Salazar and Rupp Address Doping Allegations in Huge Profile

wejo wrote:

How can you not think Rupp has a shot at a medal? He crushed Meb at the Trials. Meb was 4th in the last Olympics.

A 30 YO runs 2:11 and beats a 40 YO by one minute.

Crushed?

What did they say about the doping allegations? Anything new, or a repeat of previous statements?

Gvl wrote:

Rupp is as clean as you can get. He has worked hard, refined his craft, and had tremendous support and resources along the way.

Well said. Pure as snow Galen is.

wejo wrote:

There are only 3 Kenyans in the race, one of them is Wesley Korir.

How can you not think Rupp has a shot at a medal? He crushed Meb at the Trials. Meb was 4th in the last Olympics.

Rupp certainly has a shot at a medal. The betting sites say it's 4-1 to medal.

It's way easier for Rupp to win the Olympics than it is for him to win London. Also at a major marathon, no one pays attention to who is third. If Rupp get third here, everyone goes bonkers.

The fact is there are only 3 Kenyans and 3 Ethiopians in the field. And one of them for some idiotic reason is Wesley Korir.

The idea that Rupp is going to rock the marathon is far from proven, however. In the history of the world, a white guy hasn't run faster than 2:06 on a legit course. But let's assume Rupp is the best white guy in history so he could run 2:05. That doesnt' mean he can beat Kipchoge.

Here are Kipchoge's career marathons:

2014

2:05:30 1 Haspa Hamburg

2:04:05 2 BMW Berlin

2014

2:05:00 1 ABN AMRO Rotterdam

2:04:11 1 BankOfAm Chicago IL

2015

2:04:42 1 Virgin Money London

2:04:00 1 BMW Berlin

2016

2:03:05 1 Virgin Money London

So for us to think rupp is going to win, we have to believe he a) is better than any white guy in history and b) also defy history as the only guy in like 40 years to even really attempt to medal in the 10k and marathon at the same Olympics. I'm sorry but I don't think the training goes well together.

When you multiple two very unlikely things together you get a "sorry not going to happen."

Galen has a much better chance of medaling in Rio than he does of ever placing top-three in a major marathon (Chicago, New York, Rotterdam, Berlin, London, etc.) because of the three-entries-per-country limitation. The truth is that an Olympic marathon field is not nearly as deep as one of the majors which may have 15+ great Kenyan marathoners instead of 3. I think it takes a better performance to win in London, Berlin, Chicago, etc. than it will in Rio.

Also, sad fact is that the recent crackdown on EPO in Kenyan may blunt the performance of the three that they do send. Highly unlikely that Salazar will ever slip up and have one of his athletes throw a positive while the Kenyans have to be concerned and could likely curtail their doping program going in to Rio. That alone could be a decisive factor in Rupp not only medaling but possibly even winning.

Well there is no question he is by far the best white distance runner in history.

Zat0pek wrote:

Also, sad fact is that the recent crackdown on EPO in Kenyan may blunt the performance of the three that they do send. Highly unlikely that Salazar will ever slip up and have one of his athletes throw a positive while the Kenyans have to be concerned and could likely curtail their doping program going in to Rio. That alone could be a decisive factor in Rupp not only medaling but possibly even winning.

The IOC has a long, sordid history of never testing medal winners positive. 10 years later to give the appearance it isn't a free-for-all? Sure, dust off a few positives.

Runner220 wrote:

Well there is no question he is by far the best white distance runner in history.

Huh?

Huhhh? wrote:

Runner220 wrote:

Well there is no question he is by far the best white distance runner in history.

Huh?

For sure one of the best Americans ever, but not in the world.

Runner220 wrote:

Well there is no question he is by far the best white distance runner in history.

No he is not.

I realise I'm on an American sourced site, but why is skin colour being brought in to it?

Tapering and running tactical a 10K is probably less stressful than the training Rupp would have done if he was only running the marathon. Rupp said himself that training is harder than racing. Also, I have faith that the NOP camp has figured this all out much better than any of us can.

Alberto screwed up,this double in 2004.

I'd like to see Galen win, but the competition will be no joke. True there will only be three Kenyans, but one is enough.

I used to do 8xmile repeats as part of my marathon training cycle. The workout results by themselves tell you nothing unless you know the effort put into them. Any decent runner can crank out 8x mile at marathon pace or better. It's a great workout as long as he's also balancing it with something else like 5x 5k and long steady states. This shows he can comfortably run faster than marathon pace, but we already knew that.

It's not fair to say that the Olympic marathon is necessarily worse in quality contestants than road majors. Road majors may have a few amazing guys at the top, but have no depth. The Olympic marathon is always guaranteed to be deep even if one or two all stars are missing at the top. The real reason it appears lower in quality is because of the courses, fact that it's only contested once every 4 years, and a lack of pacemaking. Don't let slower times fool you into believing it's easier to win.

fdasafgsd wrote:

Three ads just popped up when I tried to open it in my browser. Runners World just isn't worth my time.

Rodale is the worst, whether RW, Bicycling, Men's Health or whatever. The ads make it unreadable on either the phone or computer.

And they have about 8 articles in their total repertoire that they recycle 15 times a week.

Jared Ward I want to win, but the statistics are against the statistic professor. Hoping Ward can channel Prefontaine with that mustache. I think Rupp will win Silver or Bronze.

Is any other marathoner also doubling in the 10,000?

I'm not sure that will hurt Rupp too much, especially if it is a slower sit-and-kick. There are 8 days between the 10 and the marathon.

The marathon is one of the most unpredictable events in athletics. It would be interesting to see how the medalists in the past 10 or 15 Olympic marathons were ranked in the field in terms of PR's. It would also be interesting to see how the ones with the top 3 PR's going into the event fared. I doubt only about half (if that many?) medaled. On the women's side, Paula seemed like the biggest lock ever for a marathon medal and we all know how that turned out. The marathon can be a cruel mistress.

And the nice thing about the Olympic marathon is that Rupp only has to face 3 Kenyans and 3 Ethiopians, not 15 or 20.

Salazar and Rupp honestly seem to believe they can do the 10K/marathon double and not compromise their performance in either one. At least they genuinely believe they can medal in both events.

Does anyone actually believe that?

I don't know what to make of it. I don't think it has been done in the modern era. It seems unrealistic.

And yet, Ritz points out that Rupp has accumulated a huge fitness base over 12 years. I would add that Rupp has established a pretty good speed base over the years. Even if he doesn't have a good kick, he is always weeks away from getting it back. Rupp was highly confident in his post OT race that he would improve on his closing speed between then and the Olympics.

Maybe it is possible to medal in both events. But my fear for Rupp is that he has become a great jack of all trades long distance runner but a master of none of the events. Therefore he will go home without a medal. He will be outkicked in the 10K because of his marathon training, and he will be worn down by the veteran marathon runners because he tried to run the 10K.