All is see is people praising derrick, fernandez, puksedra (sp?) acosta etc. but hardly ever do people give enough respect to Sammy Chelanga. The guy just went 2,1,1 in NCAA's holds numerous NCAA records and has been blowing away the competition in some of distance running's most competitive years.
Chelanga is undoubtedly the NCAA's greatest distance runner in history and despite what anybody thinks, Sammy is the future of American distance running once he gets citizenship.
Is it because he is african? non-top 10 school? didn't run hs in the usa?
That's why he isn't getting a lot of praise. People have watched Derrick, Fernandez, Puskedra and Lowe since high school and have been inspired by them, seeing future greatness. Now all of a sudden Chelenga comes along, and blows them away. It's a little disheartening to see those who you have placed such high expectations on be surpassed like that, so Chelenga becomes the enemy in a sense. It has more to do with the fact that he didn't go to high school here, rather than the fact he is african, or at least for me it does. In time, after he becomes a citizen I'm sure I will accept him as one of our own, but I admit, it won't happen instantly.
Yes, because moving here when he was 10, going to high school here, becoming a citizen, representing his country and winning medals at the Olympics have earned Meb such universal respect here [/sarcasm]
Mr. Obvious wrote:
Yes, because moving here when he was 10, going to high school here, becoming a citizen, representing his country and winning medals at the Olympics have earned Meb such universal respect here [/sarcasm]
Just medal not "medals," one silver with an asterisk because of the crazy guy who grabbed the leader and gave Meb at least 1 extra place. And just being a citizen doesn't make you a real American. I mean does Meb even vote Republican? No REAL American votes Democratic.
The dude's brother is/was good, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Chelanga
Americans want to see Americans who succeeded coming from a similar background. Most Americans did not flee a reign of terror. Most Americans were not born overseas into another citizenship. More Americans (at least the ones with Internet reading this board) are concerned with how to overcome complacency and convience to be a successful athlete than they are concerned with overcoming a third world childhood to be a successful athlete.
didnt chelanga just start running about a year before he got to college? i could be wrong but i thought chelanga had no job and was basically doing nothing, then his brother a 2:07 marathoner encouraged him to try running.
so if he had gone to high school in the united states, he may not have even started running before he finished high school, so we still would not have heard of him.
his age at the time he started running was 18-19 so in the USA, he likely would not have run in high school.
to me though a kid who did not even start running until after high school who wound up winning NCAA titles and setting a NCAA record is an even more amazing story, than if he ad run in high school and was a sub 8:50 for 2 miles at 16-17.
Of course I respect Chelenga as a runner but I think the problem is that he is African as Meb is originally. We already know that many runners from African heritage are incredibly talented. How many white runners could start at 18 and go on to win two+ NCAA titles?
I think what most people on this site want is a runner that shows us that we can compete at the same level as the Africans. Most people on this site will never compete at that level but it is disheartening to see runners who have just started dominate others who have been running for 5- years.
To clarify, there are many runners who are African/or from African background who are talented/hardworking who deserve great respect but many white runners are looking for a role model that shows us it is possible to compete at the same level as the runners who are/were African.It is hard to be interested in a sport where you know that you could never compete at the highest level.
I don't think it is an issue of respect. Everyone respects his running ability. He was the overwhelming favorite to win prior to the meet. I personally do not find it that exciting to watch a near 27 flat 10000 meter runner in his mid-20's win the NCAA meet. If Rupp were somehow eligible now and won, I would not find that interesting either.
I respect Chelanga. People I know respect Chelanga.
Billy Pilgrim wrote:
I don't think it is an issue of respect. Everyone respects his running ability. He was the overwhelming favorite to win prior to the meet. I personally do not find it that exciting to watch a near 27 flat 10000 meter runner in his mid-20's win the NCAA meet. If Rupp were somehow eligible now and won, I would not find that interesting either.
this.
Billy Pigriam wrote the truth.....now do you understand poster?
Sam isn't really an interesting topic. Everybody knew he was going to win, so props to him, but it wouldn't be fun discussing a topic that has a unanimous agreement.
It was much more fun discussing the battle between Stanford and OSU trying to figure out who was going to round out the top 10.
douglas burke wrote:
didnt chelanga just start running about a year before he got to college? i could be wrong but i thought chelanga had no job and was basically doing nothing, then his brother a 2:07 marathoner encouraged him to try running.
It wasn't just Joshua that encouraged him; some guy named Tergat that Joshua trained with saw some potential there and told Sammy he should try running. Apparently when that guy says you should run you start running.
credit whr credit is due wrote:
Is it because he is african? non-top 10 school? didn't run hs in the usa?
No it's because he was born in 1985. He'll be 26 in March of 2011. It's not as bad as when Nyambui was 29 when he graduated from UTEP, but what's to respect?????????????