ONE RACE WONDER? Who has gotten this biggest career boost based off one race/performance?

The Gray Zone wrote:

Frank Shorter. Winning the Olympic marathon not only changed his life, it changed the American recreational sporting scene.

What is it about "ONE race wonder" that you don´t understand?

As mentioned previously, the question was poorly phrased. My bad.

I was asking who gave a "one hit wonder" performance and is merely known for that and never did anything of note after that. Some were smart enough to see beyond my bad phrasing and understood what a one hit wonder was.

To that, I would have to vote Billy Mills.

Asker of questions wrote:

As mentioned previously, the question was poorly phrased. My bad.

I was asking who gave a "one hit wonder" performance and is merely known for that and never did anything of note after that. Some were smart enough to see beyond my bad phrasing and understood what a one hit wonder was.

To that, I would have to vote Billy Mills.

Sounds like you need a better handle, or better questions.

shorter won olympic marathon twice

Alana Hadley

way overhyped wrote:

malmo wrote:

No.

You mad?

Difference Ronos we are talkng about.

This thread is obviously set up to name Billy Mills.

His one race even lead to a movie being made about him.

And there is not a single other race he ran that ever gets mentioned.

Webb was quite famous before he ran 3:46 with no competition and his 3:30 win in Paris was a better race.

Peter Rono had the one great race but it still didn't seem to do much for his career.

Manzano's 10 straight top 3 USA finishes have kept his name out there beyond the one Olympic medal.

Honorable mention goes to Roger Bannister.

His first sub 4 only lasted 46 days as a record and it wouldn't even be his lifetime PR.

But that one race did everything for his legacy.

The Gray Zone wrote:

Frank Shorter. Winning the Olympic marathon not only changed his life, it changed the American recreational sporting scene.

QFT

The obvious problem here is that all you guys know about Mills is from what you learned by watching Robby Benson in Running Brave.

Three time All American in XC before Tokyo. Second in OT, US record in 10k, 5k and 3 miles after, as well as a WR in the 6 mile.

I would think the question was set up to name Katerine Switzer. Not a knock on Switzer, but what had she done prior and what did she do on the roads or track after? And yet, that one Boston race provided a springboard to a pretty good career in running circles.

way overhyped wrote:

Queen of BS wrote:

Actually a woman by the name of Kathrine Switzer and her so called numbered 1st woman at Boston running effort and getting pushed on the course photo have allowed her to milk the running circuit for years. She is still out there today hawking books, seminars whatever else she can sell.

You mad? Did Katherine Switzer dump you in college or something?

"So called numbered first woman" - what does that even mean? Use your words better.

The poster may be a bit gruff in posting about Switzer but Switzer was the first woman known to run Boston with an official entry. She was not the first woman to run Boston.

Venusty Niangabo from Burundi

Hall is up there for sure.

Do you even 5000 bro? wrote:

Venusty Niangabo from Burundi

Pardon the typo. Venuste Niyongabo 1996 Olympic 5000 champ

Race vid:

sadly the answer may well be Terry Fox

Mile pace easy wrote:

My first thought when I read the question was immediately:

Leonel Manzano

Prior to his Olympic silver, Leo was a top 3 US runner with an international track record about as bad as could possibly be.

Now, he has respect as if he has always been good Internationally, when really, he had one race.

karpopper wrote:

shorter won olympic marathon twice

???

wrong question wrote:

Hayduke wrote:

paul pilkington... won LA Marathon as a rabbit.

Steve Spence... bronze medal wc marathon

The point of this thread is people who got a career boost from one race and became well-known, not had one breakthrough and then did nothing.

Asker of questions wrote:

"As mentioned previously, the question was poorly phrased. My bad.

I was asking who gave a "one hit wonder" performance and is merely known for that and never did anything of note after that. Some were smart enough to see beyond my bad phrasing and understood what a one hit wonder was."

.......as you were saying?

Webb 3:53

Webb has been written about in books and countless other writings. We talk about him now and he retired a year and a half ago. We talk about him now and he ran this time 14 years ago. He may not have done anything at the world elite level that you would like to see but there is no doubting the career boost. He created a name for himself on that day.

Mary Cain