Nick Symmonds is my FAVORITE middle distance runner. Here's why:

The only thing to dislike about him is his form

lulski wrote:

HI NICK!!!!

I think it says a lot about some people on this board that they think Symmonds actually creates threads about himself. The guy has run 1:42, has a world champs medal and his own business......it's pretty arrogant to assume that he cares what some letsrun trolls think about him......

His youtube videos can be a bit annoying but I'm sure they're targeted at a High School audience and I've stopped watching them. I still have utmost respect for a him for genuinely taking the time to open up his training to the masses. Can't think of many 1:42 guys who do that.....

I totally agree, although your facts may not be entirely true. There was the time he threw up his arms and flexed when he won the Olympic trials and he did boycott a world championship to protest I think. Nick is a great guy, interacts with his fans, has a contagious personality and really is attracting a lot of popularity to our sport and makes it FUN. We need more people like him!

I will say that Symmond's heavy self promotion can get a little annoying at times... but he's been pretty open that the more he promoted himself, the better for his sponsors and the more $$ and longer career he had. Nick without a doubt was more famous and made more money as a pro because of his PR stunts (date with Paris Hilton, auctioning off tattoos to sponsors ect) than he would have been if he was just a runner.

You are young, white, American and watch YouTube.

Ugly running style? Well he didn't look super smooth, but he looked pretty cool over the last 100 meters in many an 800 race.

Nick Symmonds is a great example of an average kid from nowhere working hard to achieve amazing things, but his personality was always lacking anything inspiring. Despite all this boasting, he never actually fought for athletes' rights. His drama over the tattoo in London and the 2015 world champs lawsuit was only him using controversy to further his personal brand. He didn't come anywhere close to accomplishing something for the rights of athletes. Symmonds never had the performances to make him a star outside of medicore white HS kids so he used silly drama to get more attention. If he actually cared about athlete wellbeing he would've tried to unite athletes for heavy lobbying that people like Christian Taylor do.

One of the biggest D bags I have ever met.

not genuine wrote:

One of the biggest D bags I have ever met.

You probably never met him.

idealogue wrote:

Fanfromthemidwest wrote:

He has never had any squabbles with the media and he treats all his fans with respect.

He sold a tattoo on his arm for the 2012 Olympics, which they made him cover up.

He made a PR stunt of refusing to attend the 2015 World Championships because USATF insisted the athletes wear Nike or nonbranded gear in their hotel.

He sued USATF in 2016 for the right to advertise his brand while racing.

I know you're calling out op for being inaccurate and you're right. However, these things Nick did was for the athletes. He was the only one to stand up for athletes rights to make money like all other sports do. It was specifically him selling the tattoo that made him my favorite athlete