An Emotional Bernard Lagat Speaks about Missing Worlds Team -- MUST-WATCH

Lagat is good for the sport. Intelligent, well spoken, great attitude, passionate about running, stays out of drama, and clearly a family man. So much more likeable than an egomaniac like Centro. I hope he stays close to the sport after retirement.

I really like Bernard. Thanks for being such a good guy.

z78 wrote:

Lagat is good for the sport. Intelligent, well spoken, great attitude, passionate about running, stays out of drama, and clearly a family man. So much more likeable than an egomaniac like Centro. I hope he stays close to the sport after retirement.

Agreed. Like Geb, he seems like an awesome guy. I hope he stays with the sport too. Would love to see him as a coach or announcer. Great guy.

Always enjoyed his smile

He will be missed at worlds

I'm happy he represented the U S of A

Lagat would make a great coach. I hope Nike provides him with the opportunity to share his knowledge with young runners.

FWIW, Bernard was cleared.

See

http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/display-article?arId=114

Big fan of Lagat. What are his strengths? What is it that makes him so amazing?

Lagat looked in the mirror today over the last three laps.

He gets where his place is.

Great career, a few money races left, but on to being a good dad and living the next stage of his life .

Now he needs to be known as his kids dad .....

Always have been a little suspicious about Lagat. If you look at the all time 1500 meter performance list, the top 50 performances, save for 2 by Kiprop and 1 by Kiplagat, come from 1998 - 2004 (El G, Lagat, Morceli).

Or, in another context, from 1958 to 1958 there are incremental improvements in the 1500 meter world records at least every 5 -7 years. Then El G and Lagat go 3:26. In the 17 years since then, no one has come close to El G's record. Which really makes me wonder how they were able to go so fast, given the fact that no one has really come within spitting distance of their times. Though more athletes from the mid distance hot beds of the world (north and east Africa) have more access to coaching and opportunities to train and race abroad. It just doesn't add up.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Devil Dog wrote:

Fast is relative.

Relative is exactly what fast is not. It is measured with extreme precision by clever Swiss people. The clock is absolute.

Kipketer is remembered for running 1:41.11. Nils Schumann won the big yellow rock, but is he mentioned among the all-time 800 greats? No. He's just the guy who beat Kipketer once.

What you're talking about is time. Yes time is absolute.

What fast is, however, is indeed relative. Yes Kipketer was very fast in his day, but he's currently remembered as a guy who should have, yet never did win Olympic Gold. As the world record gets further lowered, and more people run 1:41, his name will merely appear on the world record progression list; the rest will be forgotten.

Another great example is Noah Ngeny. World junior records in 1500m and the mile, world record in the 1k, eventual 3:43 miler, cracked 3:30 half a dozen times, 4:50 2k...all of that would be forgotten, and he'd be remembered as nothing more than another fast African in the heart of the EPO era if it wasn't for one thing...an Olympic Gold rock.

There is nothing more prestigious in sport.

OlddPolarBear wrote:

Always have been a little suspicious about Lagat. If you look at the all time 1500 meter performance list, the top 50 performances, save for 2 by Kiprop and 1 by Kiplagat, come from 1998 - 2004 (El G, Lagat, Morceli).

Or, in another context, from 1958 to 1958 there are incremental improvements in the 1500 meter world records at least every 5 -7 years. Then El G and Lagat go 3:26. In the 17 years since then, no one has come close to El G's record. Which really makes me wonder how they were able to go so fast, given the fact that no one has really come within spitting distance of their times. Though more athletes from the mid distance hot beds of the world (north and east Africa) have more access to coaching and opportunities to train and race abroad. It just doesn't add up.

I've also been suspicious of Lagat and El G (among others), but I think a lot has to do with biomechanics. There are few runners who are able to get around the track with such little effort as those two. If you look at the all-time greats (El G and Bekele in particular), everything about their form is almost flawless, from foot strike to knee drive to arm carriage. Maybe testosterone would help with that or EPO would let you keep good form for longer, but I think it's something they're born with and which they perfect over the years.

didn't some baseball drug cheat go on and on about how his sample was sabotaged?

Hayduke wrote:

didn't some baseball drug cheat go on and on about how his sample was sabotaged?

No, that was Salazar.

Where are all those other failed tests that should have surfaced over the last 12 years? Not a single one. Now, lmgtfy...

Analysis of Bernard Lagat B Sample returns negative result

girl watcher wrote:

BLAST FROM THE PAST 2.0 wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/3078642.stm

FWIW, Bernard was cleared.

See

http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/display-article?arId=114

As was Marion Jones.

Never Failed a REAL test wrote:

Hayduke wrote:

didn't some baseball drug cheat go on and on about how his sample was sabotaged?

No, that was Salazar.

Where are all those other failed tests that should have surfaced over the last 12 years? Not a single one. Now, lmgtfy...

Analysis of Bernard Lagat B Sample returns negative result

http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/analysis-of-bernard-lagat-b-sample-returns-ne

ryan braun.....or I guess that was salazar right?

I'm not going to speculate or wish Lagat a better post-athletics life. He's still got it. It was just a bad race. He has the grit, discipline and tolerance of a great distance runner and I know he'll come back from this setback. He'll always be my favorite American distance runner. Go Kip!

flent wrote:

Crazy that the last time there was a World Championships without Bernard Lagat was 10 years ago.

And that's only because the rules for changing countries prevented him from competing that year.

He was on the Kenyan team for 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004.

So the last time he really was beat out trying to make a team was 1999. And he ran 3:30 that year.

Devil Dog wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:fast is better than medals

Wrong. Fast gets forgotten. Fast is relative. Fast has expectations....the expectations of medals.

Or you could just not forget either. And tell that last statement to Mo Farah. His medals have put expectations on him to run fast. Completely opposite of what you said. It goes both ways. I'd rather win a medal but running fast is pretty awesome too. I'm pretty sure Daniel Komen is talked about on a monthly basis around these boards.

People, let him go......EPO must not work for him:0