jsjs wrote:
If he wasn't running world class times, the he didn't have world class talent at the time. Talent is a performance level.
Talent is not performance level. If talent was just performance level (ie, times), then we wouldn't have a need for the word "talent."
There are different ways talent can manifest itself, but on a high level (and in the context of running) talent is the ability to run a certain time with a certain level of training.
So, especially in the case of a kid, you can have world class talent, but not run world class times, because you have not started seriously training yet.
If Bekele stops training completely, he might be a 15-minute 5k guy. That doesn't make him any less talented, talent doesn't go away. Talent is not performance level.