Lemaitre 9.95 in Stockholm

I read the posts you put up.

One about Doc Patten being clean. Two about Makusha, who after all set the CR this year and went sub 9.90.

None about Rodgers or Bledman (posts that include them in race results are not exactly posts about them). So we have established that you need to be dishonest to try to win the argument.

Now post the myriad of thread about LeMaitre on Letsrun for proportionality.

I don't even know what your argument is. R U actually trying to claim letsrun is not interested in LeMaitre rather than faster sprinter because he is white? Please.

[quote]Sprint Geezer wrote:

Post including Bledman (who?)

Good one. You know all about the 9.95 guy LeMaitre, but the 9.93 guy Bledman elicits a "who" from you. Why do you suppose that is? Any thoughts?

You're a moron, b.

And you keep proving it again and again.

Take a look at my post on this thread. I talk about Chambers and Obikwelu, and refer to previous threads on which I've talked about them also.

Nobody started threads specifically on Rodgers or Bledman because it was more appropriate to discuss them in existing threads that had titles devoted to the WINNERS of those races (Mullings and Gay), just the same as the title of THIS thread was devoted to the WINNER of this race (Lemaitre).

But of course you wouldn't know that essentially all the athletes who ran in all of those races were discussed, because you didn't even read the posts.

You didn't read the posts because you really don't care about sprinting, you care about hatred and conflict for its own sake.

You're so incredibly lame. Why don't you go find some web forum devoted to racial disparity, inequality, or injustice, in whatever country you live in?

According to your logic, why am I more interested in Collins and Gatlin than the faster sprinter Lemaitre? Is it because they are black?

And there's no denying Lemaitre's race. He's the first of his peer group to achieve something, and it is only natural that members of that peer group would be particularly interested in his accomplishments, EXACTLY THE SAME THING that happens in any other field, with any other race, color, or nationality.

Who gives a crap if some people are interested in him because he is white? The point is that they are NOT interested in him for the reason that he is NOT black. It is not that they aren't interested in black athletes, it is that they are interested in Lemaitre, because he's special to them. You don't hear them discussing Collio, DeGregorio, Connaughton, etc, even though they're white, do you? Is it because they hate white people?

Do all ethnic Chinese people hate blacks because they are interested in Liu Xiang?

Do all black people hate asians because they are interested in Condoleezza Rice?

And for myself, much like probably most people here, I couldn't give a crap if he is black, white, purple, green, whatever--anybody who runs under 10.00 is unbelievably good, and worthy of specific mention, especially when they WIN a meet they're running.

You're an embarrassment here, b. You're embarrassing to ALL races, whatever your particular race happens to be. You're embarrassing because you're an idiot, and an obvious hate-monger. Even if some people are interested in him specifically because he is white, that is no reason whatsoever for you to assume that those same people are anti-black. There is no logical connection.

Take a look at yourself, b. You're not making any sense. Your ship is sinking--rapidly. And nobody cares if you go under.

__________________________________

And in interesting news, what the heck is the matter with europe? In their club final only a single guy goes under 10 seconds? WTF?

It's not a racial thing, either--there are plenty of blacks in europe, especially France and England. For a continent that apparently cares so much about t&f, why does their male sprinting representation suck?

Chambers, a 33-yr old ex-drug cheat, coming second?

Obikwelu, a 32-yr old has-been, coming third?

And only one guy under 10? Amazing. Given the population and the popularity of track over there, I'd expect better.

Because Lemaitre is from France, and I just spent lots of time there and was exposed to lots of discussion of Lemaitre.

And absolutely NONE on Bledman.

That's why, you KKK race-baiting black-hating scumbag piece of crap.

That's why you don't know anything about sprinting, and never post ANYTHING substantively interesting for anybody to read.

Because you CAN'T. Because you're a poser, and a loser.

Because you're sitting in your mom's basement somewhere in the hills in Arkansas, running your computer off a generator powered by moonshine, doing "god's work" in trying to stir up racial hatred while cooking up some meth to keep the operation funded.

You toothless KKK piece of crap.

Whenever I see "The New Uncleb", all I think is:

"Sling Blade".

there's nothing better than being on letrun, so, I mean this is the greatest message board... if you don't love it, leave it. LRC message board, #1

The New Uncleb wrote:

Can we hold off on Great White Sprinter posts until he runs a sub 9.90?

Sure, when he first broke 10.00 it was news. But he is doing that regularly now and a 9.95 ain't gonna garner no World Champ or Oly medals these days.

He may very well get a sub 9.90. How about a moratorium until then?

your first post was a great one. why bother with the argument? we all know that Lemaitre is notable primarily for his race (first caucasian sub 10, and many said it never would happen, for racial reasons) and secondarily for his youth. he actually does good for anti racism by demonstrating that race does not determine sprinting ability absolutely, if at all, and that therefore, the flip side that racists proclaim (blacks are physically stronger and therefore mentally weaker, is what they speciously argue here on letsrun) is not true. Physical activity from an early age, without all the overparenters, and then participation in track and in sprinting positions in other sports are key to sprinting ability.

Sprint Geezer wrote:

Because Lemaitre is from France, and I just spent lots of time there and was exposed to lots of discussion of Lemaitre.

And absolutely NONE on Bledman.

That\\\'s why, you KKK race-baiting black-hating scumbag piece of crap.

That\\\'s why you don\\\'t know anything about sprinting, and never post ANYTHING substantively interesting for anybody to read.

Because you CAN\\\'T. Because you\\\'re a poser, and a loser.

Because you\\\'re sitting in your mom\\\'s basement somewhere in the hills in Arkansas, running your computer off a generator powered by moonshine, doing \\\"god\\\'s work\\\" in trying to stir up racial hatred while cooking up some meth to keep the operation funded.

