Ok, I admitted yesterday to having a new found affection for Rupp, but you people are way to defensive of him. This thread was most notably about how CHELANGA blew his shot by running foolishly, a couple of people come on to A) make legit points about Rupp's future and B) praise Chelanga for being gutsy while, smart and powerful as he was, Rupp was NOT--And you get your panties in a bunch.
Is Rupp a great talent who probably has a bright future ahead of him? Yes.
Will he compete at the top of US distance running for many years to come? Most likely.
Does that mean he's going to be winning Olympic medals? Absolutely not.
Look at the list of top American's in the Olympic 10k you boneheads. You have THREE top 10 performances and none since 1972. I am not taking ANYTHING away from Galen Rupp right now, but the world (i.e. East Africa) is THAT much better than us. I agree we should slightly applaud Galen's accomplishments thus far, he ran well in Bejing and he will prove himself beyond that I believe, but to blindly say he's going to be the first white man to run sub27 and rail against the rationale of doubt simply because you think he deserves to be praised every second is ignoring all sense in the conversation. Guys, I'm proud of Rupp and happy for what he has accomplished, but he has a LONG way to go if he wants to be the best.
P.S. This is in no way bashing Rupp, it's simply a study on logical argumentative thinking.