Wow. Tough crowd. You could not be more wrong. First, he made the World Championships this Friday so that makes him one of the best in the world. But more importantly, you are way off base (and incredibly rude) with your "4th place runner in life" comment. You clearly don't know him. The dude is an exceptional human being who has done nothing but succeed, sometimes against the odds, his entire life. He's from a small town but graduated from a large, major university (IU). He went as a walk on but with lots of hard work ended up leading the track and cross country teams and earning numerous Big 10 and NCAA honors. He's had a world-class career by training hard and staying in great shape. That takes incredible discipline - more than the average person is capable of. He and his wife just adopted two school-age children. If all of this reflects a 4th place life, then it's what we should all strive for.