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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:45 am Post subject: Props to Kenteris ... |
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You know, I still have problems with Kenteris .. Lack of racing being foremost ... But I took a look at his web site and I think there is much that American track athletes can learn from Mr. K ..
First off presentation ... His site is very nice (Thanou's is very similar) ... Nice presentation ... Easy to navigate ... Videos of his top races were easy to load and view ... Plenty of phots ... Personal message to his fans ... Message board ... Very nice ....
While I was on his site I took a look at his videos ... Already had the Olympics and Worlds on tape, but was the first time I saw his Euro Champs win ... Watching his races a few times it dawned on me:
1) Like all successful sprinters his races are almost duplicates of each other (a la Lewis, Greene, MJ et al) ... Same race over and over ...
2) Kenteris does not have the foot speed of most of today's 200 men, but he has "old style technique" .. He is strong upper body and uses his ARMS extremely well ... It is his arms that carry him ... Over exaggerated movement ... Pulling "the rope" down the track ... He "looks" different than MJ, but is very much like MJ in that regard - turnover generated by arm action ...
3) He is very focused ... His lane ... His race ... What he is doing ... Nothin else ... Have to admire that ...
4) Seems to have a lot of 60's influence in his style/coaching ... A lot of Bud Winters kind of stuff ...
I don't think he was ready this year for whatever reason ... But I think he will be next year ... As a matter of fact given how much the Greek's seem to pu into he and Thanou (I'm betting they helped with the web sites) this year was secondary with the Games being at home for them ... I don't think he is the fastest or most talented 200 man out there, but Gatlin, Capel, Patton, JJ, Shingo, Buckland, or whoever ends up lining up beside him in whatever round, better bring their A game cause that seems to be the only game he wants to play ... Gotta give props for that ... _________________ Conway
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:50 am Post subject: |
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I don't think I've seen either of those sites. Do you have the addresses handy? Too many different spellings of their names to guess at...
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:51 am Post subject: |
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kenteris.gr
thanou.gr
nice sites ... go take a look ... _________________ Conway
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 10:28 am Post subject: |
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Thanks. Definitely done by the same people. Slick, but not a style of site that I'm fond of. Too busy and distracting, and I hate having to turn music off with each new page (Thanou)... Still, it's a good presentation.
I don't know how you made anything of those videos... I had to squint just to see it, and I could barely make anything out through the heavy compression. If it weren't for Kenteris being the only white guy in the field, I wouldn't of known who to look at...
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 10:46 am Post subject: |
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Well I have two of the three on tape ... As for the Euro race, just focusing on him ... Can't see the turn too well but the stretch is ok ... Enough to see the similarities with the other two races ... I'd never really paid much attention to him before - technically ... Just noted his ability to finish strong, but put that off partly on poor fields - most notably not a lot of strong finishers in the race ... And when you think about it there haven't been any real strong finishers for quite a while ... _________________ Conway
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:18 am Post subject: |
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He definitely made up a lot of ground in the WC and OG races. Looked pretty much out of it on the turn. I can't think of many people that have run the 200m that way successfully.
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:32 am Post subject: |
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None have recently ... Many used to ... Guys like Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Steve Williams, James Gilkes, Reggie Jones, Millard Hampton, John Regis, Clancy Edwards, Silvio Leonard, James Sanford ...
Its interesting how an event changes as a particular coach and or athlete comes to the fore ... Once Lewis and his SMTC teammates began to have success with Tellez' philosophy and coaching "power" sprinters and fast closers really began to disappear ... Prior to that there were "fast starters" and "fast finishers" ...
Kenteris is definitely old school in that regard .. But pay attention to his arms ... Watch him pull the rope in the stretch ... A big part of his success ... _________________ Conway
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, he works the arms big time. Makes him look a bit stiff at times, but it's a very pronounced and strong movement.
Have you ever seen his best last 100m splits? I'd be curious to see how they compare to some of the 19.7x races run by others.
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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