It's her choice. But there are limited chances in life. I was right there watching injured athletes trying to defend their titles like Puica at 38 years old in the '88 Olympics when she dropped out of her heat at 2800 meters for a broken leg.
I hate to rush to judgment, and I suppose the pressures of being a defending world champ are significant, but man, I think she would regret skipping worlds when she got older. She has a very rare talent and a very rare opportunity. She won't have this opportunity when she's 40 or 50 or 60 years old. She may not even have it next year if an injury occurs. She has it now. I can't help but feel that this sort of decision would have repercussions throughout her life.
Showing up in pressure situations - be it a world championship or an important work meeting - forces us to rise to the occasion and find out what we're made of. There is great power and joy in that. Yes, we have to pay attention to our mental health, but this just feels like fear of losing, and the only way to get past fear is to go through it, not around it.
I mean we're just talking around running in circles around a track. This is not life or death stuff.
Top athletes use PEDs of course. Kersee has been widely suspected and accused of this. The most curious part of his statement is when he says “It’s in our control whether we’re just going to go ahead and train though this year….” This is very curious phrasing because normally you would just say it without the “it’s in our control,” as if he is almost intimating maybe there is the possibility that it isn’t. Otherwise we are all just speculating.
If it was a serious sport, USATF would tell Mu that she is disqualified from competing in the Olympic Trials next year if she doesn't run the WC this year. If it was a serious sport, Nike would cancel Mu's contract and sue her for non-performance and contract fraud. If it was a serious sport, Bobby Kersee would be sanctioned for his destructive actions in the media, all bad publicity for the sport of track and field.
The worst thing that ever happened to track and field was professionalizing it. The athletes never became professionals, they still behave like amateurs but now expect to be paid like professionals. I'm no longer sad that athletes can't make a living doing track. It's a total joke.
I have more respect for Jarmila Kratochvilova than I will ever have for Athing Mu.
This is a strange one as Jarmila doped so much that she turned into Roger Daltry...
what a bunch of bull s@$t. get on a plane and go on vacation? vacation from what? what a prima donna. she doesn't have a clue what real work even is. go to the fashion world. good riddance.
I hear you. Honestly I think I disagree with all of your suggested rule changes though. Injured and can only compete in one meet before championships means a star athlete misses the championship? Bad for the sport. Miss your doping controls once means banned for life?—seems insanely strict for someone missing a test or unknowingly ingesting some minor banned substance. Team time trials on the Nike campus (I can think of one notable occurrence of this in 2019 + some time trials on high school tracks during Covid lockdowns) are fine in their place. As for coaches being stripped of credentials if their commentary is damaging to the promotion of the sport, I’m more on the side of freedom of speech and besides, who is going to be the arbiter of this?—seems like some BS waiting to happen.
I like track a lot as is and although I wish it were more popular in the U.S. I’m not down on the sport like you seem to be. This isn’t a good precedent for Mu to set, though.
I didn't fully elaborate. Obviously you have to have something reasonable in your doping rules, but I think banned for life if you disrespect the process. Otherwise just allow doping. Athletes dodge meets and tests so they can dope and get away with it. If they aren't going to enforce it, just allow it, at least then the athletes would show up and compete. If they are going to enforce it, kick out completely the dopers. So sure, allow 3 whereabouts failures, but if you have 3, you're gone for good because you're not professional enough to be in the sport. Maybe you're not even a doper but you are making the sport look like it is full of cheaters.
Why are we afraid to get rid of talented athletes that damage the sport? If Tom Brady said the n word in an interview he'd be fined and suspended and maybe allowed back but if he did it a second time he'd be done for good. Who cares how talented they are if they ruin the sport? Same goes for coaches. Imagine if an NFL coach said whatever he wanted to in front of the camera...in fact it's already happened and many have been fired for running their mouth. Who is arbitrating that? Do you say whatever you want at work with no expectation of being able to be fired? Try lying on a financial form for a business and see what happens.
Team time trials (with exception of during COVID) can be done at a meet where other people not on your team are allowed to compete. Why let them set up a cultivated safe meet so they can qualify? Would the Chiefs play the Chiefs practice squad, wallop them, and then be allowed to play in the Superbowl? Make people compete, otherwise it's not a sport. It didn't bother me as much back in the day when an athlete would have a couple of key meets where everything was set up for them, then they raced the rest of the season, often losing or even bombing out. Manzano used to choke hard in some meets running something awful like a 4:07 mile and then show up medal a few weeks later. Now we see a couple cultivated efforts, complete radio silence, then nationals (unless they have a bye) and Worlds, and then nothing forever. Admittedly this is mostly an American problem.
