Stupid Arguments wrote:
Let me be clear about this...
Abebe Bikila was an idiot (at least during his first Olympics),
Herb Elliott was an idiot (who cares if he was undefeated and an Oly champ),
Zola Budd was an idiot, and
Doris Brown Heritage was an idiot.
I, on the other hand, am not an idiot even though my own running credentials pale in comparison to theirs. What a bunch of dumbasses.
Guess what dipshit: things that apply now, don't necessarily apply in the past.
Now, you'll say someone is an idiot if they think the world is flat. However, there was a time before certain knowledge existed, and before that time, they would not have been an idiot, just uninformed like everybody else.
Clearly, drinking wine during an olympic marathon today would be idiotic. Clearly, everyone who did it 100 years ago was not necessarily an idiot, they were simply uninformed. Regardless of this, anybody who tired this TODAY would be an idiot.
Finally, if one particular athlete (or four athletes) do something, and it works for them, that is fine. On the other hand, for people to then take the thing that works for them, and act as though their single experience 50 years ago should dictate training decisions made today, is idiotic. I am sure that all kinds of other "brilliant" training nuggets could be garnered from the Olympic champions of 50 years ago.
The most idiotic thing here is people who claim that "XX ran barefoot in such-and-such situation, so clearly it is superior."