Former NCAA indoor mile record holder Chris O'Hare retires at 31

Ah yes, the tragedy of the 3:52 miler, or the 13:05 5K guy. So talented, but no glory - you're just there to fill out the field on the circuit - no respect there (just ask Masback). So much physical and emotional energy wasted for nothing, or less - actually harming your career prospects. I get as much, or more, joy out running than any elite. Of course, I know all the answers now - back in the day I would have sold my soul for even a 4:10 mile Haha.

Tad Cooper wrote:

Ah yes, the tragedy of the 3:52 miler, or the 13:05 5K guy. So talented, but no glory - you're just there to fill out the field on the circuit - no respect there (just ask Masback). So much physical and emotional energy wasted for nothing, or less - actually harming your career prospects. I get as much, or more, joy out running than any elite. Of course, I know all the answers now - back in the day I would have sold my soul for even a 4:10 mile Haha.

It's a beta sport of slow twitch fibers. That is what it comes down to. People just don't care to watch it. My non-running friends have absolutely no care nor understand how fast these guys and gals are running. I love track (I actually don't even care as much about marathon) but I am probably 1 in 10,000 in population. All of us are. Same here. I would killed to have ran 4:10 mile. But now looking back, it's pretty much meaningless. Even a 4 min mile won't pay bills.

ex-runner wrote:

If you win every diamond League in a year it's something like 70k dollars. What a goldmine...

$70k + $40k bonus for winning the Diamond race finale = $110k, which is a fortune if you're from Kenyan/Ethiopia.

Les wrote:

ex-runner wrote:

If you win every diamond League in a year it's something like 70k dollars. What a goldmine...

$70k + $40k bonus for winning the Diamond race finale = $110k, which is a fortune if you're from Kenyan/Ethiopia.

Exactly my point. Not in Europe

High hopes wrote:

funny wrote:

Funny, those of you denigrating the life and finances of pro runners sound miserable. Chris seems awfully happy, and I doubt he’d waste a second on here criticizing your careers.

I think you're misreading a lot of posts. Most of us aren't criticizing Chris at all, he had a good running career. What we're criticizing is the poor rewards the sport has to offer, both for current athletes and for when they finish competing, which means that guys like Chris need to find a viable second act for their lives. IMO, pro runners deserve better pay for their work and talent, and more post-running pathways to remain in the sport, but until there's more eyeballs on T&F, then earnings are going to be comparatively low. Again, Chris had a really good career, the sport is the problem.

Even pro athletes in other sports, where the average salary is much higher. The careers is very short and the majority face the rest of their life working like the rest of us. You think most pro football players have a useful degree to fall back on?

rojo wrote:

In college, he won the 2012 NCAA indoor crown and ran 3:52.98 indoors.

As a pro, he was a two-time Worlds finalist, a 2016 Olympian and 2-time Wanamaker mile champ.

https://twitter.com/jgault13/status/1480961793681989639

Who gives a crap about this kind of athlete..

Comes to US of America full time, trains under a celebrity or “work” visa, benefits from the American collegiate circuit, sucks the teet of adidas and US training groups just to rep Great Britain in the end? Even if Scotland had its own federation.. it’s not likely they’d develop him into the athlete he is today. It was all USA baby!

I feel the same about other non citizen Olympic eligibles that prospers over here but reps someplace else.

Who cares about this really really good but dodgey GB racer?!?!

Gentleman Savage wrote:

A big reason pro leagues pay so well? Player unions. Athletes in T&F remaining so splintered and selfish is exactly why the sport remains mostly amateurish.

And yet tennis, cited as an example later in this thread, is not unionized. (That's why Djokovic and Vasek Pospicil formed the Professional Tennis Players Association back in 2020, to try to establish something resembling a union.) It's tempting to imagine that if only track did X like tennis or Y like professional football or Z like soccer, we'd all be millionaires. But these sports exist in different realities.

desperado wrote:

Gentleman Savage wrote:

A big reason pro leagues pay so well? Player unions. Athletes in T&F remaining so splintered and selfish is exactly why the sport remains mostly amateurish.

And yet tennis, cited as an example later in this thread, is not unionized. (That's why Djokovic and Vasek Pospicil formed the Professional Tennis Players Association back in 2020, to try to establish something resembling a union.) It's tempting to imagine that if only track did X like tennis or Y like professional football or Z like soccer, we'd all be millionaires. But these sports exist in different realities.

That's trotting out a bit of a strawman. If the athletes did unionize, they could collectively have far more of a voice in the decisions that affect their income and careers than they do individually at present. Stuff around logos on uniforms, doping protocols, clear standards around race field inclusion, appearance fees, etc. It's truly the only viable way to improve their lot. It has been done before, Pre went to the grave battling the AAU and then Greg Meyer, Don Kardong and co. organized the ARRA and got TAC (as USATF was known then, AAU prior to that) to capitulate, opening up the sport to an initial wave of professionalism.

obviousanswer wrote:

Kinda young, no?

