Willis calls out Rupp

Not really cool wrote:

If Nick Willis wants to attract fans to the sport he should run faster. Talking about people is boring. Follow the rabbit and show us what you've got Mr. 'Best shape of my life'.

3:57 in a kick is not terribly exciting, especially from a guy who makes it sound like he is in 3:50 shape. Of course, running that would have involved taking a risk,

Well, he beat a guy who is reported to be in 3:49 shape and everyone else. So...?

MrGambinus wrote:

Not really cool wrote:

If Nick Willis wants to attract fans to the sport he should run faster. Talking about people is boring. Follow the rabbit and show us what you've got Mr. 'Best shape of my life'.

3:57 in a kick is not terribly exciting, especially from a guy who makes it sound like he is in 3:50 shape. Of course, running that would have involved taking a risk,

Well, he beat a guy who is reported to be in 3:49 shape and everyone else. So...?

+1. Track is about racing people.

proportion wrote:

What did Willis said that was incorrect?

*crickets chirping*

Correct. Nothing. Posters going out of there way to try to rag on Willis for just posting some facts are embarrassing themselves.

t

Not really cool wrote:

If Nick Willis wants to attract fans to the sport he should run faster. Talking about people is boring. Follow the rabbit and show us what you've got Mr. 'Best shape of my life'.

3:57 in a kick is not terribly exciting, especially from a guy who makes it sound like he is in 3:50 shape. Of course, running that would have involved taking a risk,

He could have won in 4:10 it doesn't matter. He beat some great caliber athletes. Time in that race = irrelevant.

proportion wrote:

proportion wrote:

What did Willis said that was incorrect?

*crickets chirping*

Correct. Nothing. Posters going out of there way to try to rag on Willis for just posting some facts are embarrassing themselves.

I think the posters criticizing Willis are really just redirecting their anger at the LRC posters ripping on Rupp, who are indeed going overboard for such a trivial issue, and focusing on Willis, whose remarks really weren't inflammatory.

Running Man wrote:

The issue as I see it from most peoples perspective isn't that he dropped out. It's that he dropped out and then went on to do a workout after the race. It's rather disrespectful to the entire field in that race if you pull out citing the fact you feel you were at risk of injury had you continued and then not even let the day end before getting back on the track to do some training.

I don't think it would have killed AlSal and Rupp to have called it a day there at least this once.

THIS, THIS, THIS, 1000x THIS.

Entire issue summed up perfectly. Nick Willis has no problems with Rupp dropping out, hell Willis has done it. Every pro does at some point in their life. Can't think of other pros though who drop out, espescially BECAUSE OF "INJURY", and then go do repeats after the race.

I was at the race & I was surprised that the announcers gave Willis no credit at the starting line. Manzano was announced as the current Olympic Silver Medalist, Rupp was introduced in essay form (aka, the announcer basically gave a summary of his entire career), and Willis was just announced as "Being in great shape after his victory last month in 3:5x.xx" ....

Jus' saying.

Good job Nick.

rupp-certified shoefitr wrote:

800 analyzer wrote:

Now why Rupp didn't force the pace, I don't know, I thought he would want a fast race.

Please show us ANY example of Rupp "forcing the pace" against real international competition, EVER.

Who has he even beaten in an important race? Lagat at trials, not so important, second basically as good as first; lagat's beaten him about 20x...medaled against a weak field in the olympics, with two bekeles on the downsides of their careers, and a bunch of Americans at us championships. i like rupp and watching the record attempts and everything, but this is not surprising in the last. I would have been SHOCKED if he had beaten an in-shape Willis.

yyy wrote:

is he the brother of Bruce Willis?

No, but he is the second cousin of Willis Reed

NOP is not trying to win any awards for toughness, Rupp and NOP athletes in general have dropped out of their share of races, but certainly no more than the average elite. NOP is obsessed with staying healthy, one of the things AlSal admits he got from conversations with BK was the importance of having long uninterrupted training blocks. They will not race when they are not fit, have the slightly injury or take unnecessary chances which is why they rarely run cross country for example. Their order of priority is:

1. Medals at major championships

2. Running fast times and setting records

3. Workouts

4. Non championships & non fast time/record opportunities races

I am pretty sure Rupp felt a twing or AlSal noticed something off in his gate, realized they were not going run fast and figured there was more to gained by a workout than race. Yes, #3 is actually more important than #4...take this for what its worth.

that's true but wrote:

Who has he even beaten in an important race? Lagat at trials, not so important, second basically as good as first; lagat's beaten him about 20x...medaled against a weak field in the olympics, with two bekeles on the downsides of their careers, and a bunch of Americans at us championships. i like rupp and watching the record attempts and everything, but this is not surprising in the last. I would have been SHOCKED if he had beaten an in-shape Willis.

