Off topic - Mark Lewis-Francis

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

I think Johnson is one of the greatest of all time. I can't see his world records being broken for a long long time, the 200m record could turn into as long a lasting one as the long jump used to be. To contrast his 19:32 record, Marlon Devonish failed to qualify for the final with a time of 20:92.

She gets on my tits but the sprinters could learn a lot from Radcliffe who is never satisfied and always trying to improve (obviously i'm ignoring the last Olympics)

Nobody else has even got near the 19.66 record he broke, which was set at altitude, let alone Johnson's mark.

Slight correction Freddie Fredricks of Namibia ran 19.68 coming second to Johnson when he ran 19.32 I believe. I remember some American doing 19.73 around 1992-3. Carl Lewis did 19.75 while celebrating before crossing the line once.

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

On July 29 he easily captured the 400m Olympic title with a time of 43.49 s, beating Roger Black of Great Britain by almost a second. At the 200m final on August 1, Johnson ran the opening 100m in 10.12 s, achieved a peak speed of over 40 km/h, and finished the race in 19.32 s, shattering the world record he had set just months before

Christ, 10.12 is a pretty impressive 1st 100m considering there's another 100 to go!

That also means he ran the 2nd 100 M in 9.2 seconds! Even with a flying start that is mightily impressive stuff.

That was over 150m not 100m. Impressive second 100m no doubt but not that impressive I think some guys have gone sub-9seconds for the 100m in relays.

Errr....no it wasn't, read the quote properly, the time is from the 200m finals.

100 meter runners get a flying start in the relay, and they ARE ONLY RUNNING 100M. How many 100 m runners do you reckon would run 9.2 in the second 100 of a 200m race?

OOPS sure someone was refering to the 150m he raced against Donovan Bailey.

This is true most 100m wouldn't have the stamina/strength to run a 9.2 at the end of the 200m but thats because they/re 100m sprinters.

I doubt Johnson would have a great 100m, he could probably do 9.9 but probably slightly behind the top boys - otherwise he would have run it as its seen as the the biggest prize by Americans

[bollox]

That transition from junior to senior does seem to be a problem in lots of British sports. I know that in tennis some English guys have won the Wimbledon U-18s etc, but they just never seem to be able to keep improving, and end up ranked 700th in the world in the seniors or whatever….

There was a good discussion on BBCi between Clare Balding and the American sprinter Michael Johnson the other day about the attitude of many British athletes.

Johnson said he often winces when they are interviewed, because so many keep saying “I’m so happy to be here” …”I’m soaking up the atmosphere its great” ….”the crowd are great”….

Johnson said, by contrast, the Aussie athletes all talk about winning. WIN WIN WIN… that’s what matters. He felt the Olympics in 2012 could be quite embarrassing for the Brits unless they change their attitude and approach to sport. This new-age liberal crap about “its taking part that counts” needs to be ditched. You play to win. Once they took competition away from school sports days that what really helped screw it up.

Too many British athletes seem to be surrounded by people telling them how superb they are because they finished 7th in a race, and took 0.02 off their "personal best"....

An American or Aussie would be disgusted with that.

This post may be true, I've noticed the English seem to have gone somewhat backwards in recent years in all round performances. In years gone by there were a multitude of topclass athletes in a multitude of sports. This seems to have changed

And I'm not so so sure that the 'winning is everything' attitude is a particularly healthy one

Government funding plays a significant part in longterm success - after the '76 olympics where Australia failed to win a single gold the federal and state governments started the Institute of Sport academies countrywide and the benefits have been there for all to see

[jamesmcdonnell]

That was over 150m not 100m. Impressive second 100m no doubt but not that impressive I think some guys have gone sub-9seconds for the 100m in relays.

Errr....no it wasn't, read the quote properly, the time is from the 200m finals.

100 meter runners get a flying start in the relay, and they ARE ONLY RUNNING 100M. How many 100 m runners do you reckon would run 9.2 in the second 100 of a 200m race?

OOPS sure someone was refering to the 150m he raced against Donovan Bailey.

This is true most 100m wouldn't have the stamina/strength to run a 9.2 at the end of the 200m but thats because they/re 100m sprinters.

I doubt Johnson would have a great 100m, he could probably do 9.9 but probably slightly behind the top boys - otherwise he would have run it as its seen as the the biggest prize by Americans

Looked it up, his best 100m time was in 1996 at 10.09, certainly a respectable time for 100m. My guess is that he didn't have the explosive start needed, and that's a large part of the focus for 100m running, getting off the blocks and up to maximum accelleration as soon as possible.

