So far, Team USA has sh-t the bed. Why?

It is all Nike's fault.

It's not that everyone else is on PEDs. Just Kenya. And, yes, as one article (and videotape) (and drug test) after another has affirmed: all Kenyans dope.

Not being patriotic here, but I do think the Americans are mostly clean nowadays, and clean athletes can never, ever compete with doped ones.

Kenya.

There are two populations of athletes. The first is a mixture of clean and carefully microdosed athletes who compete a lot and tend to be in close competition with each other. The second is the blatant dopers who save themselves for WCs and Olympics. The problem is everyone's expectations are set based on the first group. It's getting to the point where WC and Olympic results are nearly impossible statistically -- way too many upsets for it to be believable.

There has been some bad luck for the USA and when you have no depth and only 1 or 2 medal threats, everything has to go perfectly.

Also there have been lots of medals from countries with questionable anti-doping programs.

It also seems like there have been more sudden phenoms than usual, which makes you wonder.

It's hard enough catching cheaters if you have a serious and consistent out of competition testing program. But how effective is OOC anti-doping in Bosnia, for example?

Also, like with Salazar and the NOP, it came out that Salazar experimented with microdosing on his sons. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the NOP scandal scared off questionable USA runners.

HardLoper wrote:

Kenya.

Partly true, but in addition to Kenya there are also 3 other countries ahead of the USA on the medal tables - GB, Jamaica, and Cuba.

It's Nick Symmonds' fault. He made all the other U.S. athletes think they deserve to be better paid with income from USATF and multimillion dollar endorsements. Meanwhile, all the other athletes are focused on making their countries proud and competing to the best of their abilities. They don't care about advertising gum and tanning salons, just running fast.

Alan Abrahamson has a story up about how Team USA has sucked in Beijing.

http://www.3wiresports.com/2015/08/26/red-white-and-maybe-feeling-blue/

Most of the distance runners have looked flat. I think the 1 month break before WC and going back to altitude, etc, took its toll.

Hopefully next year everyone will reassess and sharpen a little bit better and rest a little bit more.

Discouraged Fan Life wrote:

So far, most US medal threats are out of the medals or not even making it to the finals. The US bombs out in the men's and women's steeple and the women's 1500. Rupp looks terrible, the women's 800 only has Martinez left, and in the sprints and field events the US is much weaker than usual. I'm about ready to quit watching the WC because the US runners bomb out and I'm depressed the rest of the day.

US is 5th on the medal table so far:

http://www.iaaf.org/Competitions/iaaf-world-championships/15th-iaaf-world-championships-4875/medaltable

What's going on?

Bad luck? Bad coaching? Lack of depth? Weather? Everyone else is on PEDs?

I think the global depth has increased. You have cases of athletes with really high expectations under performing. But overall its really hard to medal at the global championships.

American expects medals. But even placing is a pretty awesome scenario. 3,4,6 in the 10k is a pretty remarkable achievement. 400IH just went 2,3.

You also have an increased movement of athletes. The regional centers are uprooting the really fantastic athletes and sending them to the high performance facilities for training and proper coaching.

The national diversity of the M400 final is amazing -

Same with the start list for the W800 Semi - slowest season best heading into the Semis is 2:00.60.

You guys think everyone is on drugs or at least everyone who isn't a white American. But the teaching by educated coaches is at an all time high. Smaller nations put more resources into one or two athletes. The amount of training knowledge per event is amazing. On a global level athletes are specializing earlier. Coaches and athletes collaborate and work together at various centers and just get better. All sorts of good things are happening.

sad story wrote:

There are two populations of athletes. The first is a mixture of clean and carefully microdosed athletes who compete a lot and tend to be in close competition with each other. The second is the blatant dopers who save themselves for WCs and Olympics. The problem is everyone's expectations are set based on the first group. It's getting to the point where WC and Olympic results are nearly impossible statistically -- way too many upsets for it to be believable.

Actually, there seem to be fewer suspicious Russians, Turks, Spaniards, etc coming out of the woodwork for this championship.

Peabrain wrote:

It's Nick Symmonds' fault. He made all the other U.S. athletes think they deserve to be better paid with income from USATF and multimillion dollar endorsements.

They are secretly on STRIKE, except for that lousy scab Kovacs.

Too many early season meets? Remember some athletes don't have to "peak" any other time- I think a lot of potential new American talent is burnt off in the collegiate season( Long jumpers) . I especially see a lot of possible sprint talent being siphoned into the pro sports in the USA. I imagine if they start playing American football in Jamaica- a lot of their male sprint talent would dwindle. Agee Wilson probably would have medaled and she's out and "Batman" too was injured late in the season. I don't understand why the US can develop competitive pole vaulters anymore.

4 days left, The USA will still have the MOST MEDALS and the MOST GOLDS when the meet is over Sunday.

Too much focus on the world relays made them peak early

Also there have been poor at tactical racing. They did not play to their strength

I'll get this out of the way now---

TEAM USA GOES HOME DEVASTATED!!!!!

thanks for providing the great statistics/data to back up your conclusion. totally believable!

sad story wrote:

There are two populations of athletes. The first is a mixture of clean and carefully microdosed athletes who compete a lot and tend to be in close competition with each other. The second is the blatant dopers who save themselves for WCs and Olympics. The problem is everyone's expectations are set based on the first group. It's getting to the point where WC and Olympic results are nearly impossible statistically -- way too many upsets for it to be believable.

I've got a bad feeling about Rio.

For an American Rupp ran probably the second greatest World Championship or Olympic 10,000 in history after Billy Mills.

80 degrees and 27:08 and he was at the front until the last lap. Arguably better than his Silver in 2012.

The woman's 10k for the American's was an unprecedented performance.

And likewise the men in the Steeplechase. 3 in the final?

Maggie Infeld with a Bronze ahead of Huddle in fourth?

Historically the American distance runners have rarely performed better.