one 4 the ladies - video of 1984 womens marathon US Olympic trials

"hear"

The royal "us"? I'll confess to being amused at how small you are.

Misogny r us:

Would you mind answering the questions which were posted a week ago regarding Ms. Petronella's claims? I suspect that you may be in a very unique position to have knowledge about these matters.

You seem really upset by these reasonable questions. You appear to be taking this very personally. Is there a reason for that? Was it my comments about the poetry?

Your bizarre attempt to assert that in asking these fair questions I am somehow motivated by a hatred of women is consistent with the unsophisticated and superficial themes and ramblings I recently found on a website. However, the poetry on this site is fantastic!

I noticed that Ms. Petronella's book was "published" by 1stbooks.com, which is a vanity press. Of course, as a vanity press, 1stbooks.com is paid by the authors to publish their books.

I have some additional questions for Ms. Petronella. Ms. Petronella, on a number of occasions you have said that your book "is being made into a feature film".

1) When can we expect to see the movie?

2) Who is playing the role of Lynn Petronella?

3) Who is playing the part of Joan Benoit?

4) Who is playing the part of Bob Sevene?

5) Are you aware of any other vanity books which have been made into feature films?

6) Is Imax involved in this project?

7) Has the writers' strike had any impact on the film?

8) Are you considering a sequel? Did you have some involvement in Kara Goucher's success? As you probably know, Kara spent the summer training in Utah and you live in nearby Arizona. Is that just a coincidence?

9) What about a prequel? Did you ever coach Jacqueline Hansen or Kim Merritt?

10) When the film is released on DVD will there be a bloopers section? Everyone loves bloopers!

I look forward to your reply.

canada77 wrote:

Misogny r us:

Would you mind answering the questions which were posted a week ago regarding Ms. Petronella's claims? I suspect that you may be in a very unique position to have knowledge about these matters.

You're mistaken, I have no answers.

You seem really upset by these reasonable questions. You appear to be taking this very personally. Is there a reason for that? Was it my comments about the poetry?

You're mistaken again.

Your bizarre attempt to assert that in asking these fair questions I am somehow motivated by a hatred of women is consistent with the unsophisticated and superficial themes and ramblings I recently found on a website. However, the poetry on this site is fantastic!

Well, you would be the expert on what is "unsophisticated and superficial" between the two of us. This isn't to suggest that you'd be self-aware enough to both realize and cop to the reality of it. There is little other logical explanation as to why you would have such a hard-on to 'bring to justice' some nobody who has yet to show any interest in your 'polite' query. You want to be the big, smart man to bring down a conniving little chick. This endeavor obviously makes you feel good about yourself, to stand up for and stand up to women. At least you're smart enough to do it from behind an anonymous handle, keeping your true identity cloaked so that you, personally, don't end up looking bad in this.

Misogyny r us:

You are remarkably quiet. Are you working on a poem? Perhaps a screenplay?

It must be difficult to constantly struggle with the knowledge that you may never reach the level of creative or commercial success as you enjoyed with Born to Win.

Obviously, I am a huge fan of Born to Win. It has inspired a generation. You are the wind beneath the boomers' wings. In fact, didn't Joan Benoit once say that she was thinking about Born to Win when she made her dramatic move from the pack in the L.A Olympics? However, I am deeply troubled by the fact that your works have never been properly embraced by academics. Professor Seamus Cooney of Western Michigan University has a website dedicated to this type of poetry. Would you consider consenting to have your poems appear on his site? Would you mind if I submitted Born to Win to this site? It could open up a new world for you.

Anyway, here is another passage from Born to Win that has been like a bridge over troubled waters for many of us.

" I am a woman who runs through the trees,

Who stumbles and falls and scrapes both her knees.

I am a woman who's mistakes are my own...

But who's awards they'll applaud and condone."

Parting words: obsessed freak.

Wrong again. Just a fan.

"I coulda been a Contender! I coulda been somebody!"

I knew Joanie back in the 70's and ran with her before she was famous and before she ran in Bermuda and Boston. I would like to now take credit for coaching her and for whatever successes she had subsequent to that time.

Lynn is a Real Estate Agent in Scottsdale and suffers from the syndrome of "the older I get the better I was".

