NY Times says Lauren Fleshman is the "best American distance runner never to make an Olympic team"

Except that, SFH made multiple Olympic teams. I would put Claudette Groenendaal on the list long before Fleshman.

German Fernandez. The best that never was

Chris Derrick. Still has a chance to avoid the list but still in the running

Logical song wrote:

This story makes me want to vomit. Fleshman is ***

Editor's note: The rest of this post was deleted. Grow up. Ms. Fleshman's looks have nothing to do with whether she was the best distance runner to not make the Olympics

Editor. Fleshman's look are very much at issue. She went on stage with Oiselle during Fashion Week a few years ago and proclaim that her body was what a real woman looked like. Completely ignoring the fact she was a professional athlete and was using make up and camera angles. She is a fraud

bfullem wrote:

I would argue that Lisa Rainsberger was a far better runner than Fleshman based on her Boston Marathon win and 4th in the Olympic trials 3 times. And she missed the Olympics in the pool by 1 spot as well.

http://www.runnersworld.com/tag/lisa-larsen-rainsberger

Was just going to say...

And for the men Mark Nenow.

WSJ wrote:

"... of most likely being the best American distance runner never to make an Olympic team..."

how are you guys missing the "most likely" part? this does not make the claim that she IS, they're just expressing this as their opinion.

No story here. Move along.

Right. The weirder part is

NY Times article:

Lauren Fleshman was the top collegiate distance runner in American history.

This is the first sentence. Not "a" top collegiate distance runner in American history, not "one of" the top collegiate distance runner(s) in American history, but THE top collegiate distance runner in American history. That part false beyond doubt.

That also what the SFH post clearly was referring to.

Rudy Chapa. 28:32 10k in high school. 13:19 5k, 7:37 3k and 3:57 mile at Oregon. 2:11 debut marathon at NYC.

Some kind of love fest between Fleishman and NYT. Seems like whenever they publish an article on the trials and tribulations of professional runners and women runners, she's their go to for a nifty quote.

chilhowee wrote:

Rudy Chapa. 28:32 10k in high school. 13:19 5k, 7:37 3k and 3:57 mile at Oregon. 2:11 debut marathon at NYC.

Mark Nenow did mae the 1980 team, the one that didn't get to go

And Rudy made the 1980 team in the 5000.

That's a ballsy thing to say

They want someone who will say something contentious which will drive more newspaper sales or clicks. Most athletes are so focused on being politically correct and not offending their teams or sponsors that they are very boring interviews. Rupp is a great example of that.

lets read dot com wrote:

WSJ wrote:

"... of most likely being the best American distance runner never to make an Olympic team..."

how are you guys missing the "most likely" part? this does not make the claim that she IS, they're just expressing this as their opinion.

No story here. Move along.

You're treating "most likely" as if it's the same as, say, "one of." "One of the best" would have been fine. It was far more absolute than that, and makes the writer look arrogant and/or lazy.

I've been a track fan for decades, and would still do a BUNCH of research before committing to a statement like that (and would, at least semi-justifiably, be RIPPED on this very board if I didn't!). And I'm guessing this writer isn't a track fan. So, like me writing about, say, mountain climbing, he should have done BUNCHES of research before committing to a statement like that. He clearly didn't. And, of course, the obvious alternative to spending too much time doing too much research on a single line, he could have SIMPLY phrased it more mildly.

IMHO sometimes there is a psychological reason for these types of patterns.

My wife and I were acquainted with a person who could also be in the category of "best American distance runner never to make an Olympic team" - always close but never making the team, on multiple occasions, over the span of a relatively long career. My observation was that this person was very good at running and racing, but didn't like to run, or better stated, had no passion. Basically, it was a job that the person was good at, but it wasn't a passion. All other things being equal, when it comes down to the wire in racing the person with the passion and desire to win will always beat the person who is simply going through the motions.

Also, there are a number of people who were dopers who did test dodging by coming down with "le flu" or injury weeks before the OGs, only to scorch the track in the weeks following the Olympics.

That's why it's gotta be about the process. You can't go through your running career holding on to bitterness. The fact that Fleshman is so fixated on this might be why she wasn't able to return to running fast.

When was the last time she was relevant? I honestly thought she already retired.

Your view. I side 110% with the Editor on this one. If only they had the time to delete the many off topic and hate-filled posts. Thank you for editing.

No fan of fleshyman wrote:

Logical song wrote:

This story makes me want to vomit. Fleshman is ***

Editor's note: The rest of this post was deleted. Grow up. Ms. Fleshman's looks have nothing to do with whether she was the best distance runner to not make the Olympics

Editor. Fleshman's look are very much at issue. She went on stage with Oiselle during Fashion Week a few years ago and proclaim that her body was what a real woman looked like. Completely ignoring the fact she was a professional athlete and was using make up and camera angles. She is a fraud

Actually, Chapa didn't make the 1980 5k team. That was the race where McChesney went for it hard about 2 miles in and gapped the field. He got caught at the end by Centro Sr. and Dick Buerkle, but McChesney hung on for 3rd.

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure Chapa never made an Olympic team.

dsafasdfasdf wrote:

That's why it's gotta be about the process. You can't go through your running career holding on to bitterness. The fact that Fleshman is so fixated on this might be why she wasn't able to return to running fast.

When was the last time she was relevant? I honestly thought she already retired.

Oiselle doesn't have reductions. Why retire too soon when you still get paid even if not racing?

That was a little harsh. I think she was hired more as a professional blogger anyway, so no harm to the flock by her not racing.

I do take (very) slight issue with announcing this right before the Olympics since it might take away a tiny bit of coverage from actual athletes. Not a huge deal, but not in good taste.

How about Dick Beardsley. Broke 2:09 and won a lot of marathons.