Post by Soprano on Jul 13, 2008 3:11:14 GMT -5
I was more thinking along the lines he figured it'd be easier to win a gold medal running for the US. He can qualify both in the 5k and 1500 in the US trials a lot easier than he would be able to in the Kenyan ones.
And his reasons aside, I still think it sucks for people trying to qualify for the Olympics and they have to compete against Kenyans. Just like it's always sucked for people in college trying to make All-American DI when they have to compete against all the Africans running at American colleges. They've even gone so far to change the rules for All American to accomodate for this...now you don't have to be top 35 in the race, just top 35 American citizens.
And PS, f**k you
so many things are wrong with that. first of all, the bulk of a runners improvement comes in college, does it not? where did lagat go to college? Washington State University.
secondly, i don't think bernard was really concerned about making the kenyan olympic team... i believe his 3:26 is a kenyan national record (most likely erased from the books when he disowned kenya), and a 12:59... well i think he'd do okay with that.
thirdly, nobody is trying to make the olympics by competing against kenyans... he's an american.
FOURTH, you're really gonna crap on lopez lamong? the f**kin guy was never trained in africa... he spent his entire running career in the US... at a Class D school, of all places. i'm proud to say i ran against him.
you're a crappy american track and field fan. when you make the olympics, i won't be rooting for you.
i still think youre nice though
Jamie if you read my original post, you'd see I was all for Lopez Lamong because he actually lived in the United States for the majority of his life. Same goes for guys like Meb and whoever it was that got 2nd in the 1500 (Manzano?). I was against Legat running for the US (not against him in general, like I said I've always liked him a lot as a runner) because he's lived the majority of his life as a Kenyan and won multiple Olympic medals for them in the past. And then all of a sudden he switches nationalities and now he's going to try to win medals for the US. I guess though it's not a lot different than transferring colleges and running for another team...but it doesn't really work the same when you're talking nations.