The wind and the stars were just right...

[vc1111]

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/spor.../01/2003381270

Amazing.

[Champlain Islander]

Those Africans can really run.

[hillbillyhunter1]

What's so amazing about it??

[bawanajim]

ORIGINAL: hillbillyhunter1

What's so amazing about it??

He did it without a lion chasing him.

[etothepii]

I'd say beating the world record by almost half a minute is pretty amazing. Distance runners from eastern Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, etc. do seem to do much better than the competition.

[hillbillyhunter1]

actually the last record was better than the one previous to it by 43 seconds and the "record" has improved by over 21 minutes in the last 60 years. So, while it's remarkable, it's not out of the ordinary for the marathon times to keep improving substantially.

[Lanse couche couche]

Didn't lots of folks once think that blacks were poor long distance runners and were only good as sprinters?

[etothepii]

ORIGINAL: Lanse couche couche

Didn't lots of folks once think that blacks were poor long distance runners and were only good as sprinters?

That seems to be the American stereotype, and it probably goes back to slavery. Thin men are better runners. Muscular men were bought and bred as slaves. Theancestors of American slaves may very likely have a genetic predisposition to power sports like sprinting and football. East African runners are well built for distance running.

Now, if I were Jimmy the Greek, I'd be fired by now, right?

[Big Duane]

Didn't lots of folks once think that blacks were poor long distance runners and were only good as sprinters?

black is a color, not an ethnicity

[vc1111]

actually the last record was better than the one previous to it by 43 seconds and the "record" has improved by over 21 minutes in the last 60 years. So, while it's remarkable, it's not out of the ordinary for the marathon times to keep improving substantially.

The last 60 years is something that cannot be discounted. It is to be examined closer if it is to be properly analyzed.

60 years ago, the shoes they ran in were not what they are today. Knowledge of optimal dietary requirements where not available or really even known all that well. Furthermore, today's modern shoes have sort of reached an apex and the running done in the last 20 years in modern shoes might account for the bulk of the 21 minutes to which you refer.

It is what has happened beyond that, what has happened in the last 20 years that I find amazing. The crux of it is that man can only run so fast at that distance. Marathon times simply will not keep improving "substantially" and for proof you need only look at the less than 2 seconds per mile that separated the two records to which you refer above. Yet even 2 seconds per mile is a monumental feat when you consider how close to the edge of human possibilities the race has been taken.

And beyond all that I just wrote, do the math. The people doing these things are truly not of this earth.

Additionally, there are many, many marathons run all over the globe each year. Runners from the entire planet line up and do their best. Yet the "records" hardly drop like flies. Having had first-hand experience at that distance, I can tell you that even a 15 second improvement on one's personal best can be fleeting. if not impossible. For any runner, from anywhere, to set a new world record is hardly something that is easy to accomplish.

I will also go this far...that record may just stand for a long, long time.

Lastly, my comments are relative. Is it "amazing?" By most measures, the word amazing falls short. Most high school runners would be pleased to run one mile at the pace per mile that these guys are tearing up 26.2 miles.