Only USATF could be so dumb. The 3:27.40 that Bernard Lagat ran for Kenya in 2004 just got ratified as the American record

This AR will never be broken (until the age of gene-edited athletes comes along or PEDs are legalized).

Why did they ratify this now though? It’s been known for years that Lagat was a US citizen at the time.

Ahhh, the B-sample days..

Any chance Centro had at breaking this record just evaporated lol

rare wrote:

This AR will never be broken (until the age of gene-edited athletes comes along or PEDs are legalized).

Why did they ratify this now though? It’s been known for years that Lagat was a US citizen at the time.

Of course it will be broken, it may take 20-30 or more years, but all records get broken, High Schoolers are running sub 4 minute miles more frequently, This is good news now every good High School kid will just set their goals higher, think of it like putting kittens in a box, the higher the box, the higher they will jump or climb to get out.

Congratulations to Bernard Lagat on his American Record, enjoy it while it last's as now there are many kids with fire in their eyes who will target that record.

if this is true, it's stupid.

Centro is done anyways, he won't be getting under 3:30

Sad React wrote:

Any chance Centro had at breaking this record just evaporated lol

What If Jakob Ingebrightsen joined the Caravan and defected/Immigrated to the USA, that time would probably be gone before 2020, and who's to say we wont have more talented kids than J. Ingebrigtsen pop up.

I could see a scenario like this as happened with 2:07 Marathoner and Boston Marathon Winner Elijah Lagat, An American goes to the Doctor and is told he is Fat and needs to lose weight or he could have heart problems, the runner loses weight gets better at running and within a year is running under 3:30.00 for the 1500, and then he gets in the right race and The AR is Gone.

Many countries welcome dual citizenship. I don’t know if Kenya is one of those but if he was an American citizen why should it not count?

USATF just wants itself to look good by having an impressive set of track and field records.

Seems totally pointless to me.

National records should only be set by eligible citizens of the country whilst they are competing for that nation, in my opinion.

USATF didn’t seek out these records, numbnuts. The athletes both fought for them legally.

The Mondo D. issue brought it to the surface. Having dual citizenship and Lagat having the same scenerio. The previous rule stated that if you have US citizenship and broke a US record, then it doesn’t matter who you compete for. It’s happened twice ever and the rule has now been changed.

max siegel deserves 7 figures? said: why someone wouldn't just say, "If you weren't representing the US internationally, you aren't getting a record we don't care what the rules were," is beyond me.

that would, for one thing, mean that an American Record could not be set in a Diamond League meet. athletes in those meets are not "representing the US Internationally," they are representing their sponsor, or their college (Michael Norman this summer) or themselves, but not their country, for the simple reason that countries cannot enter Diamond League meets.

it would also mean that athletes who are invited to compete in things like the Emsley Carr mile cannot set a national record. when Alan Webb set the current US 1 mile record, he was not "representing the US Internationally," he was just some dude invited to a meet in Belgium. the record he broke, Steve Scott's 3:47.69 was set in an invitational meet in Oslo where Scott was not "representing the US Internationally," either. and the one before that was set at the Bislett Games, another invitational meet in Oslo. in point of fact, no one has ever set a US 1 mile record while "representing the US internationally." the moral of the story is that you should be careful what you wish for, in case it comes true.

cheers.

rare wrote:

This AR will never be broken (until the age of gene-edited athletes comes along or PEDs are legalized).

Why did they ratify this now though? It’s been known for years that Lagat was a US citizen at the time.

T&F news must have finally got around to publishing the meet's results.

Westside wrote:

USATF didn’t seek out these records, numbnuts. The athletes both fought for them legally.

You are wrong. The athletes didn't fight for them legally. You think Susanna Kallur called up USATF and said she wanted the US indoor 60 record? You think Lagat called up for some reason 14 years later and said "Hey I realize I'm technically supposed to be the AR holder with a faster time, please lower it."

No, what happened is because of Mondo, people realized the rule was stupid as hell and then people pointed out that Kallur was born in America and thus a citizen (dumb rule - that portion of the 14th ammendment needs to go) and that Lagat was actually a citizen in 2004 even though he kept it as a secret until 2005.

What is interesting is that I read that at the time Kenya didn't recognize dual citizenship. So if we are going to apply USATF's logic to the end, then technically Lagat should retroactively be DQd from the 2004 Olympics as his 2004 Kenyan citizenship should be invalidated after the fact if we have to follow every rule to the letter.

USATF should have just ignored the freaking rule - what the poster above is saying isn't true - none of those people are going to fight for it - or pass a new one saying, "We're only going to recognize ARs for people representing the US at the time and that includes in the past."

Westside wrote:

USATF didn’t seek out these records, numbnuts. The athletes both fought for them legally.

The Mondo D. issue brought it to the surface. Having dual citizenship and Lagat having the same scenerio. The previous rule stated that if you have US citizenship and broke a US record, then it doesn’t matter who you compete for. It’s happened twice ever and the rule has now been changed.

USATF makes it's own rules as to who is eligible for a record. By making the rules such that anyone who holds a US passport, regardless of whether they compete for the USA or another nation, is eligible to hold US records then USATF is actively trying to claim as much glory as possible.

I think what they were trying to say is that if you aren’t representing the USA in your athletics career (for example competing at the US championships, or competing for the US at the world championships, Olympics, etc) you shouldn’t be allowed to have records in the country. Mondo and Lagat fall under this because they represent(ed) another country in international championships even if they had citizenship, not necessarily meets like the Diamond League circuit or any of that.

rojo wrote:

Westside wrote:

USATF didn’t seek out these records, numbnuts. The athletes both fought for them legally.

No, what happened is because of Mondo, people realized the rule was stupid as hell and then people pointed out that Kallur was born in America and thus a citizen (dumb rule - that portion of the 14th ammendment needs to go)

Any other amendments we should get rid of while we're at it? Are there maybe some others out there that are hurting more people than ex-American track record holders?

You are wrong. Their agents and reps get wind of this rule and they threaten to bring legal action. None of them were aware this rule was in place at the time the old records were set (ie why it is happening now). Whether or not an athlete or rep called USATF, it was a smart move to adjust all the records before legal action eventually came. Sweeping it under the rug is ill advised, big guy.

Why the issue? You love Kenyans. As does your wife.

Which country did he run for in the 2004 Olympics?

no comment