2:06.50 Marathoner lives in poverty!

Nobody's stopping you, dingleberry. Have at it.

Wrong Priorities wrote:

Clearly this guy mishandled his money

please elaborate on this considering you know so much about his life.

not all of them:

take a look at the hour glass figure on 14:30 5k runner,

Derfer (sp)....nice for a world class runner...

He won Rotterdam 4 times and also won Fukuoka in addition to the world record. He surely had more money by the age of 25 than most of us will have by the age of 65. To be living in poverty 10 years after winning Rotterdam is his own doing. He clearly did something wrong. You don't just wake up one day broke. I feel a lot more pity for Rob de Castella's loss than I do Densamo. Unless you tell me he lost all his money in the Enron scandel I don't feel sorry for him. A lot of Americans work two or three minimum wage jobs to support their families.

you don't really know all that much about african runners from that era, do you?

no one is asking for a hand out here. Just a job where he can use the same skills that helped him run a wr.

Part of the problem of capitalism seems to be the misue of resources.

most ethiopian and kenyan runners end up in poverty, partly because most of their families are poor and they try to help, bill gates could not come close to ending poverty in africa or other third world countries, there is a different philosophy we have seen kenyans and ethiopians sacrifice their own shot at glory to give a teammate a better shot at winning at the highest levels and the winner will say my medal is my teammates medal for without my teammates sacrifices i might not have won, whereas most americans are out for themselves and often get the materialistic things, while the third world people are penalized for being to kind. of course there are also third world people who are corrupt so called leaders, and the thugs that terrorize good people whereever poverty exists incuding in the USA.

Doug,

Good God! Use punctuation and complete a thought. Do you know how many times I had to read that before I had any clue what you meant? And even then you are so vague it is hard to understand.

Regarding your content. It is just as foolish to say that all Ethiopins and Kenyans are good, honest sharing people as it to say they are all thieves. My experience in Kenya demonstrated both kind, giving folks and corupt thieving folks. They existed at the top and the bottom of teh social scale. It's desperate place and I can see why people take what they can get when they can get it. The corrupt government certainly filters down to the masses at times and is seen in lots of thievery and little foresight. This was contrasted with folks who would kill a valuable goat to feed a rich stranger like me. Tough to paint everyone there with the same brush.

where can one find Denismo's entire marathon record????

he was one of the most consistent marathoners & won many big marathons; definately under rated & one of the few men in the world who could 'race' a marathon.

Cat Fancy wrote:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Early in the thread someone quoted Emma Lazarus's lines, the ones that some woollyminded fool nailed to the Statue of Liberty, as a result of which some people believe the Goddess of Liberty and the 'wretched refuse' of unbridled and illegal immigration, are somehow connected.

They are not, and from time to time petitions are drawn up to remove the unfortunate lines that don't belong there. The Goddess of Liberty colossus was a birthday present from the Republic of France, commemorating both our nations' throwing off the yoke of "tyranny" and monarchy.

The gift could just as easily have been a thirty-storey-high guillotine (since a guillotine stood beside the original Goddess at the Place de Revolution).

This has nothing to do with the poor illegal African, and we all wish him the best.

My conversation with my wife this morning went like this:

Me: Know why I gave up trying to run (fast)?

Her: Why?

Me: Because the guy who had the world record in the marathon just a few years ago is now making a living flipping burgers and parking cars.

Her: Oh.

Now I'm by no means knocking him. I'm sure he works harder to put food on the table than many of us do, but my point is, he shouldn't have to. You have 1 hit wonder stars from the 80's still touring and making royalties

while a man who ran a 2:06 WR marathon parks their BMW.

Sad. Of course we live in a era where playing cards

and eating hot dogs gets ESPN coverage. No wonder I gave up.

ninetonite wrote:

"It's a burden every month not only trying to pay the bills but realizing your buddies are working real jobs, socking away money for the future, and you're going in the opposite direction" Pete Gilmore

This quote was on the homepage. It's a frickin shame that Nike will give Tiger Woods $50million a year to hit a white ball around a green field but they can't give a guy like Gilmore or a 2:06:50 marathoner say $50,000 to make ends meet (and wear their clothes and shoes). You could sponsor 1,000 national calibre runners for the money Tiger gets.

Nike is not a charity. Tiger just doesn't hit a white ball around a green field. He's the best golfer in the history of the world, and he has almost single-handedly raised the interest of golf in the world since he joined the tour 10 years ago. Many more people watch golf on television because of Tiger Woods, and the advertisers are paying a pretty penny because of it. Nike almost can't even pay Tiger Woods enough. So what that you could sponsor 1,000 national calibre runners for the money Tiger gets. All 1,000 of those combined wouldn't garner as much interest as Tiger Woods, and Tiger appeals to people with MONEY, and money talks baby!

Holy Crap!

Flagpole you may have finally said something that I can really agree with.

Money really does the talking...Nike and Buick have a great return on their investment with Tiger.

The other sporting goods manufacturers and car companies would love a crack at that contract.

WTF wrote:

Ned Ludd wrote:

Question: Did he emigrate here with any skills or a degree of some kind? Is he now a U.S. citizen or intending to become one? Or did he show up here without any skills other than WR in the marathon? I'm not trying to put him down , just wondering what his reasons for being here are.

Thanks

If you weren't trying to put him down, you didn't do a very good job. What are his reasons for being here? How about the chance to live a decent life?

It would seem then sir that he has failed and failed miserably.

A couple of things you freakin dolts, 1) this is an old thread that's been bumped. 2) the money, lifestyle and opportunity Denismo has by bussing a tables or parking cars in the USA far exceeds anything he had in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a nation of abject poverty.

Mary, shut the garden door wrote:

Holy Crap!

Flagpole you may have finally said something that I can really agree with.

Money really does the talking...Nike and Buick have a great return on their investment with Tiger.

The other sporting goods manufacturers and car companies would love a crack at that contract.

Well, it's the Truth Ruth. Too many people complain about lack of money for runners and always point at some successful person in another arena that is doing well. Americans flock to dominance, and what Tiger Woods has done in the last 10 years is simply dominating. If an American distance runner ever had the kind of dominance Tiger has had with charisma and passion to match for 10 years, he'd be getting tons of jack too (maybe not Tiger money, but tons anyway) -- sure couldn't hurt the sport; but that's a tall order. Tiger is arguably the most dominant sports person ever in any sport. Before Tiger Woods came along, golf was boring, filled with a bunch of late 30s white guys who would lumber around. Tiger brought passion and immense talent. I've even watched a few Sunday golf tournaments when Tiger is atop the leader board, and I pretty much hate golf and the people who play it and have never played a round in mylife (though I bash some at the driving range now and then). Tiger though is interesting, and even with all the money and a hot Swedish wife, he's still focused on his game.

trackhead wrote:

you obviously haven't seen any then

hate to generalise, but by and large, Ethiopian women tend to be among the most beautiful in the world

FACT

Weird bump but okay

kmaclam wrote:

trackhead wrote:

you obviously haven't seen any then

hate to generalise, but by and large, Ethiopian women tend to be among the most beautiful in the world

FACT

I approve