I'm not sure how I feel about Symmonds but I think I have to like him. Although some of his "antics" and self promotion may seem a bit much; shouldn't someone be promoting our athletes?!
The unfortunate thing is that the athletes HAVE to do it themselves rather than havin the governing body do it for them. Lolo Jones has managed to very successfully promote herself despite a relative lack of credentials when compared to some of our other athletes, but she's managed to do it in such a way that it doesn't feel like she's throwing herself in our faces. She clearly has a great agent and is likely very calculated and intelligent herself.
What's funny to me, going back to Symmonds, is to see guys who claim to be big Pre fans (Wheating) who have anything remotely negative to say about Symmonds attempts at self promotion. It was interesting to read an article about Wheating stating his love for Pre, particularly the "pure guts race" quote, and then saying that he only ran to win...and now this about Symmonds.
I'm not saying that Symmonds has the record of Pre or that Pre should be the standard. It does seem logica, though,l that for our sport to be sustainable SOMEONE needs to promote our athletes. Too bad it appears that the athletes are forced to do it themselves. And if a shoe company drops the 4x national champ and Olympic and World Champion 800m finalist because he's "making waves" then I think Symmonds point will only be proven further and we might really want to take a look at whether that company is truly interested in the growth of the sport or simply the protection of their brand...I believe that those two things are NOT mutually exclusive. I guess we'd then know what they believed.