You toothless KKK piece of crap.

.

Wow. Racists really don\'t like being called on their racism.

Why don't you quit your whining and just admit racism underlies our fascination with LeMaitre and faster black sprinters get little interest on Letsrun?

uh, not to imflame matters, but...Lemaitre just won the 200m in 20.20 in 50F, wet track and wind was -2.8m/s for CR.

Peace.

The New UncleB wrote:

Wow. Racists really don't like being called on their racism.

Why don't you quit your whining and just admit racism underlies our fascination with LeMaitre and faster black sprinters get little interest on Letsrun?

I really have no idea who you are, but you seem to have a plethora of race cards that you seem to want to throw at every opportunity.

I would suggest that you have more than a touch of racist in you. Or are you one of those who believe only whites can be racists? That old horseshit.

Lemaitre is a very good young sprinter - who piques Europe's interest. He runs nicely and I expect if he gains a little strength he'll run even faster. I tend to think he may be a minor medalist type runner, but that's pretty darn good, what ever color he is. I think he has more left in him than the top guys, but that may not get him to 9.75.

He is a fascinating watch as he adjusts and develops. Perhaps that is one of the reasons he is of interest to many on this board.

The 9.95 sprinter Lemaitre is fascinating but the 9.93 sprinter Bledman is a "who's that". Why is that? Can you point to one characteristic that might explain this?

Lemaitre gets a lot of attention because he's white, built like an 800 m runner and 20 yo. He's atypical and a very exciting prospect because there seems to be room for a lot of improvement given his age and minimal weight training.

Interestingly enough, he's almost exactly the same height and weight as Carl Lewis (around 6'3"/180lbs), except that Lewis's upper body is bigger.Citation for weight:http://speedendurance.com/2011/06/10/interview-with-christophe-lemaitre/

Capitan Obvious wrote:

Lemaitre gets a lot of attention because he's white, built like an 800 m runner and 20 yo. He's atypical and a very exciting prospect because there seems to be room for a lot of improvement given his age and minimal weight training.

The New UncleB wrote:

The 9.95 sprinter Lemaitre is fascinating but the 9.93 sprinter Bledman is a "who's that". Why is that? Can you point to one characteristic that might explain this?

The blade cuts both ways UncleB. Every schoolchild in the US has heard of George Washington Carver, but I guarantee that 99.9% have never heard of Normal Borlaug. Borlaug's work directly saved HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people in Africa, China, and India from dieing of starvation, and nobody knows him. Why do you think that is?

When we get excited that a white guy did something for the first time in recorded history, something that many black men have done before, you call us racist for being interested and following him.

Like Sprint Geezer said, there are probably close to a dozen guys who can pop off a 9.95 depending on the day. Bledman is one of those guys until he can repeat it. He also ran it at the Star Athletics Sprint Series 1 meet (I had to look it up, never heard of that meet before, have you?) and hasn't been racing at any of the major circuit meets that most casual fans would have seen.

Lemaitre has a few things going to not be an also-ran. Hes the first white guy ever under 10, he has run sub 10 four of five times over the past year, and all of these races have been on the European circuit, which is covered much better and seen by many more people that sprint meets in Florida.

Did he run this time in Nike Shocks?

Nice job. That uncle b dude is a serious troublemaker.

The racist rubbish from Sling Blade notwithstanding, if Bledman lined up in a race beside Lemaitre, I'd have to take Lemaitre.

Lemaitre has a 9.95 (+1.0) and a 9.96 (+0.9), Bledman has a 9.93 (+1.0) and a 10.09 (0.0).

The 9.93 was certainly a breakout for Bledman, who was, and who remains, obscure.

Leave it to Sling Blade to try to use the one guy in the top 20 who nobody's particularly written about to generalize to the laughable proposition that this situation arises because he is black--unlike all the other guys in the top 20 who are written about all the time, except for Lemaitre.

Lame. And again, even if some people are interested in Lemaitre because he is white, there is nothing wrong with that. It is not evidence of a racist dislike of black athletes, no matter what Sling Blade would have you believe. Just because some black Americans celebrate "Black History" Month does NOT mean that they harbor a racist dislike of whites and "white history".

So far this season, Bledman has been uniquely uninspiring for me. Why doesn't he get the press that other black athletes get, like Bolt, Powell, Gay, Gatlin, Chambers, Rodgers, Obikwelu, Patton, Carter, Blake, Frater, Collins, Mullings, and so on?

It's because there is nothing particularly interesting about him. He's not as fast as many of those guys, and the guys he IS as fast as are more interesting for a variety of reasons--nationality, doping history, age, rivalry, whatever.

Bledman exists in a vacuum. He cannot claim to be any kind of regional champion, he will not line up in a national event against deep and controversial competition, his country of origin is not involved in the predominant sprint rivalry of Jamaica-USA. His 9.93 (+1.0) is a very good performance, but for the above reasons, and the fact that it was run in a very low-key meet, in which some other guy ran 9.79, it isn't very interesting, at least to me.

In any case, he's not intrinsically that interesting a runner (yet). Lemaitre is consistently as fast as this one-off performance by Bledman. And there is nothing wrong with people being interested, no matter what the color of their skin, in Lemaitre because he is white.

Sling Blade's argument, much like Sling Blade himself, has no teeth.

Sprint Geezer just a quick thanks for your analysis of these sprint events; makes for interesting reading.

Lemaitre is a regional champ, that's one reason for the attention. Chambers also got (still gets) a fair amount of attention even though he's off the pace vs the top guys and he can't compete in the Olympics. Michael Johnson pointed out there's no need to take a special interest in Lemaitre (fan-wise, marketing-wise) because he's white, but because he's French. The world of men's sprints is very 'anglo'.