Run-Down Forums

Conway · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 11:21 am Post subject: I wish ...

Just read about Gebreselassie's first since his last injury ... A 27:002 looks very promising ... Made me t hink about athletes who suffered injuries or other difficultites that took them away from the sport and preventing us from seeing perhaps greater performances ...

My question for the group is, who do you wish had had a longer career ... Individuals that were taken from the sport because of injuries, death, economics or whatever ... Three that immediately come to mind for me are Pre, Bob Hayes, and Reynaldo Nehemiah ... All left the sport WAYYYY before their primes and i am sure if they had continued forward would have altered the history of the sport as we know it ... Others ??? Comments on the same ???
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Conway
Speed Thrills

Dan · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 1:14 pm Post subject:

One of my personal favorites is Donovan Bailey. His prime came rather late, but it was a short one. Another might be Wilson Kipketer, but the last chapter of that story hasn't yet been written... Alberto Salazar?

Mary Slaney's career was ended early at least a dozen times by injury... Neutral

Dan

Distance_Guru · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 2:07 pm Post subject:

Pre would have to be the first one every American distance runner says. Another one would be Yobes Ondieki (sp?) he was the first runner to break 27:00 in the 10k, then he seemed to disapear. I got to meet him a couple of months after he broke the record. He trained in Albuquerque and I was a sophmore in high school who with a friend of mine had made the 2 and 1/2 hour trip to run in a road race there. I remeber I had a copy of either the Dec. or Jan. Runners World in my bag, the issue with the athletes of the year in them. At the race I see a very dark, thin, tall man leaning up against one of the small building in the park where the race was held. I stared at him then went to my bag flipped open the magazine and almost wet myself. My friend and I most have spent 10 minutes talking to him. I remeber he was increadibly humble, even possibly a little embarassed that a couple of kids new recognized him and new about his records and all. It was like meeting a rock star, only cooler because he was genuine, not some fabricated Hollywood illusion. We must have scared him because I haven't heared anything about him since.

On a side note, in athletics in general if I could bring back the career of any athlete it would have to be Bo Jackson. The more I think about his career the more I think that he was probably the greatest (American sport) athlete of all time. An All Star in Baseball, a Pro Bowl running back and no one seemed to know which sport he was better at, although experts in both sports say if he had stayed in the game he would have been one of the greatest.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

Dan · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 2:17 pm Post subject:

Good call on Bo. Absolutely spectacular in his short football career. Baseball seemed more "above average" to me, although it's not a sport I follow closely at all.

Dan

Conway · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 2:44 pm Post subject:

AND Bo ran the 100 in around 10.30 - training for baseball and football !!!! He definitelly had track talent as well ... He was definitely one for the ages .... Tremendous athlete ...

But back to track ... I would agree with Salazar ... Would have been nice ot see him continue on a bit longer ... I hate that Butch Reynolds career got short circuited by the courts and drug testing ... He was just getting started and for all intents and purposes was derailed for a good 3 years if not 4 ...

I also wonder what Grit Breuer's career would have been like without the suspension ... And what the sprints would have been like had Katrin Krabbe not given in to the suspension and retired !!!
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Conway
Speed Thrills

Distance_Guru · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 3:05 pm Post subject:

Now that you mention Renolds I have to wonder about Deter Bouman. I've been hard on him in the past, but have since done a little reading up on the guy and I'm so sure that he wasn't really "poisioned" when someone spiked his toothpaste with nandralone. Either way we did loose at least two years of the career of one of the only two non-Africans to go sub 13 in the 5k.

I've been trying to think of anyone who lost time in their career to service in the millitary, sort of a Ted Williams for track. Right now I'm drawing a blank. Sad

Who am I forgetting?
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Time is the fire in which we burn

Dan · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 4:58 pm Post subject:

Reynold's 3-4 lost years encompass the prime shelf life of many top athletes, so that's definitely a loss.

Dan

Micah Ward · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 6:17 pm Post subject:

Interesting note on Salazar. About 3-4 years ago he won the 56 mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa which is one of the most competitive ultras in the world. To my knowledge it is the only ultra he ever ran and I would liked to have seen what he could have done in some of the others.
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Dan · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 6:40 pm Post subject:

I think it was more like 8 years ago. It's all about the Prozac...

Dan

Micah Ward · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 6:47 pm Post subject:

Wow! Time sure does fly when you're having fun.
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Distance_Guru · Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2002 7:03 am Post subject:

I remember that (a friend of mine had a nike running singlet and shorts just like the ones Salazar had when he was on the cover of RW after that race). I do think tried to defend his title and lost. Although the way time flies there could have been a year or two in between, but I'm almost certain he attempted Commrades again and lost.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

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