SO WHAT: Christophe Lemaitre became the first white man to break 10.00

Sorry to break it to you folks, but "white" and "black" are mostly political terms with little relevance to genetics or athletic performance. Tiger Woods is a "black" golfer, but actually half vietnamese. Obama is the first "black" president, but his mom was white from middle america. Line up Xavier Carter, Lolo Jones, Jeremy Wariner, Allison Felix, Wallace Spearman, and Tyson Gay, and try to tell me who is most "black" and who is most "white". My suspicion is that if you did a genetic analysis, you'd have a very very difficult time figuring out who is who, in terms of race. Probably a bit of native america in all of them, Wariner I suspect may have some african-american ancestors in the family tree, and LoLo you know has caucasion blood. So the white-black discussion is based on old labels that are getting older every day.

Being black I was amazed when I came to letsrun yesterday and saw the attention given to this achievement. This site is notorious for ignoring the sprints but it got me thinking if white guys became more competitive in the sprints would white track and field fans follow sprinting more closely. I believe they would. It's sort of like how a lot of whites don't care for hiphop but will play Eminem's music all day. Unfortunately in America most times activities are associated with color and if you're not that color you have little interest. But I understand why whites are excited, it's not racist at all. It's the same as blacks excitement when the first black person does something. You've always been told you can't do somethng and someone comes along and breaks that barrier. Congratulations to Christophe and white guys around the world. It's been a long time coming. Hope more of you pick up sprinting.

The real question is:

ASIAN GUYS: HOW LONG UNTIL YOU ANNIHILATE THE 100M 10.00 SECOND BARRIER.

It's like the WNBA - "You Got Next."

This is a fantastic post. So true. Many people have defeated themselves before they even compete because of self-imposed limitations.

I second this.

Actually, France is more likely to become an Islamic Republic before the US comes apart at the seams. We've been coming apart at the seams for more than 200 years but somehow we just keep rolling with the changes.

True. Very True. Good post. I think the black-white discussion will fade away in a few more decades when the average person becomes more or less a shade of brown. It's beautiful and it's happening all around us.

Fair enough -- then how about all the hype surrounding Cullen Jones, the 50-100 meter freestyler , or that barely black guy that was the first black American medal winner in swimming, I think it was in 2000.

In fact, there is a double standard, against whites. While US Swimming actually has programs to encourage blacks to compete in swimming, I think you'll look long and hard to find and US track programs trying to get more US whites into sprints.

VIPAM wrote:

I was shocked to ONLY see the video when I attempted to log on to Letsrun. What do Bernard Lagat, Tyson Gay, and Chaunte Howard have to do to get such coverage as the medicore Christophe Lemaitre?

VIPAM, you ignorant slut.

You go on and on about obscure Kenyan juniors, whose age verification has been proven to be inaccurate time and time again, yet you cannot see that Christophe Lemaitre's 9.98, the 3rd fastest ever for someone 20 years old or younger, is worth talking about?

You're an ignorant, race-baiting fool.

Why is such a program needed? I didn't realize there are barriers that prevent whites from sprinting but those barriers don't exist for distance running. The barriers are in our heads.

douglas burke wrote:

they thought golf would not have a black man as the golfer.

they used to think we would never have a black president.

I don't know of any black golfers? I can think of one who is 1/8 black.

Bill Clinton is white. Barrack Obama is 50% white and was raised entirely by a white family. Wake me up when we elect a black president.

If you look at Chelsea before plastic surgery, she looks black/Semitic, so Bill or Hillary gotz some African, Arab, or Jew blood in them.

Obama was raised by his white grandparents in an Asian culture in Hawaii, a state with 70% Asians. Hawaii was run by Japanese during Obama's childhood and from the 1950's to 2000's.

yjklghf677 wrote:

Anyone who doubts that black people can be blatantly racist need to come read this thread.

It's not so much that some people doubt it as much as they redefine it out of existence.

Mitchell,

Be brave! You know cullen jones didn't get half the attention that Christophe is getting. It's simply not all that interesting as he doesn't have the same features as you. He doesn't make you(white people) feel better about yourself or your race. The hell with your defense mechanisms in your reverse discrimination baiting statements. Admit it! It feels good to finally be as fast as a black man. Embrace it!

I actually enjoyed the super-slow video that the front page linked to. The guy runs quite asymmetrically--I think he's a hamstring pull waiting to happen.

(If it was the left leg that didn't fold up as much as the right--don't know for sure, because I looked at the video a couple days back--then that leg is my candidate for a pull.)

Jost to point out an obvious comparison: 1:41.52 is a much better performance than 9:98. Where is Rudisha's front page?

Media coverage is based on interest not merit.

I actually think this is great for running, black or white. It means a lot of people who thought "running is a black sport" may now change their mind and pay attention to the sport again. And that can only be a good thing for runners of any race. Same goes for Solinsky's sub 27.

I suspect most of the people who visit letsrun are long distance runners - certainly those that are over 30, like myself. I find the sprints boring because it's 10 minutes of buildup and 10 seconds of running. Plus, I can't identify with it. I run 5k's and up. I understand the pain and discomfort in a distance race. Sprinting is about speed - not aerobic strength.

By the way, it's not the color of the athletes. I love college football and basketball. Not many whites there either.