Galen Rupp is BACK, BABY!!

Listen up folks, I'm gonna educate you on Rupp being disliked, and do so in a civilized manner:

First, he is without a doubt the finest distance runner the US has ever produced. 3:50 indoor mile (are you kidding me?) to sub 13 5k, to insane 26:4xx 10k (this will never be approached by a native born American (i.e. kenyan imports don't count), to consistently fast and tough marathoner with 2:06 PR.

2 Olympic medals.

NO American has ever been as competitive from mile to marathon, especially in the African era, as Rupp.

CASE CLOSED: objectively, our finest product EVER. The angry brit poster above is correct.

It is HOW he has achieved that greatness that bothers people. Do the ends justify the means?

Problems for Rupp:

1. Privileged status--He has been professionally coached by maniacal Salazar since HS--that was always going to make him an "outsider" to the running community, even while he has always been the ultimate "insider" in terms of access to Nike's resources.

He is not RELATABLE to the average US track nerd--i.e. those who were born in the USA, ran XC and track at a US HS, some of whom then went on to run in college, very few of whom went on to run professionally. Rupp's experience is totally foreign to basically all his fellow athletes, even his fellow pros.

2. Salazar--love him or hate him, there is tons of smoke coming from this guy, and it shadows all of Rupp's success.

Sending Rupp medications in hollowed out books.

Bullying his way to improper IV usage at meets.

L-carnitine infusion shenanigans.

Personally massaging Rupp privately, while all other athletes are massaged by a pro masseuse.

Having a huge basement collection of pharmaceuticals at his house.

Dispensing rx pharmaceuticals to athletes.

Testing testosterone detect-ability on his own son.

A huge trail of angry and accusatory ex-associates, a la Lance Armstrong.

The list goes on, but he point is: even if there is never a "smoking gun" event like Aden getting busted with loads of EPO, or an actual drug test positive, the whole sordid list just doesn't create joy and enthusiasm for his feats.

3. His own poor charisma-- He is not attractive. He does not have a charming personality.

These facts are undeniable, but leave the poor guy alone.

These factors are out of his control.

And the fact that he is certainly AWARE of how much everyone distrusts him leads to awkward and insecure media encounters, especially with knowledgeable outlets like LRC--makes him even more of a poor interview.

I make no judgement on whether or not he has crossed the line from gray-area boundary-pushing with Salazar to outright cheating--I don't know the truth and I don't care to worry about it.

In the end, it is how we are judged by our peers that matters in terms of legacy. As far as I can tell, Rupp gets an extremely frosty reception from his fellow American competitors.

nicely done. rather objective for Letsrun.

thank you

To buttress your argument, could you post a list of US runners in order of Olympic & World medal count?

Also a list in order of # of world records?

I second that, very nice analysis.

Rupp’s injury was due to a congenital condition (Haglunds deformity) which has now been repaired. If the reattachment is fully healed he should be fine assuming the tear he did have was minimal. The question is whether he has the deformity in his other heel. That’s where the risk is. I had the deformity in both heels and surgery on both when it became too painful to run.

Same old conversation on Rupp. Isn’t there hundreds of threads just like this talking about the same old crap. Really who cares what he looks like. Look in the mirror. I’m sure many of you possess big noses, terrible skin, balding, ugly teeth. But can you run?

Yes Salazar has bit of a bad reputation. But he always attracts some of the best athletes to this day and never was charged. If you don’t think other organizations don’t play in the gray area your sadly misinformed and very naive.

Im going to assume he is heavily tested all the time. One of the most tested. Let’s give it a rest.

I’m more interested in how his recovery went and if it changed his running form. It would be great if someone could interview him and ask some running questions. Perhaps you would get a positive response out of him.

Agreed, with the exception that there already were several smoking guns:

- testo drug cheat Decker coached by Salazar at the time

- Salazar's presentation that one basically can't win without doping

- the usage of the forbidden method, risking bans of four years

- Rupp classed as 'likely doper' by the IAAF

- Rupp caught with a testo spike during his marathon build-up

- ...

Elf ears in Oregon wrote:

In the IG comments, someone simply wrote "Suck It Letsrun"

Just looked at his account. He wears half tights under his split shorts.

Scott Hall wrote:

Elf ears in Oregon wrote:

In the IG comments, someone simply wrote "Suck It Letsrun"

Just looked at his account. He wears half tights under his split shorts.

Pics?

hbvgcf wrote:

anobserverfromthegeneralpublic wrote:

Who is Galen Rupp, and doesn't all of the attention mean good things for him? If somebody makes silly jokes about this Galen Rupp, isn't that better than no jokes being made? Is there a certain way people must behave when talking about Galen Rupp? If that's the case, then let's set forth the hard and fast rules, such as 'do not take Galen Rupp's name in vain,' or something like this. Otherwise, relax, you the guys or gals who call others 'haters' (what is that? a language issue?).

Agree, but this is AMERICA...

Love or hate, nothing in between. No moderation, no harmony. Go hard core or do nothing. All veggie vs keto lunatics. Overtrained zombies vs 600lb zombies, same thing after all.

