 Forrest, Sean Fayetteville, AR 25 4:21 13:32.16

2 Boit, Josphet Fayetteville, AR 25 4:31 14:02.62

3 Ariga, Stephen Dallas, TX 35 4:40 14:30.13

4 Johnson, Jake Sherwood, AR 32 4:56 15:20.29

5 Pierce, Ryder Mountain Home, AR 20 4:58 15:25.34

6 Allen, Derek Little Rock, AR 21 5:00 15:30.45

7 Radke, Justin Little Rock, AR 33 5:06 15:50.50

8 Kogo, Hillary Little Rock, AR 29 5:12 16:08.79

9 Oden, Jeremiah Shreveport, LA 25 5:12 16:09.33

10 Marchman, Chris Hensley, AR 17 5:13 16:12.48

11 Kaley, Sean Searcy, AR 35 5:14 16:14.77

12 Dellimore, Imari Little Rock, AR 33 5:19 16:30.26

13 Black, Taylor Little Rock, AR 16 5:20 16:34.20

14 Corbitt, Brent Little Rock, AR 28 5:21 16:36.35

15 McWilliams, Kyle Little Rock, AR 24 5:21 16:37.58

16 Bresette, James Clinton, AR 48 5:22 16:41.54

17 Alexander, Ben Monticello, AR 17 5:23 16:43.31

18 Sawyer, Max Monticello, AR 19 5:25 16:50.80

19 Daniels, Clint Millington, TN 44 5:27 16:54.24

20 Langat, Jeff Unknown, NA 32 5:27 16:55.38

link:Arkansas Runner

http://www.arkansasrunner.com/misc/results2009/fire5k09.htm

The US is now in the record books for breaking Spain's record unbeaten streak.

There really is not a whole lot of difference between the US national and the English national team. The English team maybe a bit more refined, but they are essentially equal.

If the US B team wins the Gold Cup that will give the US two major cup victories this year. Actually, the current US B team could qualify for the World Cup.

400mph may be slow, but we get the job done.

- A 10 Commander

TransPacific wrote:

Australia has already qualified for next years Soccer World Cup - the USA hasn't yet!!

Year, Australia had some pretty mean competition to get their Cup qualification...

Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan are some pretty fierce competition.

A-10 Pilot (reserves) wrote:

The US is now in the record books for breaking Spain's record unbeaten streak.

There really is not a whole lot of difference between the US national and the English national team. The English team maybe a bit more refined, but they are essentially equal.

If the US B team wins the Gold Cup that will give the US two major cup victories this year. Actually, the current US B team could qualify for the World Cup.

400mph may be slow, but we get the job done.

- A 10 Commander

not really darling.

I like to see how Adu does in this tournament. He is like Webb in that he has great talent, but is just too erratic.

Jager wrote:

TransPacific wrote:

Australia has already qualified for next years Soccer World Cup - the USA hasn't yet!!

Year, Australia had some pretty mean competition to get their Cup qualification...

Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan are some pretty fierce competition.

Australia - top of the Asian Region.

Don't the US play some pretty mean competition too? Teams like Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Guatemala, El salvador.

Are you kidding me - some of these countries must need half their population to field a team!

Don't get too excited about Shawn Forrest's time on that course - a good win over Boit, but that course is a huge downhill.

Interesting results though - former Canadian star Sean Kaley in 11th place, and 16:40 won the women's race after a 2008 race in which sub-16:00 didn't even finish in the money!

gwalkerruns wrote:

"The USA has about the same population as all of Europe (minus Russia) but wins far less medals than Europe combined." Same kind of thing about Australia. However, Europe gets to enter three people per nation (about 45?) versus 3 total for the USA, therby invalidating the analysis. There have been years that if the USA entered ten 400 meter guys all ten would have been in the top 12 or so, same with 400h and other events. So...despite the population difference, each nation enters three and therfore can't take full advantage of the difference.

ummm yea they still only have 3 medals to give out per event you idiot! so even if the US could enter 12 400m guys, they could still only win 3 medals... see how that works?

Australia has a population of 21 million people (USA =306 million). Australia has no real structured high school or university track programs. There are no professional high school or university coaches. Nearly all the club coaches are part timers who may charge a nominal fee or are volunteers. There is virtually no professional competition within the country. Only a small number of races offer anything more than token prizemoney. It would be absolutely impossible to earn even a part time living running solely in Australia.

I've read today's (sunday) sports pages here in Risely and Bermingham's home town. No mention of them, 22 pages of AFL football, 5 pages of cricket, you get the picture.

To be a successful runner here you must buck the system.

Most guys like Risely would be inclined to try football. Once their athletic gifts were spotted they would be channelled toward an AFL career. At 17-18 they may get drafted and would start on a $6 figure salary and get all the trappings.

If they don't make it then never mind. Get a job, play in lesser leagues and earn a weeks salary every saturday.

Why be a runner?

It is like this....Kenya had 60 of the top 100 marathoners in the world last year, but could only enter three at the Olympics. Odds are one will have a bad day, one might get injured atc. My point is it is easier to beat them in the Olympics when you only face three of them than to line up against 15 or 20 of them in a race like London or Rotterdam...Now as far as the medals go. USA has the same population as Europe (without Russia) but wins far less medals than Europe. Of course, but Europe will enter 45 versus three for the USA. Understand?

jingle bowels wrote:

gwalkerruns wrote:

"The USA has about the same population as all of Europe (minus Russia) but wins far less medals than Europe combined." Same kind of thing about Australia. However, Europe gets to enter three people per nation (about 45?) versus 3 total for the USA, therby invalidating the analysis. There have been years that if the USA entered ten 400 meter guys all ten would have been in the top 12 or so, same with 400h and other events. So...despite the population difference, each nation enters three and therfore can't take full advantage of the difference.

ummm yea they still only have 3 medals to give out per event you idiot! so even if the US could enter 12 400m guys, they could still only win 3 medals... see how that works?

Yes, that's true. But it is also true that if a region is able to enter 45 athletes in an event while another can only enter three the region entering 45 has a much better chance that 3 of their athletes will have peak performances than does the region only entering 3 athletes.

See how that works?

yea but we are comparing Australia not Europe you geese. Only an absolute ass wipe would compare "Europe"s medal haul to the US, it patently unfair.

I've been paying attention to Riseley's achievements. 3:35 to win nationals and a 3:51 mile in early July is pretty good for a 22-year old. It seems like Gregson doesn't have the strength yet to be as consistent. Birmingham has been running pretty impressively for the last year or so. I wonder what Riseley's aerobic power and capacity are like.