Lemaitre 9.95 in Stockholm

Converts to 20.01 w/o wind!

I wonder what exactly he means by "the organisation is not good".

The timing? False starts not called? Faulty wind readings? No testing at meets?

[quote]moshimoshi wrote:

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?

______________________________________________________________

Stephen Francis has this to say about the sub-10s --->

"Renowned local athletic coach Stephen Francis of the MVP Track Club has been weighing in on the number of sub-10 second times to be produced so far this season. According to the IAAF performance list, a high total of 23 sub-10 second times have been recorded so far this season. But Francis is not too convinced by the times he has seen. "I don’t want to say anything’s wrong with those times but normally have to see them replicated for them to count. Right now the sport is in a disorganized state because races are being run in places where the organisation is not good but now that we’re moving to Europe, we’ll see what happens," he said. - June 14"

And this means what? LeMaitre's sub 10.00s are legit but those run by black sprinters are not? Huh?

Sprint Geezer.

You just can't admit that your interest in the 12th fastest 100 meter guy is due to his white skin, can you?

Wow! Denial runs deep

I haven't watched many of his races but caught video of his 200 this weekend. His form looked awful in the final 50m, shoulders all over the place and weaving back and forth. I see all these comments that he looks smooth and good in his 100m so perhaps he just needs more overdistance work or endurance (that is if he wants to improve his 200, 100 should be his focus).

Total racist wrote:

I think that's completely racist that you don't want to hear about a man's results because he's white.

Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!

You know, b, just because you say something and keep repeating it does NOT make it true.

You just can't believe that some people don't give a crap about somebody's skin color, can you? I grew up mixed in with ALL races, in Toronto. I have friends of ALL races, from many cultures. I've even had relationships with women of many different races (except the Indian subcontinent). I work with all sorts of different people. I REALLY don't give a crap about somebody's skin color, be that good or bad.

THIS is what I know: in every color, in every culture, there are good people and there are pieces of crap. I'm a principled guy, and I can like, or not like, anybody irrespective of their race, depending on how their principles align with mine, or not.

You are one of those pieces of crap--and it doesn't matter what race you are. In fact, I have absolutely no idea what your race is, and I don't care. What I do care about is that I cannot relate the things you say, and how you say them, to any goal that I can think of as worthwhile. It is because goals are related to principles, and because I see your goals as unworthy, that I see you as a piece of crap.

So here's your chance, b--put up or shut up. Tell us what your goals are in continuing to make your statements. If you really believe in what you're doing, you would be proud enough of your beliefs to tell us about them, and to discuss and defend them if needed, and to modify them if desired.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, as do the rest of us. This is how adults work, b--even though you may be a white female teenager somewhere, you should take this opportunity to "man up".

If your purpose is actually something other than trying to foment racially-based social unrest for its own sake, then tell us all about it. Now's your chance to speak uninterrupted, with considered and measured words, to make your best presentation possible.

Pretty much everyone on the Board here is interested in LeMaitre because he is the 1st white sprinter to go sub 10.00 and there is hope he will be crack the top ten. The difference between you and those of us who are adult, is that we recognize that we are rooting for him because he is white. Racism and who your root for are irrational responses over which we have limited control. However, those of us who have actually grown-up can look rationally at our irrational responses, and understand where they are coming from. This sort of nuanced thinking is clearly beyond you. Look at your lengthy, hate filled response to the idea that you could possibly be rooting for LeMaitre because he is white -- when it is quite obvious that is exactly what you are doing. By the way, you write like some kind of nancyboy.

Sling Blade, you never fail to disappoint.

Like I said before: just because you keep repeating it DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. So what do you, in your prodigious genius, do? YOU REPEAT IT AGAIN.

Brilliant.

I've already provided you with exhaustive substantive evidence of why it is not true, in this thread:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4061118&page=0

You had your chance, and you didn't take it. You know why?

We all know why--because there's nothing behind what you're saying that is worth thinking about, unless one happens to be interested in your personal individual mental deficiencies.

Which abound.

Interacting with you on this board has been like trying to interact with someone with severe cognitive deficit from a traumatic brain injury, or with someone who is wasted out on bad drugs.

I will never respond to any of your posts again, and will leave it to the rest of the letsrun posters to either call you out, make fun of you, or, hopefully, ignore you altogether.

Life's too short for pieces of crap like you--if I were a board moderator, I'd cut you off in an instant, and it would be my highest priority. It is you who has taken profanity to its highest level.

Ultimately, you are more boring than vexing.

UncleB, nobody CARES if a few people are in love with Lemaitre. Just because they subconsciously like him a little better than the others, doesn't mean they're devoted members of the KKK or that they hate all blacks. People like to see someone represent them whether it's right or not. Nobody's going on a racist rant. They just like this guy Lemaitre for whatever reason, and it's no disservice to black people if some people want to report on his race results more than others. The kind of equality that would require some sort of social engineering to make sure people don't have subconscious favorites. You can't fix people's subconscious wishes to see a white man represented in sport. It's not that bad anyway. If anything is out of the ordinary, such as a white person doing well in sprints, people are going to notice no matter how much you try to race-bait them. I mean, come on.

.

Did I accuse anyone of going on a racist rant? No. Did I not admit that I root for him myself? Yes. Did I ask anyone to change their subconscious favorites. No. Did you even read my post? Why the need to misrepresent what I stated. I just asked that people take a rational look at why they root for LeMaitre.

