Conway wrote:
>The sport is about competition and athletes
should be rewarded for competing NOT for not competing ... And if rankers
would rate >MJ over MO because he was undefeated in the 400 and MO had
a few loses then they're doing a dis-service to the sport, as MO >put
up an outstanding series of races and times .. And should be commended for
meeting whomever, whenever ... THAT is the >mark of a champion
..
As a rule, I agree with you. I certainly
think that if you are an elite athlete and you pick only meets that you
know you can win fairly easily, you are doing a disservice to the sport.
You have every right to do it, but a lot of fans may think less of
you.
On the other hand, I look at someone like Lasse
Viren, who did almost nothing except win four Olympic distance golds in
1972 and 1976 (plus top 5 in his first marathon - the Olympics in
1976). In my book, he was as great a champion as anyone. It's a
challenge to go out and race the best ten times in a season. It's an
equal challenge to spend years focusing on nothing but winning the Olympics
(twice).
MJ is a great champion, and it is important to
note that he has run very few 200's period since 1996. Yes, there is a
sense of him avoiding Mo, and yes it detracts a little from his image. I
personally would have ranked Mo somewhere around 5th and MJ barely in the top
ten, just because there were plenty of other deserving performers.
>>>>>
I too think that Viren was a great
Olympic champion .. The doubles he pulled off are akin to legend in the sport
.. So much for his Olympic pedigree .. In the meantime the sport was deprived
of a great talent for all but 2 Olympics .. So was he a great distance runner
or a great Olympics distance runner ?? And if he had won anything less than
gold in the Olympics should he have been considered a failure since that was
his only focus ?? If someone else competing in full seasons had come along and
burned him should he have been considered a failure ?? After all if you are a
great talent and you work only towards one or two competitions a year should
you NOT win !!!! Let everyone else go at it .. Run themselves down .. Compete
in the battles .. Then come along and take the spoils ?? I have a hard time
with that personally .. Is almost a scavenger mentality .. Rest, train, risk
nothing, then come along and take what is MINE ?? Just my own persoanl bias ..
The sport is on the track and on the field .. I had so much more respect for
Mike Powell when he competed so much and Carl barely competed at all .. And to
be honest I was so happy when Powell got the record and Carl didn't .. Perhaps
if Carl had given himself more opportunities he would have gotten it and more
.. Perhaps MJ would have gotten the 400 record long ago .. Perhaps it would
now be sub 43 .. MJ has been a champion .. MJ has broken records .. MJ has a
lot of medals .. But MJ also has 92 when he couldn't make the finals in the
200 .. And while he stated during the rounds that he was fine and wasn't
putting forth effort, later claimed when he didn't qualify that he had
recently been ill due to food poisoning .. MJ later had to try to perform in
the rounds in order to get a spot on the 4x4, but in revisionist history
states now that all his appearances in the Olympics were golden .. I hope he
thanks those other 3 guys from 92 casue he was the slowest of the group .. MJ
also has Donovan BAiley and less than 150 meters .. MJ also has Sacramento and
the vision of agony mixed with trash talk that stared at him as he lay on the
ground .. MJ also has a list of disparaging words towards Carl Lewis who made
what MJ has been able to do possible .. And ironically MJ has become much more
like Carl than not .. MJ also has had lots of disparaging words about many of
his competitors and has not proven to be the best of sports .. And in the true
test of an athletes popularity many of his contemporaries have not had nice
things to say about him .. Coming from those who would have the opportunity to
know him best .. So like Carl Lewis before him he will leave the sport with
much hardware, but at what price ?? Will he be remembered as fondly as Moses,
or as reverently as Prefontaine ?? In 25 years will he be mentioned in the
same hushed tones as Evans and Smith .. Jus winning medals and setting does
not a champion make ..
