Decatheletes are an unbelievably dumb example... Of all the events in the decathalon, the 1500 is by far the most neglected because its the least like all the other events. This is common knowledge. You're talking about guys who need to be good at shot put, javelin, and discus and trying to say that they're the best example of mid-distance talent outside of actual mid-distance runners. Absolutely ridiculous.
There are hundreds of HIGH SCHOOL soccer players in U.S. alone that could break 5:00 right now.
I never said that being a professional soccer player automatically makes you a fast miler. But take the best 500 mile times in the World Cup against the best 500 college soccer mile times. You don't think the World Cup list beats the college list pretty much top to bottom? There may be some descrepancy, but given the higher level of athletic ability and conditioning across the board in the pro ranks, the average and top times are going to be a lot faster. And unless those two random players from my school are the only 1:57 guys in college soccer, we can assume that there are probably quite a few 2:00 guys meaning there are quite a few more who are quite a bit faster on the world elite level.
There is the continual assumption by some people on this board that the best runners would still be the best even if everyone from other sports had run track instead. This is almost certainly not true. The odds that all the best running talent would find its way into track and field are incredibly slim, which means there are world-beater talents walking around out there. And where do you think the highest concentration of mid-distance talent outside of running is? CLEARLY professional soccer. Do you honestly not think that's true?