Why don't you write to sprint geezer and just ask him to admit to himself that his interest in LeMaitre is due to LeMaitre being white? Or are you also in denial (I see are you hedging your bets by saying it is due to it being an out of the ordinary event; that he is liked on Letsrun for "whatever reason").

Sprint Geezer wrote:

Given the population and the popularity of track over there, I'd expect better.

Actually most of us Brits spend our time going on about the good old days, when kids thought it was cool to take part in T&F, and they actually had to run heats at regional championships. Since our 'glory days' in distance/mile in the 70s/80s, and indeed most other events in mid-80s, the numbers (for males at least) have dropped through the floor.

Hopefully 2012 will fool a few kids into putting down their XBoxes and coming down to the track for a few weeks before they get bored. Maybe a couple of dozen will find they have some talent...

By "popularity", what I meant was that there are lots of high-profile meets there throughout the season, in many different countries.

I know what you mean about the male kids' numbers dropping through the floor...while over there recently, I made it to the track beside the Eiffel Tower in Paris, as well as the track in the stadium in Florence.

In Florence there was NOBODY. Period. Post-apocalyptic--not even recreational joggers.

In Paris there were very few people--there were some kids kicking around a soccer ball, a couple of middle-aged wannabees even worse than me jogging around the track, and no kids on the track at all. There were many more people hanging around outside the front door...smoking.

The people there thought I was some sort of Olympian, and wanted to know if Lemaitre was my friend! They clearly had no idea whatsoever about t&f except Lemaitre on the front page of the sports section for a day.

So if there's no participation among the masses, why the interest in the big meets? Just an excuse for something to do by frustrated urban dwellers? Just another spectacle?

Why do you care if anyone admits it? Nobody's getting hurt. You're just out to prop yourself up on a moral high horse and make everyone else admit their bias. Why does it matter why everyone likes Lemaitre? Nobody cares about distinguishing between the races and you're the only one bringing it up. They're happy to just report individual results without saying "however, the only reason I reported this guy's result is because he's white." I mean, who the f*** cares? Seriously, get off your high horse and join reality for a second.

I would add, I don't follow sprints that much but I certainly knew who Ronald Pognon was while not knowing who a number of "better" sprinters were. I don't think there's any question that LeMaitre is a bigger talent than Pognon, and I don't think he has necessary received more fanfare than Pognon did. Face it, when a country as influential in the sporting world as France, who has consistently underachieved in athletics, finally produces a talent, you'll hear about it no matter his/her race.

relax and enjoy good performances. like it or not it is human nature to recognize "the first" to do something and subsequently follow his career.

kartelite wrote:

I would add, I don't follow sprints that much but I certainly knew who Ronald Pognon was while not knowing who a number of "better" sprinters were. I don't think there's any question that LeMaitre is a bigger talent than Pognon, and I don't think he has necessary received more fanfare than Pognon did. Face it, when a country as influential in the sporting world as France, who has consistently underachieved in athletics, finally produces a talent, you'll hear about it no matter his/her race.

.

I am sure that's it. Letsrun posters are frequently posting on Lemaitre because he is French, his whiteness having nothing to do with it. Where he a black frenchman, I am sure everyone here would be just as excited.

WTF? Why can nobody jusy admit it?

The New uncleB wrote:

I am sure that's it. Letsrun posters are frequently posting on Lemaitre because he is French, his whiteness having nothing to do with it. Where he a black frenchman, I am sure everyone here would be just as excited.

WTF? Why can nobody jusy admit it?

Lemaitre is WHITE?

I turn off the picture when track comes on TV (that's not often) and have my browser set to not display any images on track or sports websites, because I don't want to accidentally bias my view by knowing an athlete's skin color.

In fact, I thought Lemaitre was black, simply due to his times. I had become really interested in this new French talent! Meanwhile, now that you mention it, I am wondering if that Patton guy is white, and I am unsure about Powell (although since he's from Jamaica I guess he might be black). Bolt I'm sure is black, I can tell from his voice. Gay I'm pretty certain is white.

The New uncleB wrote:

I am sure that's it. Letsrun posters are frequently posting on Lemaitre because he is French, his whiteness having nothing to do with it. Where he a black frenchman, I am sure everyone here would be just as excited.

WTF? Why can nobody jusy admit it?

Lemairtre is a talented young sprinter. He's a threat to go under 9.9, and maybe challenge some of the top dogs on the world stage. He's not the only promising young talent. So yes, the attention he gets on this board is largely because of his skin color. That said, if it wasn't for the fact that every other sub 10 100m athlete was black, his skin color wouldn't be a big deal to all of these people. You see, the reason why you get flocks of white people rooting for Lemaitre is more grounded in the reality that as it stands, common theory suggests white people can't make it in the sprints. Is it racist to hope to see that theory become outdated? No, absolutely not. How can hoping to see the demise of any thought pattern which suggests that you can't do something because of your race, ever going to be racist?

A somewhat related, admitedly only paritially valid comparison: in US football, if the Philidelphia Eagles are playing the Indianapolis Colts, you don't see white people from Phili and black people from Indy switching allegiances because Peyton Manning is white and Mike Vick is black. People in Phili root for the Eagles, people in Indy for the Colts.

If there is even a smattering of success at the Olympic level in the sprints by white athletes on a consistant basis, suddenly fans of the sprint events in track & field wouldn't make a big deal about an athlete largely in part because of their skin color.