I think Johnson had the turnover to be a top class 100m runner, and was powerful enough to develop the start, but obviously chose the events he preferred.

What used to amaze me was that Johnson barely looked out of breath after a blazing 400m race, how he did that is beyond me because the 400 is a hideously taxing event.

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

Errr....no it wasn't, read the quote properly, the time is from the 200m finals.

100 meter runners get a flying start in the relay, and they ARE ONLY RUNNING 100M. How many 100 m runners do you reckon would run 9.2 in the second 100 of a 200m race?

OOPS sure someone was refering to the 150m he raced against Donovan Bailey.

This is true most 100m wouldn't have the stamina/strength to run a 9.2 at the end of the 200m but thats because they/re 100m sprinters.

I doubt Johnson would have a great 100m, he could probably do 9.9 but probably slightly behind the top boys - otherwise he would have run it as its seen as the the biggest prize by Americans

Looked it up, his best 100m time was in 1996 at 10.09, certainly a respectable time for 100m. My guess is that he didn't have the explosive start needed, and that's a large part of the focus for 100m running, getting off the blocks and up to maximum accelleration as soon as possible.

I think Johnson had the turnover to be a top class 100m runner, and was powerful enough to develop the start, but obviously chose the events he preferred.

What used to amaze me was that Johnson barely looked out of breath after a blazing 400m race, how he did that is beyond me because the 400 is a hideously taxing event.

I don't think he ran the 100m at his peak though (although 1996 was his peak). If he trained more for explosivity (starts, 20-30m speed, power cleans, squats) and abandoned his 400m training he'd have been all the better in the 100m

To be honest I always found it hard to believe he wasn't on the gear but he did come down very hard on Dwain Chambers for testing positive. So I'm unsure whether he got any extra boost.

Johnson and James Toney have 2 things in common - relaxation and great technique and pacing.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Why though? Plenty of other guys were Juicing at 200 and 400, and none of them got close to where Johnson got. Johnson also had a unique running style and incredible leg turnover speed which gave him the edge.

I've said this before, but Johnson's running technique was very similar to Jesse Owens, and I think his success came from his technique not from steroids, even if he was on them.

Johnson wasn't particularly huge, he was muscular, but it's not like he turned into a massive slab like Dwayne Chambers did.

[bollox]

Johnson was an absolute freak as a a runner. Low centre of gravity, and with what looked to be bad technique

The 200 metre record had stood for 20 years before he came along. The previous record holder Piedro Mienna? - what are the chances he was on the juice in a big way? (pretty bloody high)

[jamesmcdonnell]

Minea set his record at altitude at Mexico City though, that's why he was able to set such a fast time.

Johnson made the most of his unusual build, long torso, short legs, by developing a choppy style which relied on leg turnover speed with short strides, rather than the long loping stride employed by most 400m runners.

Unlike most 400M runners, he was short and stocky, which allowed him to run the bends really really well, he would lean into them and just tear round them like he was on rails.

[mikey h]

Darren Campbell has always looked very soft for a sprinter, always carrying body fat, but peversely, he's the most successful guy we have since Linford.[/quote]

John Regis was another one who looked soft for a sprinter but was deceptivly quick over 200 m holding the british record at 19.94 secs.

[Old bones Ian]

John Regis was another one who looked soft for a sprinter but was deceptivly quick over 200 m holding the british record at 19.94 secs.

That might of been the fact that Regis was quite small in height, he always looked quite quite squat when he was running

[Bladder]

Darren Campbell has always looked very soft for a sprinter, always carrying body fat, but peversely, he's the most successful guy we have since Linford.

John Regis was another one who looked soft for a sprinter but was deceptivly quick over 200 m holding the british record at 19.94 secs.[/quote]

Regis was solid muscle ...... ever see him remove his vest after a race? I believe his Dad was a body-builder and he got his physique from there.

I thought Regis brought the British record down to the 19.8's, though at altitude.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Darren Campbell has always looked very soft for a sprinter, always carrying body fat, but peversely, he's the most successful guy we have since Linford.

John Regis was another one who looked soft for a sprinter but was deceptivly quick over 200 m holding the british record at 19.94 secs.[/quote]



http://www.sporting-heroes.net/files_at ... 9_GH_L.jpg

Oh yes, soft.....

My god are you kidding, the man was a beast. Part of the reason for his speed I reckon was his almost non-existent ears, his head was like a bullet.

