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Kishan Gill
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although a fellow briton, i am inclined to agree with conway on greater depth, as arrogant as it may sound, certainly when talking sprints and hurdles, but if you include field events then they are both evenly matched, probably europe having an edge if you look at the history.

Confining ourselves to sprints, you can reel of a long list of americans of worldclass ability which is not the case for europe. Just a handful of great european sprinters come to mind for each decade e.g wells,christie and mennea in the 80s, christie alone in the 90s and chambers, kenteris and eventually mlf in this decade.

The us champs are truly a tough neighbourhood for aspiring sprinters. Where else can you have a world record holder finish third in a national champs i.e calvin smith 1983 and also get beaten by his own college team mate in the ncaa champs i.e emmit king.

It would be unfair to compare the u.s with say the u.k due to the formers far greater population , it is a continent in its own right, but it is evenly matched when comparing it to europe as per population.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Conway wrote:
Part of that is nationalism on my speaking the other part is history .. Has taken soem extraordinary men to knock US sprinters off the top ranks of the podium ... Most specifically Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey, Ben Johnson, Valeri Borzov and Haseley Crawford in the past 30 years !!! And only one of those European ..


Don'f forget Don Quarrie. And if we back another 10-15 years Armin Hary, he beat some US favourites in the 1960 season and laso in the 1960 OG.
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Conway
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cept Quarrie never won the 100 ... If we go to the 200 then we have to list a few more ...
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Kishan Gill
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its interesting to note that allan wells name is not mentioned. Was he not a worthy olympic champion. Obviously the boycott tarnished his gold, but that does not mean he would never have won, he had as good a shot as any of the americans. I cant remember for sure who was to represent the american team, possibly sanford, floyd and glance, but he beat all the top americans between 1979 and 1981 and was also beaten by them too, so we will never know.

It was a sporting tragedy that denied some great american athletes medals, but the only sure bets for gold then were nehemiah and moses, but no one in the sprints. In fact the race would have been between the americans,wells and leonard.
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Conway
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 6:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I didn't mention Allen Wells simply becasue the conversation was about competing aganst Americans .. And of course due ot boycott that didn't happen ... Wells was always a favorite of mine .... Powerful sprinter ... Tough competitor .. And was able to run a quality double .. The boycott robbed fans of a great show down ... I can't remember who the Oly team would have been ... There was so much cancelling out at the trials .. Lots of disappointed people ... I believe Sanford, Floyd, and Lattany (lewis was 5th or 6th I think) ...
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Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Would Calvin Smith have been on that squad?

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Kishan Gill
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 11:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Smith would have been 19 at the time and i think his pr the following year was 10.21. He emerged as a top sprinter in 1982 with 10.05(9.91 +2.1). He may have participated in the 80 trials but i doubt he was a finalist.
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Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gotcha. I was thinking '79 was his emergence year, but I'm probably getting him confused with someone else.

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Conway
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2003 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

79 was Calvin's senior year in HIgh school ... He was double Golden West Champ that year as well as Golden South I believe ... He was not a factor at the 80 Trials ...
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 6:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zurich on tap today will give us final shot at some of the principals for Worlds ... No Mo, Montgomery or Chambers ... But Williams and Collins and MLF along with Capel and Gatlin ...

Would like to see the first three but at this point they will only be seen in Paris ... Would be nice to see someone drop sub 10 heading into Paris ... Traditionally Zurich has been a great preview before Worlds with top dogs getting a payday and a tuneup !!! But no "showdowns" today ... I'm guessing Capel may win this ... If he does he becomes my 200 favorite for Paris .. Williams and Collins need to do something spectacular here to put something in the minds of their Paris adversaries ...
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Dan
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 7:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is Zurich normally so close to the WC/OG? I'm thinking it's normally a late July meet... It's prestige always makes it big and it does make a good tune-up for many, but for many others, it's too close to the big show to be racing at such a high level.

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Would be nice to see someone drop sub 10 heading into Paris ...

You got your wish! Smile

http://www.iaaf.org/GLE03/results/eventCode=3019/gender=M/discipline=100/index.html

If the conditions hold up, the "A" heats later could be pretty hot...

Dan
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Conway
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow ... That was unexpected ... Although Grimes just received an Ephedrine suspension at Pan Ams didn't he ???

Patton at 10.00 !!!! He can go sub 20 ... Cool ... Can't wait to see what Capel and co do in the A race ...
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Dan
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe that's what an open admittance gets you when you're not in Canada? Wink

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 12:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well ... Capel and GAtlin 9.97s and Collins 9.99 ... Not too shabby ... Especially this year .... Not sure about Bernard ... Two low lpacings back to back ... A week left to go ... Too bad a few others weren't there ...
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