Well, I'll admit his post was weak but I don't think it was racist. A lot of us refer to great athletes training like animals. It has little to do with their race. Maybe you're the racist for interpreting it that way.
GlobalView wrote:Thank goodness for sense wrote:"...numerous E Africans training like animals"? Wow, that may be one of the most racist clauses every written on the LR boards. And don't come back and change/water down the way you said what you did, because it's too late.Halleluja wrote:I admire and respect Joanie and all but the insults directed at Hall are completely unjustified. People on this thread are trying to say that a 2h 21 min marathon runner is better than a 2h 04 min runner which is beyond ridiculous.False Equivalence wrote:Apples and oranges.
Joan Samuelson won an Olympic Gold. Last I checked Ryan Hall DNFd in his last Olympics.
Ryan Hall's AR is 2:04, when Joan Benoit won her Gold Medal, she ran 2:24. Yes, that is a difference of 20min, or 4 miles.
In other words - it's not even the same sport.
Hall has had to compete in athletic open competition (in an era with a greater talent pool i.e. numerous E Africans training like animals), not some sub category competition where the very best are excluded just to allow another competition to take place. As you say, it is not even the same sport and the two runners are of completely different statuses.
This kind of dehumanization is a hallmark of racism, and I find it/you sickening.