Should Khalid Khannouchi and Paula Radcliffe win T&FN's AOY award?!

Macho Time

The marathon is very much part of MAJOR track meets. It has been part of track and field BEFORE many of the events

you and others have come to love. The marathon was run

in the first Olympics; however, many of today's modern events was not.

Vipam

Tim- too many losses

Adam- not Randy Barnes

Felix Sanchez- gets extra points for open 400m victories but no WR, no spectacular times and not very high competition.

El G- 3:26 twice! Owns Lagat. But overshadowed by his own WR from another year

KK- if ever there was a time for a marathoner to be Athlete Of the Year this is it.

Paula gets 100% of the votes. Performance of the year in Chicago.

Male performance of the year: 100m WR winning by .09s in Grand Prix final vs mararthon WR against stacked field in London.

catman wrote:

Jonathon Edward's is the greatest triple jumper ever. Who is KK? He is a person who gets by on EPO only testing--which is a joke--like you are SH.

Edwards may be the greatest triple jumper ever. How does that factor AT ALL into this years voting?

He lost too many times to be considered and didn't break any records. KK did not lose and set a WR. EL G did not lose. Sanchez did not lose. All of them competed against the best in their respective events.

Edwards should be behind those three at the very least.

Hog Heaven wrote:

catman wrote:

Greatest jumper of all-time: Jonathan Edward

Johnathan Edwards

TJ-World Ranked 9 times/#1 6 times

LJ - World Ranked 0 Times

Mike Conley

TJ - World Ranked 14 times/#1 6 times

LJ - World Ranked 8 times

Edwards isn't even the best jumper in Arkansas.

Hog Heaven - thanks for the detail. I suspect Victor Saneyev might factor in there somewhere also.

Jonathan Edwards deserves AOY for being the only top notch athlete to back Paula in her stance on drug testing. KK deserves AOY as much as Tim Montgoemry does--maybe less so since he competed far less. El G deserves AOY as much as his countryman Mohammed Mourhit does--maybe less so since MM set a WR in his event. Should Paula get AOY even had she NOT set a WR? Absolutely, she should--she not only competed many more times than KK but her top notch level of competing along with her stance for more drug testing puts her second to none among women. KK deserves AOY less than Tim Montgomery, less than El G and even less than MM.

I'm a big fan of Edwards - he is easily the greatest triple jumper ever. One of the tnigs that make him great is his perseverence and his ability to comback strongly following defeat. However, he is not male athlete of the year and I would only rank Edwards just above Olson this year.

KK and PR should be athletes of the year.

Catman

My friend please stop and think before you write your opinions! The AOY is not based upon your stances against

or for drugs, it is based upon your competitons and success

against other top athletes. Any one competing in the marathon and wishes to have a high degree of success will

compete in one or maybe two marathons a year. Khalid two

(2) marathons against stack fields will DEFINETLY earn

him AOY. Catman the topic of this post is asking individuals do they think **T&FNews** will award Khalid

AOY honors and why-NOT if WE think he or someone else should have it!

catman wrote:

Jonathan Edwards deserves AOY for being the only top notch athlete to back Paula in her stance on drug testing.

No. He might deserve a merit badge from the scouts, but speaking out on drug use does not make you a good athlete.

If you were trying to make a statement that was both stupid and ignorant, you've succeeded.

Drugs are bad ummm kayyyy. Don't do drugs ummmm kayyyyy.

Mr. Garrison for athlete of the year!

Hog I am saying that Edwards stands apart from the others who are being considered as AOY.

How does KK merit AOY more than Tim Montgomery who competed more often--much more often--and set a WR as well--a legit WR since no one will ever know what course of the marathon deserves recognition as the only true marathon course, etc.? All we know that KK did was to run in 2 marathons and he won them. HIs WR time is not as recognizable as Tim's WR time. So, clearly, Tim M who competed much more often than KK--and stiffer comp to since he did not win ever race--and he set an official WR is more deserving of AOY than KK. Outside of KK's two races he is noted for nothing. He has no crusade going for more drug testing like Paula, he is not running with a purpose to end slavery in Africa or Israel. There is nothing that sets him apart as a competitor or as a person--aside from winning two prestigous marathons.

El G clearly deserves AOY more than KK does. His competition was no stiffer--but his times are legit and awesome. But El G does not deserve AOY more than his countman MM--as I have already stated. But if being a clean athlete factors into AOY at all, then both these runners cannot be considered. El G suspiciously withdrew from one Golden League event right after learning that MM got caught--so Lagat got to win a race. How can El G be considered for AOY after doing that? He supported MM at first--then denounced hm--then withdrew from next Golden Leauge event and said nothing more pro or con about drugs or drug testing. Outside winning a handful of 1500s, what was noteworthy about El G's year both as an athlete and as a person?

Were Jonathan Edwards to win AOY are you going to cry foul? Are you going to say that it went to someone for sentimental reasons only?

