But why? wrote:
I don't think it was less mileage that made USA drop out of the rankings. I think it was the change in attitue amongs African runners, they took the sport to a new level and the distance runners in the rest of the world lost their confidence to compete with them.
Here's what I think about this: The Africans, overall, have always been superior. That doesn't mean the best of non-Africa couldn't compete with them, but simply that they have always had a much deeper pool to choose from. It's kind of like a 1A high school conference vs. a 5A high school conference. The 1A may very rarely produce a runner who can run against anyone in 5A. But the 5A very OFTEN produces the top runners. The USA is now maybe a 3A vs. a 5A, figuratively speaking, with the Africans being the 5A.
There's also the fact that back in the 70s there was really no money in running. So it wasn't the same motivation. Even Pre was living on food stamps and arguing with the AAU all the time. Then, starting in the late 70s, the Africans suddenly had an incentive when American Universities like UTEP and Washington State began heavily recruiting the Africans with scholarships. Rono was the pioneer, and the others followed. That was motivation. During my freshman year of cross country at the University of Utah, we competed in the WAC Championship against UTEP. "Competed" is actually a joke--we couldn't possibly compete against guys like 27-year-old Olympic silver medalist Suleiman Nyambui and 24-year-old Commonwealth Games silver medalist Michael Musyoki. Those guys lost only to Miruts Yifter and Henry Rono, respectively. If the U.S. colleges could still recruit Africans in their mid- to late-20s, they would still be totally kicking our asses. As it is, Kenyans Edward Cheserek and Lawi Lalang are still kicking our asses, but they don't have a whole team made of their countrymen.
Now, once there began to be big prize money in road races and international track meets, that's when the Kenyans and the Ethiopians really took off to total domination even agains the best in the world. Suddenly that "attitude" you talk about skyrocketed. Suddenly a poor African guy who had nothing but supreme running ability could become "rich" and famous in his country. That's attitude for you. Ok, done with my diatribe.