Run-Down Forums

Dan · Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2002 10:39 am Post subject:

In Canada's case, striving to be fastest in the country was almost the same goal as #1 in the world. Britain could almost say the same if the current crop of sprinters had been a little closer to Linford on the time line... I don't see the same thing in the U.S., maybe because being #1 nationally is a secondary goal to being #1 in the world year in and year out?

Dan

Conway · Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2002 1:29 pm Post subject:

I think Canada might be a little different ... They had the chore of having ot come in behind Ben Johnson and show that there were indeed great sprinters in Canada ... There were only two choices - not sprint OR attempt to do so at that level ...

With Great Britain you had tradition before Linford and then the achievements of LInford on top of that !!!

So there were certainly motivators there ... But what about countries like Jamaica and Russia (Soviet Union) ??? They have let their programs fall ... And it gets back (in my opion) to not having more than one talented guy at a time ...

(I keep tring ot bring this back around) ...

Conway

Dan · Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2002 1:59 pm Post subject:

I think I just ran out of words... I'm at a complete loss of anything to add one way or the other. Sad

Justin ... help!

Dan

Conway · Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:48 pm Post subject:

.. No way ... Not out of words ... Mark this date down folks !!! Justin ... Anyone ...

Well here is my general take on the topic ... I DO think that we are seeing a changing of the guard in sprinting ... But NOT because Mo is slipping - per se ...

I see HSI as perhaps coming to a culmination (just as SMTC did in the early to mid 90's) ... Injuries and defections I believe are taking its toll ... and without the full support of the group, I think Mo may have a harder time remaining at the top of the heap ..

The one thing I don't see is a successor group ... HSI was right there when SMTC began to fall ... I see no group waiting in the wings right now to take that mantle ... And when I say group I am referring to domestic or foreign ...

For this reason Mo may stay on top through the Olympics ... But it will be harder ... The edge that he has is will to win ... And I am talking about when it counts ... Championship time ... Chambers has won more this year and dropped his PR slightly ... In order to lay claim he has to get under 9.90 and realize that the circuit and Championships are two different things and be mentally prepared for that ... Collins could make it tough ... Montgomery is still a threat - although I predicted at the beginning of the year that his season last year was going to be just like Andre Cason's (and so far I am correct Wink

)

Does that make it easier Dan ???

Conway

Dan · Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:53 pm Post subject:

I'm still tongue tied...

Dan

Conway · Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2002 8:37 am Post subject:

Still tongue tied ??? No one else with any thoughts ???

Conway

Paul · Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2002 9:11 am Post subject:

I am going to take a bit of a different tack here and say I liken this to pro basketball, in the sense that with the same group of athletes over a given period of time, a coach, although nothing has changed as far as his approach, becomes ineffective. The athletes, after hearing the same thing year after year, have now tuned him out. How many times have you seen a coach struggle with a team after some great years, with the same personnel, then moves on and does well with another team. This phenomenon doesn't occur in the collegiate ranks because the athletes, themselves, move on after four years.

I am sure John Smith's approach is still sound, but now his athletes are not as focused, not as attentive, as they were when they were first training under him.

I am sure there are a number of flaws in this reasoning, but I'm throwing this out there as part of the debate, especially for the coaches.

Paul

Dan · Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2002 1:00 pm Post subject:

Mo's finish in Brussels today has my brain as twisted as my tongue is tied...

Dan

Conway · Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2002 2:28 pm Post subject:

When I originally posted this topic, I was looking at HSI and the performance of its members this season ... Events of the past few weeks, culinating in the Grand PRix Final this past weekend, have reinforced the topic, but changed the focus of the premise ...

This season has seen a changing of the guard, but that was going to happen this season apparently regardless of the performance of the HSI guys ... Tim Montgomery (WR) and Dwain Chambers (ER) both arguably stepped it up a notch this season to land at the same level as Mo Greene ... I say arguably at least on behalf of Tim who actually had a better sesaon last year - but a WR weighs heavy on the table ... Dwain definitely made a major move ... Look at the major moves forard taht were made this year ..

Tim goes 9.78 ... WR .... Second legit under 9.80

Dwain goes 9.87 .... ER and gets consistent under 10.00

Greene has a crappy year ... And runs 9.89 !!!

Collins twice goes 9.98 ... Not as fast, but shows to be reaching his potential ...

Gatlin runs consistently under 10.10 during the collegiate season (and twice under 20.00) before having to shut it down due ot off track (ie drug suspension) issues

Fredericks makes major post surgery moves clocking 9.93 and a windy 9.87 ...

I believe 10 individuals broke 10.00 this year ....

Between 1995 and 1997 the 100 took an exponential leap ... Suddenly sub 10 was no longer reserved for once in a lifetime performances ... I blieve next season will be the culmination of last year and this, and sub 9.90 will lose its magical luster as well ...

Conway

Distance_Guru · Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2002 2:36 pm Post subject:

I'd love to see that... fast is good Cool

_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

Paul · Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2002 2:50 pm Post subject:

Changing of the Guard...

I think Chambers will have as much to do with this as anybody, internationally. I wonder if the big changes are going to be right here in the U.S. ?? It seems like HSI is in disarray, they are not recruiting, and the big names (Gatlin, the latest) don't seem to be gravitating there.

What are the standard opinions of Trevor Graham out there??

Paul

Dan · Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2002 3:29 pm Post subject:

When it rains it pours... Greene ran a 10.56 for 5th place today in Japan!

http://www.newsday.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-run-yokohama-meet0916sep16.story

Opinions of Trevor Graham have been luke-warm at best, but I could see that changing if Tim remains at or near this level and Gatlin lives up to the expectations. I think so far all he's proven is he can do well with sprinters who were exceptionally fast as juniors (before he worked with them) and is average in other departments such as technical and long-term development.

Dan

Conway · Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2002 8:11 pm Post subject:

Most are not too excited about Trevor ... As Dan has said he has not proven his abilities as a coach of any event ... So far he has gotten athletes at or near the top of their game already ...

And I have on good word that Tim's improvements while there have been due to an annonymous European coach that has been sending specialized workouts for Tim and Marion and will be doing the same for Gatlin - part of the reason Gatlin will be going there ... Trevor gets the credit as this person apparently doesn't care ....

Conway

Distance_Guru · Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2002 11:54 am Post subject:

Here's a dumb question. Why is Mo still racing?

He's obviously not running anywhere near where he should be. Why doesn't he pack it in and call it a year. Start building towards next year. All this running horrible times and losing to athletes that aren't in his league can't be doing his confidence any good. And it's doing a ton of good for the confidence of others. In my (admitedly non-sprinting oriented) mind he should have stoped racing a few weeks back and begun to focus on the future. The only reason I can see for any of these races making any sense is that he either needs the money or signed a contract to run these races and can't get out of them. Mo should have stopped while he was just a little behind.
_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

Dan · Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2002 12:03 pm Post subject:

Mo supposedly signed on to run all 7 Golden League races. I doubt he needs the money (one thing you've got to praise HSI for, they go well beyond being typical agents and actually teach their athletes about dealing with the public pressures and responsible finances, among other things), but he seems to be a man of his words in many respects. I have no idea why he ran in Japan yesterday, but it was just announced that he's given up his World Cup spot to Montgomery and is calling it a season. Probably should have done that mid-summer...

Dan

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