This problem is the stupid, immature jokes that are made. The "joking" doesn't really say anything about Galen Rupp; it says everything about the immature boys that post stupid stuff on LR.

No, there doesn't need to be any hard and fast rules; nobody is saying there should be. It's just that when boy-men make idiotic comments, people are going to call them out. Obviously, some of these people are very insecure sexually or something to make "girly" comments or other crap that one usually hears from 6th graders. Sometimes people just need to be told to "grow up".

remoter wrote:

He's a long time science project of a shady coach/human that has coached athletes that have cheated before, been found with needles at training camp, exceeded IV limits, and tested how much testosterone triggers a positive test on his son (conveniently, his prized pupil was noted for needing testosterone medication).

yawn.

runnerdave wrote:

hbvgcf wrote:

Agree, but this is AMERICA...

Love or hate, nothing in between. No moderation, no harmony. Go hard core or do nothing. All veggie vs keto lunatics. Overtrained zombies vs 600lb zombies, same thing after all.

This problem is the stupid, immature jokes that are made. The "joking" doesn't really say anything about Galen Rupp; it says everything about the immature boys that post stupid stuff on LR.

No, there doesn't need to be any hard and fast rules; nobody is saying there should be. It's just that when boy-men make idiotic comments, people are going to call them out. Obviously, some of these people are very insecure sexually or something to make "girly" comments or other crap that one usually hears from 6th graders. Sometimes people just need to be told to "grow up".

It's ok, just go to your safe space, drink some hot cocoa and snuggle with a puppy. Everything is ok. Just take some deep breaths.

DarrenVandit wrote:

100% agree with you.

Remember all that hate for Rupp is;

1) envy

2) should be also for Mo Farah since he was for many years under the same regime (NOP+Salazar)

You American idiots should be proud that you have ONE marathon runner capable of running decent marathon timings & should have hoped a speedy & full recovery!

Pathetic reading all the negative rubbish about him.

Finally. The voice of reason. Proud to support Rupp because he's the best American distance runner ever.

Here's why wrote:

DarrenVandit wrote:

100% agree with you.

Remember all that hate for Rupp is;

1) envy

2) should be also for Mo Farah since he was for many years under the same regime (NOP+Salazar)

You American idiots should be proud that you have ONE marathon runner capable of running decent marathon timings & should have hoped a speedy & full recovery!

Pathetic reading all the negative rubbish about him.

We attack him for three reasons.

He's a cheater

He's arrogant

He looks effeminate

(Note: Jealousy is not one of them)

1.) re: cheater, you're wrong.

2.) re: arrogant, do you like Mohammed Ali? That dude was arrogant, but inspiring as hell. Even if Rupp is arrogant (not sure where you get that from), at least it provides some guts rather than "playing it safe" and saying stupid crap like "admiration and respect for the other runners...they ran great," blah blah blah. Screw that. "I kicked his A S S."

3.) His times certainly don't look effeminate.

Note: you wish you could run as fast as he can. Oh wait. You can't.

rupp is not uncharismatic nor charismatic.

right now, distance running does not have the attractive characters from the past,

africans of the moment, are kind of generic, as are the americans.

you don't have a yifter, a el g, a coe, ovett, rono, bekele, great muzano.

moe's out of the mix, and you got what you got.

so don't blame rupp for all the no names in the track biz right now.

the great athletes got other things to do, cross fit, foot ball, you name it.

there is a void of talent period.

the times come down due to good training methods, shoes, good tracks.

that's the way she rolls right now.

haterhere wrote:

typical speculation on Letsrun wrote:

how do you follow the sport if you think Rupp is a cheater?!

Because there are many other Americans with less of a cloud of suspicion around them?

What does a cloud of suspicion look like? Does it resemble a cumulonimbus form or more of a nimbostratus?

on al sal and peds.

i'd say that al sal is the cleanest of the dirty coaches.

operating on the edge, looking for loopholes in the rules.

as opposed to the competition who use the hard peds.

al sal is the best of the worst.

and his people are probably cleaner than ever.

and the competition that's winning has the edge due to being off the testing grid for the moment .

that's the way she rolls right now.

casual obsever wrote:

Agreed, with the exception that there already were several smoking guns:

- testo drug cheat Decker coached by Salazar at the time

- Salazar's presentation that one basically can't win without doping

- the usage of the forbidden method, risking bans of four years

- Rupp classed as 'likely doper' by the IAAF

- Rupp caught with a testo spike during his marathon build-up

- ...

-nothing to do with Rupp.

-Although it does make Salazar look bad that he's coached champions and said that, he's still mostly correct. Most champions are probably on something.

-?

-You bringing up the 'likely doping' think shows you don't understand how that program works. So you lose some points there.

-Could you link this? I haven't seen that. Also, if that did happen, can we be sure that testosterone levels don't naturally fluctuate a little bit during heavy training including lifting and 130mpw? I don't know and I'm guessing you don't know either.

I'm a Rupp fan, but this is a good objective analysis.