It’s just weird how much the team celebrates a world championship finalist. Who does that?
What kinda take is this bruh. "I find it strange that people are celebrating making the final, something they've been working towards for years now". Sounds like someone who never qualified for anything past a dual meet in HS.
Maybe its just me but does anyone else get bothered by these guys who run for a country they aren't actually from. You could find 50+ million people with German heritage in the US. It's so lame he pretends he is German just to travel to meets he has no business being at. He wouldn't have sniffed the US team and made this final through luck with being in the right heat and because Woody tripped.
Going a bit deeper here, why does this bother you? I get why people get upset when immigrants make a US team and take a spot a native born American would have gotten, though I disagree with them. But as many people here have mentioned, Parsons is no medal threat. He's not going to push Fisher out of a medal. Making the final is a real top level achievement. If he'd been born in Germany would this be different for you?
People hate TME because of how they dealt with their former coach and for their undeserved cocky attitude. At least now they have one athlete they can point to for the success of their program.
Growing up all through his Jr years why didn't SP look to run for Germany at world xc, European xc, world u20, Euro u20? Why was it only when he graduates college and he is looking to make a living off running does ge get the desire to represent the nation of his parents. At least someone like Mondo has only ever represented Sweden from the start of his career
Maybe its just me but does anyone else get bothered by these guys who run for a country they aren't actually from. You could find 50+ million people with German heritage in the US. It's so lame he pretends he is German just to travel to meets he has no business being at. He wouldn't have sniffed the US team and made this final through luck with being in the right heat and because Woody tripped.
Very few of those fifty million of us with German heritage could run for Germany even if we are fast enough. The heritage is too far in the past but if you have a parent who was a German citizen you can. How do you know he's "pretending" to be German as opposed to deciding to be German?
I have a friend who is from Sam’s neck of the woods in Delaware and remembers Sam’s mom being at the community pool with them and yelling at her kids in German. So it seems very clear the German heritage is pretty strong. Now, obviously he chose to represent them over the USA because it allows him to make international events, but he isn’t faking being German.
Very few of those fifty million of us with German heritage could run for Germany even if we are fast enough. The heritage is too far in the past but if you have a parent who was a German citizen you can. How do you know he's "pretending" to be German as opposed to deciding to be German?
I have a friend who is from Sam’s neck of the woods in Delaware and remembers Sam’s mom being at the community pool with them and yelling at her kids in German.
Bulletproof evidence. Let’s put this thread to rest.
Maybe its just me but does anyone else get bothered by these guys who run for a country they aren't actually from. You could find 50+ million people with German heritage in the US. It's so lame he pretends he is German just to travel to meets he has no business being at. He wouldn't have sniffed the US team and made this final through luck with being in the right heat and because Woody tripped.
Maybe its just me but does anyone else get bothered by these guys who run for a country they aren't actually from. You could find 50+ million people with German heritage in the US. It's so lame he pretends he is German just to travel to meets he has no business being at. He wouldn't have sniffed the US team and made this final through luck with being in the right heat and because Woody tripped.
I'm not from Germany, USA or Kazakhstan, but given that, as a previous poster mentions, SP has two German parents and so qualifies fairly routinely for repping Germany.
It’s one parent born in Germany who is no longer a German citizen. His entire life experience is being a US citizen residing exclusively on US soil, any feelings for or ties to Germany are completely contrived.
People hate TME because of how they dealt with their former coach and for their undeserved cocky attitude. At least now they have one athlete they can point to for the success of their program.
Yeah I can't believe that their athletes made a collective decision to move away from a coach they didn't jive with on & off of the track & then tried to let said coach depart amicably.
& if their cocky attitude is pumping out a ton of workout videos & sharing the day to day grind then sign me up for that too.
His father was not born in Germany...the relationship comes from his mom. No need to embellish. The only part that gets confusing is that it is either that she was born there or somehow they reached so far back that they are using his maternal grandparents for this...either way, I knew him in high school and his father is not born in Germany. I cannot clarify the exact path on his Mom's side, but I am 100% confident this entire story developed through his maternal side.
I'm not from Germany, USA or Kazakhstan, but given that, as a previous poster mentions, SP has two German parents and so qualifies fairly routinely for repping Germany.
It’s one parent born in Germany who is no longer a German citizen. His entire life experience is being a US citizen residing exclusively on US soil, any feelings for or ties to Germany are completely contrived.
It is not unusual, or wrong, to only start connecting fully with your heritage once you mature and understand the meaning of your roots.
People rip Tinman, Parsons etc with glee but I tell you what, if you don't respect the hell out of that performance you aren't a fan of the sport.
He put it all out there and covered every move he had to, hung insanely tough with 600 to go in blazing heat - that was gnarly. He was so spent at the finish they had to carry him from the mixed zone back to the warmup area and dunk him in an ice bath and stuff gel into his mouth.
He obviously isn't going to win or even be close to contending but nobody deserves their spot in the final of the 5000m more than Parsons and at worst he will be 15th best 5000m runner in the world this year - that is pretty freaking good.
People rip Tinman, Parsons etc with glee but I tell you what, if you don't respect the hell out of that performance you aren't a fan of the sport.
He put it all out there and covered every move he had to, hung insanely tough with 600 to go in blazing heat - that was gnarly. He was so spent at the finish they had to carry him from the mixed zone back to the warmup area and dunk him in an ice bath and stuff gel into his mouth.
He obviously isn't going to win or even be close to contending but nobody deserves their spot in the final of the 5000m more than Parsons and at worst he will be 15th best 5000m runner in the world this year - that is pretty freaking good.
Guess I am not a fan of the sport. Also the point is he's not the 15th best 5000m runner in the world and cheated the system to get in the championships and was lucky to make the final. That's why it's annoying
Maybe its just me but does anyone else get bothered by these guys who run for a country they aren't actually from. You could find 50+ million people with German heritage in the US. It's so lame he pretends he is German just to travel to meets he has no business being at. He wouldn't have sniffed the US team and made this final through luck with being in the right heat and because Woody tripped.
Going a bit deeper here, why does this bother you? I get why people get upset when immigrants make a US team and take a spot a native born American would have gotten, though I disagree with them. But as many people here have mentioned, Parsons is no medal threat. He's not going to push Fisher out of a medal. Making the final is a real top level achievement. If he'd been born in Germany would this be different for you?
It bothers me because running for a country you aren't from just to use their resources to travel to a meet you would otherwise have no business running at is slimy behavior. If he was born and raised in Germany I would have no problem but he wasn't
Hillarious that people post a video of him speaking German, asking for whether there is a grammatically correct sentence in there. Well, show me an interview with a certain american sprinter and find one grammatically correct sentence. She is still american.