Her claim of a 2:54 in the late 70's, early 80's is paltry. I personally know dozens of women who had better times and they never considered themselves world class.

She should have stuck to shorter distances, because her claim of a 16:12 time for a 5km is way better...it's equivalent to a 2:38 marathon or a 34:00 10km.

Lynn is a liar and a fraud and is trying to con anyone under 30 (or those clueless about running and marathoning) to buy something from her.

Maybe the Sheriff in her county would be interested in her false claims used to entice money from hapless victims.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio

Interesting insight, Terry.

Of course, we have yet to see a scintilla of proof that she actually ran 2:54 or 16:12.

Where are Kenny Moore, Merril Noden and Jere Longman when you need them??

Like a fine wine, Ms. Petronella accomplishments are improving over time. Here is how she describes herself on one website:

www.athlettes.com

IS THE CONCEPT OF OWNER

LYNN PETRONELLA OLYMPIC MARATHON PIONEER

She has now elevated herself to an "Olympic Marathon Pioneer". Amazing.

I know that some people think we should just ignore Ms. Petronella. I beleive that her claims should be exposed to the light of day. With that in mind, I highly recommend that you take a moment to look at her website. You will experience the full range of human emotions - you will laugh (a lot), you will be angry, you will be scared.

I suspect that any runner who was involved in the sport in 1984 will find her book preview very interesting. Pay particular attention to the last part of the preview, where she describes how the 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist turned her back on the woman who sacrified her "passion, life and dreams" for the Olympic Champion. It seems that the Olympic Champion did not want the world to know that she was the other woman's "student". it seems that is why the Olympic Champion denied any connection to the woman.

For some reason, when I read the followimg two statements from the website I thought of the Seinfeld episode in which George creates the "Human Fund: Money for People".

1) "20% of ALL PROCEEDS from this Book and all ATHLTETTES commercial products from clothing, to cards and film will go towards that end to make America a better place to live."

2) " She plans to donate 50 percent of all the proceeds from Know Where to Run: An American Odyssey, her first book, to “make America a better place to live.”

I am a bit confused by these two statements. Perhaps Ms. Petronella could clear things up by answering some questions (just add them to the list).

1) Are you "planning" to donate 20% or 50% of the proceeds of the book to "make America a better place to live?"

2) When you say you plan to make a donation, do you know when that donation might occur?

3) Your donation will "make America a better place to live". Could you be just a little bit more precise?

By the way, "Know Where to Run" can be purchased on Amazon.com for 43 cents (I'm not kidding).

She's a real estate agent. Any donation to her business career of helping people find the right house for them (or whatever crap they spout before they slice off 7 percent of your house price for themselves) is therefore a donation to making America a better place to live.

Only 7% to "make America a better place to live? That's outrageous. It should be at least 20% or 40% (or whatever number Ms. Petronella dreams up next). Why are some people against making America a better place to live? Remember that Mr. Kruger gave George $20,000 to donate to the "Human Fund: Money for People". There was a man who loved people and, dare I say, America!

My fear is that people wil buy this great book from Amazon.com for 43 cents and that America will only receive 8 or 17 cents from each sale. Of course, an even more frightening thought is that since the Amazon books on sale for 43 cents appear to be used, America will receive nothing.

If people on the board are going to go after drug cheats, what is wrong with going after ALL cheats?

Rose Ruiz?

misogyny r us wrote:

Parting words: obsessed freak.

I do not think he is obsessed, he is just concerned with the truth, as many of us are. I agree with Canada77. What this woman has done is incredibly wrong and I think we all deserve some answers. She is lying to sell a product. Why you think this is okay or shouldn't bother anyone is beyond me. I also find it interesting that you seem to know how Joan Benoit feels about this, or if she even knows. I can't imagine an Olympic Champion who had a good relationship with her coach, would want some wannabe claiming to be her coach.

I'm in my 50s. I have ex-girlfriends with a greater claim to being an "Olympic marathon pioneer" than Petronella has, but they would never be so audacious or mendacious. Seriously...even in her era, a 2:54 was nothing. I knew women in that era running under 2:40 who never expected anything for what they did, never got it, and certainly don't now make the claims this woman makes.

Plus there is the irrefutable historic fact that a boycott is not the reason there was no 1980 Olympic marathon for women. There wasn't going to be one anyway.

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