I agree

Seb Coe, speaking about European distance running in the Irish Times:

"Of course the sport has moved on from my time. But nothing is permanent. I don't for one minute accept that it is an impossibility, either physiologically or psychologically, for a British or an even Irish athlete to be winning gold in 2012, or beyond. What we accept is that the African continent has had a profound effect on distance running, particularly in the strength of depth. But when I was breaking world records I was still having to beat people like Mike Boit. Steve Ovett was taking on the best, Eamonn Coghlan too, and Steve Cram.

"So what I do not accept is that it's impossible for a European athlete, nor should anybody get into that mindset, to go toe-to-toe with a Gebrselassie or a Bekele. But if I'm being honest about it, I don't think our coaching in endurance events has moved on as much as it could have. And I don't accept that we can't produce a 3:30 1,500-metre runner anymore. Because the blood line just doesn't suddenly dry up."

"So we have to look at many things, like motivation. Track and field is not an easy sport, but it is easy to sit there and say we should be getting medals here or there.

"I recognise too there are countries that did not exist when I was competing. And it is the toughest sport in the world to get a medal. It is of a different order than most other sports."

The American and British and European blood lines have not dried up.  We may lack the depth of the Africans, but there are individuals who can be just as competitive at the world level.  Our challenge will be to identify them, incentivize them, support them and develop them.  And when they get close, not heap unrealistic expectations upon them.

Comments

[dom]

I agree that alot of it has got to do with the mental aspect, but alot of british or irish or us runners when they line up against bekele know that they are facing a guy who can run faster 5k splits in a 10k than their own personal bests and that geb's half marathon splits in his marathon are faster than all but about 20 plus americans' half marathon personal bests.
The fact is the talent that these African nations have is just down right scary. They are like churning out sub 13 mins runners year after year. How do u compete with that? Do we really lack in the mental aspect against them??

[bryan]

Hi Dom,

You're absolutely right. Stepping on the line against Bekele or Geb today isn't about mental toughness. They are so far ahead of most of our runners physically that the race is all but over. No amount of mental toughness will help you overcome a guy like Bekele, who might be one minute faster than you over 10k and 30 seconds faster over 5k.

What I agree with in Seb Coe's comment is that the talent in the US, Britain, Ireland, etc, is sufficient to be competitive with those guys. The athletes may be fewer and farther between, but they are here. The difference is that the athletes with the most potential do other sports, don't train as hard or as long, or simply have a mental barrier about running the times the Africans are running, because no one else has done it.

Coe, Ovett, Cram, even Webb have shown that in the middle distances, you can be pretty damn competitive if not as good as anyone else in the world even if you come from the US or Britain. It's just a matter of time before someone shows the same to be true for the longer distances.