Unless she is injured and discloses an injury. I think it is just absurd that she is contemplating not participating in the world champs.. imagine a highly sponsored athlete in any other sport giving the explanation Mu did- they would laugh at her face and the sponsors /team themselves would say, no… you compete… imagine, the chiefs and Patrick Mahomes make the playoffs and then his coach says, “mahomes isn’t injured.. he’s perfectly healthy, but the next time he gets on a plane may be for vacation or maybe it’ll be to play in the play offs”… that would never be tolerated.
i don’t understand how Nike or even the USA allows this. It’s baffling and disgraceful to the sport. If I was her sponsor, I’d drop her.
Just wanted to remind everyone of the fact that Mu did just run at the USATF National championships. With the bye, she could have just ran the first round of the 1500 or 800 and then not competed in the finals, but instead she did compete in the finals and came in 2nd place with a very respectable time.
Her performance shows that she's definitely been training seriously, and was healthy (at least she was a month ago). You would think that with a month of solid training, following up that performance she should be able to show up at Worlds with a very decent chance to win.
None of these stories really add up:
-Running at Worlds in 2023 would have no effect on 2024 performance in a year from now.
-If she's burned out, then why was she in such good shape for nationals?
-If she burned out after nationals or is having a mental health crisis that has hampered her training, why go to the press about it now?
-Why go to the press at all? Its T&F... the press is not going out of its way to cover it for the most part.
-Even if it was somehow had to do with failed drug testing or whereabout failure why say anything now... just don't show up at Budapest or come up with an injury excuse... normally, even the announcers don't know that someone has scratched until they're not standing on the starting line
FWIW, remember she's still just 21. I suspect that Kersee is doing his best to manage her freaking out. He's trying to take the pressure off by releasing the statement making it seem like it's his decision. I get it, at 21 no way could I have handled any of this pressure.
With the NFL, the crucible you need to go through to even think about the NFL weeds out people who aren't 100% committed. You learn all about high pressure and you win and you lose. In track you can literally skate through on talent to an olympic gold medal without being tested in the ways you're tested in the NFL.
FWIW, remember she's still just 21. I suspect that Kersee is doing his best to manage her freaking out. He's trying to take the pressure off by releasing the statement making it seem like it's his decision. I get it, at 21 no way could I have handled any of this pressure.
With the NFL, the crucible you need to go through to even think about the NFL weeds out people who aren't 100% committed. You learn all about high pressure and you win and you lose. In track you can literally skate through on talent to an olympic gold medal without being tested in the ways you're tested in the NFL.
Kersee is the issue. He's not as smart as he thinks he is or as smart as the NBC announcers think he is. He talks a good game to land some great athletes but his coaching history in regards to PEDs is suspect. Anyone who associates with him is suspect and that is the most likely answer to why she would be sitting out.
The 1500 and 800 are very different races. The list of runners who were successful at both is very short. The great 1500 runners of our time (Lagat, Jakob, etc.) have pretty lousy 800 prs and were way better moving up to 5000. Only complete freaks of nature like Snell were really able to be dominant at both.
Mu spent her entire season training for the 1500 under Kersee (a guy who is a sprint coach with minimal experience with middle distance runners). Now, she has to switch up and go back to the 800. Odds are pretty good that she is finding out the hard way that you can't just flip a switch and go back to the 800. So, she is probably freaking out and wondering why she bothered with the 1500 and is now a jack of all trades, master of none. Thus, the spin from Kersee is that Mu wants to model and might train through worlds. The reality is that Kersee messed her up by making her move up to the 1500 and cannot have her get smoked at worlds in the 800 which would just confirm to the world that Kersee screwed up.
The logic behind the decision of not running is so stupid. Worlds would consist of 3 races for her to run (ideally) and her running the first 2 rounds shouldn’t take anything out of her. Plus she’s barely raced at all this year and weirdly had the energy to run the 1500 at USAs but apparently not the 800 at worlds? Weird. As a fan and a competitive distance runner myself, it comes off as lazy unless she’s injured and can’t run. It’s also her job haha. Doesn’t she want to compete at the highest level?