Who has he beaten in an important race? Seriously? Rupp has beaten a lot of top runners in big races such as diamond league and at they olympics and world championships. He has beaten a lot of sub 12:55 and 26:50 guys. Now I'm sure you'll have laundry list of excuses of why those guys couldn't beat Rupp on those days, and conveniently forget that is what racing is.

He is not the man of distance running in the world, he's just trying to keep climbing to the top. Seems to me he has done a damn fine job of it. People have said things like Rupp will:

Never win an NCAA title - 7

Never win a "race that matters" - how many US championships?

Never win an olympic medal - silver

Never break 4:00 in the mile - 3:50

Never break 13:00 for 5000 - 12:58

Never break 27:00 for 10000 - 26:48

etc. etc.

So he goes on to do all of those things and then some, and then keep improving and he somehow gets torn apart because he's not the greatest runner in every event in history.

Wake me up when the only guys we can talk about having a better range from 1500 - half marathon aren't guys like

Bekele 1

Geb

Tergat

Komen

Farah

Nikeey wrote:

Nick Willis just called out Galen Rupp on Twitter.

Nick Willis ‏@nickwillis -

"Disappointed. The two times I've raced Rupp... two DNFs. Both times he still did a w/o after. #milrosegames?"

Pretty funny. Even Willis hints that Rupp drops out when the going gets tough...

The really hilarious part is that Willis talks about how "I've faced Rupp" twice and doesn't mention that he finished in 11th place in the other race that Rupp DNF'd.

Eleventh! Wow, what a disappointment that he didn't get the showdown with Rupp there.

For those comparing Willis to Marty Liquori, Marty would never weasel about a race where he finished eleventh.

And I saw that 5000m in 2005 where Willis ran 13:27. He ran like a wuss, letting Hall and Dobson go and then putting on a big finish when he had no chance to catch up.

play the stradivarius wrote:

Nikeey wrote:

Nick Willis just called out Galen Rupp on Twitter.

Nick Willis ‏@nickwillis -

"Disappointed. The two times I've raced Rupp... two DNFs. Both times he still did a w/o after. #milrosegames?"

Pretty funny. Even Willis hints that Rupp drops out when the going gets tough...

The really hilarious part is that Willis talks about how "I've faced Rupp" twice and doesn't mention that he finished in 11th place in the other race that Rupp DNF'd.

Eleventh! Wow, what a disappointment that he didn't get the showdown with Rupp there.

For those comparing Willis to Marty Liquori, Marty would never weasel about a race where he finished eleventh.

And I saw that 5000m in 2005 where Willis ran 13:27. He ran like a wuss, letting Hall and Dobson go and then putting on a big finish when he had no chance to catch up.

You're embarrassing yourself by attacking Willis for his vanilla tweet.

that's true but wrote:

Who has he even beaten in an important race? Lagat at trials, not so important, second basically as good as first; lagat's beaten him about 20x...medaled against a weak field in the olympics, with two bekeles on the downsides of their careers, and a bunch of Americans at us championships. i like rupp and watching the record attempts and everything, but this is not surprising in the last. I would have been SHOCKED if he had beaten an in-shape Willis.

You're right, Lagat just let Rupp out kick him at the Oly Trials. Yes, top 3 is what matters, but if you don't think it was a race for 1st, then you're just ignorant. Enough with the "medaled against a weak field" BS. It was the OLYMPICS for christ's sake. I bet if it had been Solinsky or Teg earning silver, you'd be singing their praises about how bad ass and tough they are.

And to the poster that said Rupp dropped out because he was "scared" ... you've got to be fu*ckin' kidding?! Scared of who?! He's been racing against the World's best runners for years, I don't think he was scared of Willis or Manzano at the New Balance meet.

Amazing the stuff people on these boards can go on and on about.

yeah right wrote:

[quote]that's true but wrote:

And to the poster that said Rupp dropped out because he was "scared" ... you've got to be fu*ckin' kidding?! Scared of who?! He's been racing against the World's best runners for years, I don't think he was scared of Willis or Manzano at the New Balance meet.

Scared of worsening a potential injury most likely.

I'd be scared of that too.

Cut him some slack for God's sake!!!!

Sometimes I cannot believe the trash that gets posted on this running message board.

What's willis ever won in the Olympics? Oh that's right, nothing. Hey Nicky, Rupps got a silver.

People like you are absolutely clueless about sports. Some people like certain athletes, and some people do not. Some people like certain schools, and some people do not. Some people like certain countries, and some people do not. That is what sports is about.

Rupp is a professional athlete. He makes his money by being in the public eye: good or bad, he cannot pick one over the other. If Rupp cannot handle the criticism that goes with being a professional athlete, he can quit--problem solved.

Willis won a silver medal in the 1500m in the Olympics and gold and bronze in the Commonwealth Games. A three-time Olympian with a not so shabby 3:30.38 1500m PR either. I'd say he's pretty good at his event. Not to mention that he's almost 31 and still world-class.