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Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 5:55 AM
Subject: RE: t-and-f: U.S. 800m running
In the last day or so, a news web-site (USA Today? LA Times?) posed the
following question (or similar):
"When was the last time the US track field team did not have ANY serious
medal contender
When it comes to the 800m, the United States sure had a lousy Olympics. Only two
semifinalists and one finalist on the women's side, and not a single man advanced past
the opening round.
Although there is less margin for error in the 800 than most other track events, this
goes beyond bad
Derrick, I'm definitely *not* trying to put down the 800 or the guys (and gals) who
run it. As someone who has run plenty of non-world-class (read: slow-as-molasses)
800s, I have all the respect in the world for people who try to make a living
competing in such a physically and mentally brutal
P.F. Talbot wrote:
We have had this debate several times before on this list (the 400/800
runner vs the 800/1500 runner) and it's always great fun, at least for
those of us who love the 800. I've always looked to Coe as the best
example of how to make an 800m runner. Take a successful
Why has the U.S. become so weak in this event? I think it's especially
surprising on the men's side, where our total domination of the 400m
suggests that we should be able to find a few guys who could move up
to the new-style, "long sprint" version of the 800 with success. (I
still wish
On Tue, 3 Oct 2000, Ed Dana Parrot wrote:
Also, didn't Coe's speed improvement come at a fairly young age? And wasn't
he always an 800/1500 guy with the 3000m being more of a stretch.
No, he was a 1500/3000m guy through his teens and ran few 800s, at 18 he
couldn't break 50 for 400m (at
Not going to flame, but basically agree.
I grew up in Michigan - about 4 miles from '84 Olympic
bronze medalist, Earl Jones. I ran in races that started
at the same time as Earl (not fair to say I was in the same
race) in high school. Earl ran cross country in the fall,
and wasn't all that