Why can't the middle-aged white men of this board just be open about being irked whenever a young black woman becomes the face of American track and field or Gymnastics or Tennis. Which of course is always going to happen, because they are the best athletes on Earth. So have fun coming up with reasons to not like the next African American superstar queen to be celebrated by, you know, the woke crowd.
you know most people just aren't racist. they don't care about the colour of people's skin, and why would they? most people crying racist are just projecting their own mindset.
I wasn't referring to most people, I was referring to middle-aged American white men who make up the majority of this message board's pulse. You do realized that Mu was vilified here even before Tokyo right? Look up the threads. This site's reaction, an American-based site no less, to Keely barely losing to her last year was 90% one of heartbreak.
As to your question of why someone would care about the color of ones skin: Dont ask me. Ask the people I mention above. They are the ones that added the term "American-born" to the distance running lexicon. They are the ones who make a clear distinction between the US medal count and the US distance medal count.
The concept of focusing on the Olympics is silly for an 800m runner - it would be silly for a MARATHON runner. The Olympics is in a year. If the Olympics were in a few weeks, I could understand an 800m runner not wanting to compete at Worlds. But a YEAR? Silly.
Likely reason is already tested positive and is being allowed to save face.
Kersee typically looks about 18 months ahead to a world championships or Olympics when planning his athletes' training. That's 11ish months until the Big Show. Fewer to the OT. Mu's contract may stipulate a higher payout for an Olympic gold medal and potential world record, so it would behoove her to focus on being her absolute best on the day it matters most, even if it means deprioritizing everything but the USA Olympic Trials and the actual Olympic Games. The risk of not being at her best on those two days outweighs the reward of a World Title.
Undefeated in her event, three world golds. She's not looking for new events to conquer in track, and training is a grind in Texas or with Kersee. The 1500 thing was a big mistake (she's a natural 400/800 runner). As with all such athletes continued competition means her career ends with injuries. The money in track is good but not great. There is no way to properly compensate the GOAT USA. Let her be the celebrity she wants to be.
After cursorily paying attention to the PED slights on this board, it seems clear to me that PED-slurring is inherently more likely when comment is passed on a non-white athletes compared to white athlete. Warning: selecting "thumbs down" does not make it so; it merely points to defensiveness.
its been speculated she is worried about testing positive. Other possibilities are she is red lining and injured or close to injury, or burn out from competing at a high level.
Not running the World Championships would have no impact on her testing positive or not. Pretty much no one tests positive at major meets - it's the random out of competition ones that get people.
Theory 5- She had planned on running XC at UCLA this fall but was disappointed Brosnan isn't there. Kersee has been talking to bring him on as an assistant for more endurance based approach.
brah you run around a circle a few times. Your body is fully recovered in a week. If it was a full marathon - ok I kinda get it because your body comes outta that like a dirty rag. But cmon.
This is a very ignorant take.
I am pretty sure they don’t just wake up and run around the track twice. There’s a training camp (usually 6-8 months) where they put their body through hell to do things, reach peak and post amazing times we rave about not minding a possible career ending injury ‘Fans’ like you is why I don’t mind the way some athletes treat fans, y’all don’t respect the blood sweat and tears they put into their discipline, they’re just there for your entertainment.
The logic behind the decision of not running is so stupid. Worlds would consist of 3 races for her to run (ideally) and her running the first 2 rounds shouldn’t take anything out of her. Plus she’s barely raced at all this year and weirdly had the energy to run the 1500 at USAs but apparently not the 800 at worlds? Weird. As a fan and a competitive distance runner myself, it comes off as lazy unless she’s injured and can’t run. It’s also her job haha. Doesn’t she want to compete at the highest level?
You do know the hard part is the months of gruel training not the 3 round races. So it’s more about she didn’t put the required effort at training. If she’s fit and in form, running 3 rounds is nothing.