music is happiness wrote:
If "Championship Medals are all that matter" why are guys like Tim Nelson, David Torrence, Bobby Curtis, Andrew Bumbalough, and others who have run well of late, but have NO SHOT of medaling on the world stage, still training and improving? Maybe the love of competition and the sport and accomplishment is what really matters.
Rupp may never medal, but if at the end of his career he's run, say, 12:55 and 26:50 and run in a bunch of WC and Olympic Finals, that's something to be proud of. Not everyone can be Lagat, Bekele, El G, Geb.
Rupp just improved his PR to 13:10 and raced some top athletes (and beat a few), which is more than any of us on this thread can boast of.
Exactly. There are so many posters on here who's head are so far stuck up their #ss that they can't think straight, or don't want to. This sport is not only about winning medals, in fact it's not about that at all. It's about doing the best you can do. If that includes winning medals, than so be it. as you mentioned only a few people will win those medals, in the entire world. It doesn't mean the others aren't trying or "need to step it up". Only a complete idiot would post things like that.
And the notion of bashing after his 5k debut, things like only improving 27 seconds, others have run faster, etc etc. What is wrong with some people? First i'm sure he's aiming to peak in late August i would imagine? He may or may not run faster, but the chances are that this was not supposed to be his "breakthrough race", as one poster wrote. Only a complete fool would make that comment. i mean he already went 27:10 this year. This is not by any means a breakthrough race. He's just getting started.
How many runners never improve post HS? Or marginally improve? It's pathetic to bash someone whose PR has improved 27 seconds who looks ready to drop that pr again most likely, especially after all the years of "he won't improve much because he already did so much, had so many advantages in HS/College". Yet he keeps on improving. Which is it? The bashers try to have it both ways.
What does the kid "yes he is young" has to do to get the morons to stop bashing? To the poster who made the comment about people saying he's still young. Fact, he is. This isn't Kenya or Ethiopia. If he stays at it and trains hard, he could be 5 years away from his peak, give or take. He's a legit 24, now a 19 year old who may or may not be 30. He has shown no reason to not believe he won't keep on improving, and has had minimal injuries.
It was only a bit over a year ago people were saying he had no speed, couldn't do this, or that. And he proved everyone wrong. Now he's continuing to improve, and do things no one had done before. Like run 13:18 and 13:14 indoors in the 5k, which now only Lagat has done, or go 27:10 in a 10k, which now only Solinsky has done. At some point you have to start giving him his due and just support him.
I won't be upset if he never wins a medal. I sure hope he does, but someone just doing the best they can is all we can ask for. The odds are greatly stacked against any American born man winning an olympic medal in the 5k/10k, especially with other countries now buying Kenyans making the fields that much tougher specifically in events like the steeple/5k/10k for men.
All that said, i'm happy with a 13:10 opener. He looked a bit flat in his 3:57, but was a good rust buster, and i'm sure, health proving, we will see a few more big races from him this year.