Mo Farah is awarded knighthood by the queen, meanwhile in America, Rupp is accused of doping/hated, HOW?

The British know how to win and celebrate. They don't make excuses for winning. Throughout history they have sacrificed for greatness and enjoyed its fruits. They don't allow those who have failed to destroy the reputation of Champions.

We have become so self deprecating that we don't know how to enjoy the win! For years we have allowed liberal propaganda to tear at the successes of individuals, it is disgusting. The amount of work that Galen has put in is mindboggling. There may not be a person on this earth that has worked harder. The workouts that I have heard Galen has run over the years, makes me inspired to dream about what might be possible for those willing to sacrifice. In addition to this, God (or the two particles that hit each other, magically appearing out of nothing) gave him amazing talent.

America has never had a distance runner like Galen. He has inspired many great distance runners, American and abroad. He has nothing to apologize for. Just be great!

The people that have said Mo has won many championships and Galen has not have a strong point. Also, Mo does have a lot more personality than Galen. A 3rd point I'd mention is that in America, we have hundreds of athletes that would be considered a top 5-10 athlete in Great Britain. We have the choice in a lot of ways to cast aside alleged dopers, etc... because we have so many great athletes to choose from. GB has far fewer and if they cast aside someone like Mo Farah for the same doping connections, they might not have another athlete in track and field of his quality for another 20+ years. So I always assume less successful athletic countries cling a little bit harder to their sporting heroes than we do in the US because they are few and far between.

Earned my Red Wings on flight American Airlines 456 wrote:

Seriously, how/why are there such big cultural differences? Why such jealousy and HATE from Americans compared to the love that the brits show their athletes?

No one but a few thousand people know what you are talking about.

Mo is great in the live interview after crossing the line. Rupp, not at all.

Neither are ever testing positive.

1. Mo is much more accomplished and well-known, therefore he gets more praise. Like Lance in the US before his downfall.

2. This board isn't really representative of U.S. running fans. Most people who know about Rupp and understand/care about his accomplishments are fans. There is a vocal minority that posts on here and likes to to whine about him.

The Russians: Selected from young age and trained in sporting gulags by professional coaches and provided with an elite doping program

The Brits: Complain about lack of funding but do their best. Would never consider doping. Just honest hard work!

The medal table: Amateur Brits dominate professional Russians

John Utah wrote:

He’s from Somolia

Where is Somolia? I've never heard of that country.

2Things wrote:

Most people who know about Rupp and understand/care about his accomplishments are fans.

All 500 of them who actively read RW and know nothing of Salazar or Nike.

The other 1500 understand the sport to be dirty to varying degrees may or may not have an opinion on Rupp.

Both runners could use different names in the next Olympics and only a handful of viewers would know. Not joking.

somolia?? wrote:

John Utah wrote:

He’s from Somolia

Where is Somolia? I've never heard of that country.

Next to EPO-pia.

Start looking at how other countries function and you will find that the USofA is great at nothing (except the size of our military) and the mindset of a lot people here (not the Letsrun posters ;)) are sadly messed up.

Zlatan wrote:

The Russians: Selected from young age and trained in sporting gulags by professional coaches and provided with an elite doping program

The Brits: Complain about lack of funding but do their best. Would never consider doping. Just honest hard work!

The medal table: Amateur Brits dominate professional Russians

A lot of exaggeration there. Russia today is not the same as the Soviet Union. It might have been lax with it's testing and even encouraged coaches to give peds to their athletes but it doesn't run sporting gulags for children. Maybe you're thinking of the former DDR in the 70's?

Also, I don't think you understand the Russian climate. For 90% of its population it's near impossible to run outdoors for atleast 3 or 4 months in the year. In the UK, even the North of England it's possible to train year round.

Finally,when you say 'dominate the medal table' you mean Mo Farah, a Somalian under suspicion of doping who trains mostly in the USA and Kenya.

Britain used to be a world superpower and now its not. So when they finally have some sort of success on the world stage, they'd rather pretend it's legitimate and soak in the nostalgia for the old Empire rather than worry about whether it was done cleanly. Just look at their insane reverence for Paula Radcliffe.

Mo Farah won double Gold at his home Olympics. He's also one of the most successful distance runners in history, the first we've had since Coe, Cram, Ovett. What's diffiicult to understand about that?

The fact that he is a Muslim and black has meant that the media and particularly the BBC has rammed his greatness down our throats.

Why is that relevant to the original posters question?

There's been a lot of stuff in the British press about Farah, Salazar and the suggestions that Salazar was involved in doping/grey area/questionable practices, but Rupp and Farah are not remotely comparable in their countries.

As far as the British public goes, Farah won double gold for the UK at home at the London Olympics. That's equivalent to Michael Johnson getting double gold at the Atlanta Olympics -- a huge deal for the host country. Farah probably stood out even more in the UK because the UK doesn't win as many medals as the US. Of course he's a celebrity in the UK -- to the British public he's closer to Michael Phelps than Rupp. Unless something definitive is proven, the British public probably doesn't know or care about the Salazar connection.

Rupp on the other hand did not win double gold, but silver in 2012 and bronze in 2016 in a sport that is niche in the US, and he won outside of the US. He's not a celebrity with the general US public and never will be. Among running fans, his personality and associations with Salazar keep a lot of people from warming up to him. It's just two different associations.

Earned my Red Wings on flight American Airlines 456 wrote:

Seriously, how/why are there such big cultural differences? Why such jealousy and HATE from Americans compared to the love that the brits show their athletes?

I disagree, in fact, the Brits are just as cynical and critical by nature if not more so than Americans. Its only been since 2012 that the Brits have unbashful embraced Mo. Prior to the London Olympics, there were mixed opinions about Mo. In 2011, lots of Brits were questioning Mo's cleanliness and calling him a plastic Brit. After watching Mo carry the Union Jack around the track twice at the London Olympics and few talk show appearances, public opinion changed. The simple facts are, Mo has accomplished far more than Galen, he's a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Mo does not have to compete against the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and the Kardashians, etc. Case in point, America has swimmers who have won 3 times more medals than Mo, yet Phelps is only face the average person most people would recognize.

Mo has also embraced celebrity and done a good job at promoting himself. Rupp is not interested in celebrity or going out of his way to promote anything. To the best of my knowledge, Rupp does not promote anything other than wearing a Nike kit. Rupp has become a millionaire without actively chasing the buck. In terms of negative thoughts about Rupp, the LRC had done the most damage to Rupp's reputation.

Brits don't win very often in sports. When they do, they make a big deal of it, even if the guy doing the winning is from Somalia. Who knows, maybe they'll knight Rupp if he wins gold.

Mo > Rupp

it's not that hard

somolia?? wrote:

John Utah wrote:

He’s from Somolia

Where is Somolia? I've never heard of that country.

Look out!! Spelling bee champ here. Maybe you'll be knighted too.

John Utah wrote:

somolia?? wrote:

Where is Somolia? I've never heard of that country.

Look out!! Spelling bee champ here. Maybe you'll be knighted too.

Go away fartbreath.