No

desperado wrote:

Gentleman Savage wrote:

A big reason pro leagues pay so well? Player unions. Athletes in T&F remaining so splintered and selfish is exactly why the sport remains mostly amateurish.

And yet tennis, cited as an example later in this thread, is not unionized. (That's why Djokovic and Vasek Pospicil formed the Professional Tennis Players Association back in 2020, to try to establish something resembling a union.) It's tempting to imagine that if only track did X like tennis or Y like professional football or Z like soccer, we'd all be millionaires. But these sports exist in different realities.

In tennis, the organising bodies (ATP and WTA) grew out of dissatisfaction with the amateur system of the pre-open era when players were being exploited. The ATP and WTA have therefore grown where organizers and players work together, players have a lot of say in decision making, and top players buy into that including Nadal, Federer, and Murray. Djokovic's union has been largely unsuccessful because of that.

Such an organization benefits players and tournament organizers. Players get a bigger share of revenues, but also understand their responsibilities - those revenues only exist because the top players have to turn up to events. So the top guys are required to play all grand slams and all 9 Masters tournaments (the equivalent of the Diamond League). Plus they have to do a certain number of ATP500 events (regular tour tournaments, equivalent of the Intercontinental Tour) each year.

Would T&F athletes make a similar commitment if the rewards were greater? It would required a culture change. Athletes are used to rationing their appearances, often hiding away in training camps until they feel ready to peak. Tennis wouldn't allow that.

One solution could be to adopt the tennis system of using rankings for tournament entry and get rid of qualifying standards. Qualifying standards allow athletes to race sporadically as their ranking doesn't matter if they hit the standard. If they had to maintain a ranking to gain entry to the Olympics and WCs, and even national/area champs, then they'd have to race more often.

Check O'Hare's former college rival, Miles Batty who's now a doctor:

https://twitter.com/milesbatty

I gotta feeling their lives are going in very different directions.

xXTRaXXx wrote:

rojo wrote:

In college, he won the 2012 NCAA indoor crown and ran 3:52.98 indoors.

As a pro, he was a two-time Worlds finalist, a 2016 Olympian and 2-time Wanamaker mile champ.

https://twitter.com/jgault13/status/1480961793681989639

Who gives a crap about this kind of athlete..

Comes to US of America full time, trains under a celebrity or “work” visa, benefits from the American collegiate circuit, sucks the teet of adidas and US training groups just to rep Great Britain in the end? Even if Scotland had its own federation.. it’s not likely they’d develop him into the athlete he is today. It was all USA baby!

I feel the same about other non citizen Olympic eligibles that prospers over here but reps someplace else.

Who cares about this really really good but dodgey GB racer?!?!

I know people like you think the USA is the center of the universe, but since when was Adidas a product of the US?

He ran professionally for Adidas, a German company, paying taxes in the USA, contributing to your economy...? Very confused post.

Yeah the athletes in the sport have failed to realise that they ARE the sport. They also fail to realise what the purpose of sport is; to entertain.

So instead of having athletes using their ability to pull crowds and sell tickets to demand better competitions and prize money, they choose to not compete, act alone and selfishly, and compete for their own reasons rather than for the fans. You literally get big names running time trials behind closed doors.

ex-runner wrote:

I personally think that is why we have the East African dominance of distance running. Not solely because of genetics or altitude but mainly because of socioeconomic factors.

Exactly!

JO Coach wrote:

That's a sad reflection for our sport imo. That Pete Weber bowling dude has reportedly made over $4 million. I wonder if more humans in this world can bowl a perfect game or run a 3:52 mile?

My grandpa has bowled two perfect 300 games in his lifetime, he just competes at state level bowling tournaments.

But ya everyone is retiring right now because there's even less money in the sport now than there was a decade ago. That's even without accounting for inflation. Track races have even less prize money than marathon races, and marathon prize money has been cut a ton as well. Aside from New York/Boston/Chicago (which all had less prize money or less appearance fee money available this year) a lot of the big marathons had less money in the past year. Grandma's only paid out 5 deep last year (thankfully they're bringing back the money this year), Pittsburgh dramatically reduced, LA dramatically reduced, Houston cut way back on travel budgets, Twin Cities paid nothing for the marathon which previously paid out well over $10k for the win decades ago. Many other small level marathons have completely scrapped their prize money. Many companies have cut back on the amount of contracted athletes. It's a tough time to try and be a 'professional runner'. All the while rental costs and inflation in general has increased the amount you need to make just to live.