Tell you who was underrated, is Chris Akabusi, had phenomenal natural talent, and didn't even look like an athlete.

He competed in some masters event thing, and he absolutely whupped Regis and a bunch of others in the 200m.

[Coconut]

Yep, Regis ran a still-record time in Italy at altitude.

The lad was stacked, not fat.

[Old bones Ian]

one name to watch could be Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, he did the 100 and 200 double at the world youth games.

Will be interesting to see what Ovett has to say about the sprinters on the highlight show tonight, I'm enjoying his analysis of the games, he says what he thinks.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Ovett is cool, I always liked Seb Coe when I was young, for some reason never rated Ovett, but he's a good down to earth sort, and speaks his mind.

Coe is cool too, he got us the Olympics, and his standing as an international athlete, and experience as a politician was vital in that, shame he was a tory, but there you go, canne have everything.

[Old bones Ian]

classic races that Coe and Ovett had, saw a Docu on Coe and he was trained by his Dad , who had never trained anyone before in his life.
Also Coe had a heart rate of 35 , or something mad like that.

[dondada]

Coe was my hero. Then I found out the fornicator was a Tory.

[knockout]

Regis was seriously jacked!!!!!



Campbell always was a bit soft you are right... I remember him watching a replay of his race once and they asked him what he thought.. he said "he really should do some weights"....

Johnson was a phenom NO DOUBT, but interestingly the top 400m guy at the moment who is running very fast times shares the same college and same coach as Johnson!!! so perhaps there training is particularly special!!

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/5109876 ... E11E5A077B

[Old bones Ian]

Coe was my hero. Then I found out the fornicator was a Tory.

My hero from athletics was Daley Thompson, thought he was class when i was at school.
and also because i was great on the ZX Spectrum game, Daley Thompsons Decathlon

[hitman_hatton1]

i'm a big athletics fan meself and have been disappointed with lewis francis. i didn't know he fucked up the relay, i'll have to watch the repeat show tonight on bbc 2.

dwain chambers getting tested positive was the biggest blow for british sprinting. he was the best of our sprinters and had the most potential to compete with the best guys out there and he blew it.

[Twinkle Toes]

A lot of the problem I feel with our athletes is they are totally surrounded by 'yes' people.

It's all very well being the big 'I am' at the local club and then struggling to final at a minor championship - They should be ashamed of themselves.

I always remember our track and field athletes bleating about not having enough financial support, yet since they have been getting lottery funding they have actually digressed to an all time low.

At a championship, I would expect all of our athletes to at the very least gain personal best's or be in contention for a medal - If they aren't in the form to do either then they shouldn't be going - It's a waste of time.

2012 is going to be a disaster.

On a slightly different note, our coverage is so ridiculously biased that I feel like putting the TV through the window. How on earth they can keep excusing some idiot who has just failed to get to the final, or someone who finished last has always annoyed me.

Oh and big respect to Kelly Sotherton.

[mikey h]

Darren Campbell has always looked very soft for a sprinter, always carrying body fat, but peversely, he's the most successful guy we have since Linford.

John Regis was another one who looked soft for a sprinter but was deceptivly quick over 200 m holding the british record at 19.94 secs.

http://www.sporting-heroes.net/files_at ... 9_GH_L.jpg

Oh yes, soft.....

My god are you kidding, the man was a beast. Part of the reason for his speed I reckon was his almost non-existent ears, his head was like a bullet.

Tell you who was underrated, is Chris Akabusi, had phenomenal natural talent, and didn't even look like an athlete.

He competed in some masters event thing, and he absolutely whupped Regis and a bunch of others in the 200m.[/quote]

Yep. i'm the tool on this thread. 8) Couldn't have got many more facts wrong!

Thats never how i remembered john regis.

i'll retract my previous statement to-

The monster John Regis currently holds the British 200 m record at 19.87 sec.

[hitman_hatton1]

remember akabusi bringing it home in the 4 by 400 relay in 1991. that was awesome from the british team that day.

we beat a class american team that day and brought home the bacon.

sally gunnell was always my favourite. fancied her when i was a wee boy.

[Old bones Ian]

sally gunnell was always my favourite. fancied her when i was a wee boy.

Must have been the tight shorts she used to wear.

At least it wasn't Fatima Whitbread

[Bladder]

sally gunnell was always my favourite. fancied her when i was a wee boy.

'kin hell HH, must have some ugly women where you come from to fancy Sal!

Curly on The Apprentice reminds me of her.