If KK wins AOY I WILL say it was for sentimental reasons only. Had KK won 3 or more marathons I might not be saying what I am saying. Had KK done anything to further matathon running as a prestigious event in any other way, then just winning two such events--I would not be saying this. But based just on his performance alone--I do NOT think he is as deserving to get AOY more than Edwards. His getting tested by Frank Shorter and his team I had not heard before--and it does give me pause. I would like to know more about this if anyone can provide a link to such information. I know that Shorter is on a serious drug testing campaign himself--so, anything about who he has tested and what type of testing he is specifically doing I would like to know more about. I have received an email from Shorter defending himself against my accusation that he needs to speak out more about the Masback debacle and the Sidney Olympics where Masback withheld the names of 31 athletes who had failed drug testing prior to the Sidney Olympics--and apparently--only CJ Hunter was the only name revealed of the 31. Yes--more needs to be done about the cheating--much more--and Shorter needs to do more himself--but Shorter is at least trying.

catman-

I very much appreciate the passion you bring to the drug issues of the sport. Unfortunately the only thing the AOY will be judged on is performance and competitive standing. If they took drugs to achieve success and didn't get caught, too bad. And that's a shame, but it?s been that way for decades.

To compare frequency of competition between a marathoner and a sprinter as criteria for AOY seems a bit idealistic. You say that all we know is that KK ran two marathons and won them both (with really fast times and against the best fields in the sport).

That's all, huh? That seems like plenty to me.

El G's failure to run in certain meets is a criteria for you? Than how about Tim M.'s failure to run in the last meet of the year. If he didn't make such a big deal about the damaging effects of running 9+ seconds (tell KK about that one!) the same suspicion you cast on El G could be cast on TM. Or should El G have cooked up an excuse for his absence?

And really, with people more than willing to cast suspicion, wouldn't a "breakthrough" performance in an event where drug use is prevalent already be enough suspicion for you? Not to mention training with a group that has had more than enough suspicion cast upon it by a former spouse?

I'm not trying to bust your balls. Hell, I don't care who you want for AOY. But lets give it to someone based on the criteria as we have it now. Not on innuendo. After reading the other opinions on the board, I?m starting to think that this year might be the year of the Marathoner.

Catman is a jingoistic Brit who believes that the wogs start at the channel and they are all dirty cheats. Only nice white public school educated British runners with clipped home counties accents can be considered for future AOY honors because everyone else in the world is on drugs.

Hog,

And when will Edwards deserve AOY? When he is 45 and still kicking everyone's ass most of the time? Let's see how KK does when he is 35. Unrealistic? Not at all--a 43 year old and a 40 year old came in second and third to Dan Browne in the Twin City marathon. So, if KK is any good he should do very well when he is 35 at the marathons. That is, if he is as great of an athlete as Edwards is. Which I doubt.

Edwards v the great KK, this got to be a wind up right?

I think Jonathon Edwards is great but he had his best chance at AOY n 95 when he jumped 60' but was beat out by Geb who still had a better year.

The best year that an athlete can possibly have is to be undefeated and break the World Record in his event. KK is the only one who did that this year.

catman wrote:

Hog,

And when will Edwards deserve AOY? When he is 45 and still kicking everyone's ass most of the time? Let's see how KK does when he is 35. Unrealistic? Not at all--a 43 year old and a 40 year old came in second and third to Dan Browne in the Twin City marathon. So, if KK is any good he should do very well when he is 35 at the marathons. That is, if he is as great of an athlete as Edwards is. Which I doubt.

Jonathan - is this you?

You've single handedly managed to make me root against the clown everytime I see him now.

I can't figure something out. Do you love Johnathan Edwards that much? Or do you just hate Khalid Khannouchi?

When will Edwards deserve AOY? Never. Only one athlete that was exclusively a jumper has ever won AOY, and that was in 1968.

So far, you want to give Edwards AOY for his anti-drug stance, his competitive longevity, and the age of marathoners in Twin Cities. Khannouchi would have beaten Browne by at least a half-mile in Twin Cities, which means he would have destroyed the master's runners. I'm wondering what the point of that is, since "Y" in AOY is THIS YEAR. Speculating on what Khalid can run when he's 35 just doesn't matter.

Hold an event for Johnathan. Give him the key to the city. Give him a nice certificate. Make him a bloody knight. Just don't invite Christian Ollsen.

Very well you must have KK AOY after winning just 2 events--ok--let's see if he is the best in the world at the marathon and still running near WR times when he is 35. You are pathetically in love with kk--and gay.

Yo catman if you knew the first damn thing about Track and Field you'd know that 2 marathons a year are all the top guys run. Running 26.2 miles takes a little more preparation and a lot more recovery than jumping into a sandpit 3 times.

The fact that Jonathan Edwards is an old man and still beating everyone in his even should tell you something...the triple jump ain't that deep. All you have to do is beat half a dozen guys who take the event seriously and hey presto you're the best in the world.

And now that you mention it, I do think KK is kinda sexy.