Whatever, I probably shouldn't care at all, but track is the only sport I watch anymore...
Maybe if the Diamond League meets actually paid professional money to win events people would care to show up and might bother to show up with niggles because the fees are in line with their talents.
In what world is 10K for a win at the best weekly event of a sport in 2023 world class pay?
I would love to see Athing compete at the World Championship. Whatever her decisions are I respect them. What I don’t understand is creating hype around this with a press release…which is adding more attention and pressure. There is the option to quietly scratch from the event.
If it was a serious sport, USATF would tell Mu that she is disqualified from competing in the Olympic Trials next year if she doesn't run the WC this year. If it was a serious sport, Nike would cancel Mu's contract and sue her for non-performance and contract fraud. If it was a serious sport, Bobby Kersee would be sanctioned for his destructive actions in the media, all bad publicity for the sport of track and field.
The worst thing that ever happened to track and field was professionalizing it. The athletes never became professionals, they still behave like amateurs but now expect to be paid like professionals. I'm no longer sad that athletes can't make a living doing track. It's a total joke.
I have more respect for Jarmila Kratochvilova than I will ever have for Athing Mu.
This is a strange one as Jarmila doped so much that she turned into Roger Daltry...
Point is that Kratochvilova showed up and competed, even lost sometimes.
I didn't fully elaborate. Obviously you have to have something reasonable in your doping rules, but I think banned for life if you disrespect the process. Otherwise just allow doping. Athletes dodge meets and tests so they can dope and get away with it. If they aren't going to enforce it, just allow it, at least then the athletes would show up and compete. If they are going to enforce it, kick out completely the dopers. So sure, allow 3 whereabouts failures, but if you have 3, you're gone for good because you're not professional enough to be in the sport. Maybe you're not even a doper but you are making the sport look like it is full of cheaters.
Why are we afraid to get rid of talented athletes that damage the sport? If Tom Brady said the n word in an interview he'd be fined and suspended and maybe allowed back but if he did it a second time he'd be done for good. Who cares how talented they are if they ruin the sport? Same goes for coaches. Imagine if an NFL coach said whatever he wanted to in front of the camera...in fact it's already happened and many have been fired for running their mouth. Who is arbitrating that? Do you say whatever you want at work with no expectation of being able to be fired? Try lying on a financial form for a business and see what happens.
Team time trials (with exception of during COVID) can be done at a meet where other people not on your team are allowed to compete. Why let them set up a cultivated safe meet so they can qualify? Would the Chiefs play the Chiefs practice squad, wallop them, and then be allowed to play in the Superbowl? Make people compete, otherwise it's not a sport. It didn't bother me as much back in the day when an athlete would have a couple of key meets where everything was set up for them, then they raced the rest of the season, often losing or even bombing out. Manzano used to choke hard in some meets running something awful like a 4:07 mile and then show up medal a few weeks later. Now we see a couple cultivated efforts, complete radio silence, then nationals (unless they have a bye) and Worlds, and then nothing forever. Admittedly this is mostly an American problem.
Whatever, I probably shouldn't care at all, but track is the only sport I watch anymore...
Maybe if the Diamond League meets actually paid professional money to win events people would care to show up and might bother to show up with niggles because the fees are in line with their talents.
In what world is 10K for a win at the best weekly event of a sport in 2023 world class pay?
How does $10,000 for first in a Diamond League compare to first place prize money in a swimming grand prix or gymnastics meet? I don’t know of any so I’m asking, since those are the most comparable sports to track.
Michael Jordan didn’t play the regular season and abandon his team in the playoffs.
You forgot that the context is completely different, Slick. Jordan was playing a real team sport. His teammates would not win if he didn't show up. What do the other US athletes lose if Mu doesn't show up? Nada.
Maybe she's just negotiating a higher base salary?
The timing for such a move seems right. Nike wants to be the global shoe brand number one, but outside of the US the average viewer probably can't name any runner associated with them except for Kipchoge, Rupp and Mu - and two of those are about to be tripped soon by father time.
Maybe she's just negotiating a higher base salary?
The timing for such a move seems right. Nike wants to be the global shoe brand number one, but outside of the US the average viewer probably can't name any runner associated with them except for Kipchoge, Rupp and Mu - and two of those are about to be tripped soon by father time.
Imagine trying to negotiate for a higher salary by telling your boss "Hey, I don't think I'm gonna work this year, I'm focused on working next year." Also, "Hey boss, I don't really like my job. I like this other job (modeling). I'd rather be doing that."
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