Smell the Coffee wrote:
The Pre is a labor of love, not a money-making proposition.
The Pre classic is a disgusting corporate expo and is 100% about projecting the Nike swoosh to fans, to TV viewers, and to the IAAF, in order to increase their visibility, expand, and yes, to make more money. To deny this is to deny ever having been to one.
As for NOP, their mission was supposed to be for Americans to be as good as east Africans. Winning medals doesn't accomplish this, especially when they had to get an east African to win them. Medals can be flukes, and while saving yourself for the WC may be a good medal strategy, it's not a good strategy for proving you're as good as the ones who race Diamond League all season. Particularly if they beat you for the medals anyway.
Let's see if anyone at NOP - even Mo Farah - can handle a full Diamond League circuit and still win a medal. But the Kenyans and Ethiopians can. The Rome 5000 is loaded. How many NOP athletes are competing in it? The 1500 is basically Simpson vs Kibiwot. Why not Rowbury? Because they don't care about the prize/appearance money the way the Africans do, their focus on medals means they're playing a different game.
But in the game of who the best athlete is, consistency trumps championships. It's not the NCAA, the season counts for more than qualifying. To make Americans as good as east Africans (I forgot to mention Levins doesn't count either) they have to prove themselves on the old Euro circuit, the meat and potatoes of elite track. Simpson can do that. Uceny has done it. Martinez and Coburn have a serious DL presence. The only NOP American who does is Centrowitz.
That's really not that good. When it comes to consistent top elites, New Balance blows NOP away, and with less money, tricks, and shenanigans.