26mi235 Dieter Baumann won Olympic gold over 5000m in 1992 (shock horror a white man winning a long distance race! ) Craig Mottram won World bronze over 5000m in 2005 (another white man!) and there have been numerous Arab & Berber men (neither 'white' nor 'black'!) that have medalled over 5000m and 10000m, most notably a certain Hicham El Guerrouj over 5000m. So, it really isn't that significant IMHO, that a (black) Englishman or a (white) American medalled in London.
On the other hand, one could argue that, as the first woman to score over 6900 pts twice in the same season since 1988, Ennis's achievements were more significant historically. But, I guess that would be a foolish argument, as who cares what happens in the heptathlon?
Sarcasm aside, the argument about 'keeping the sport viable' could therefore be extended to the sprints, which are dominated by (black) American and Carribean athletes. What about the poor white sprinters?
Anyway, AOY....if it goes to Felix it will be a terribly unfair and biased result.
mump boy wrote:So now were supposed to give extra credit to athletes if they make countries mainly populated by white people, feel better about themselves
No, for keeping the sport viable.
Sorry.... but this is a ludicrous... Even if she won.... 10x's over this still won't revitalize the sport.
BTW.... She won and I am still yet to see one television news report focusing on her winning. In fact I haven't seen one American based television news report mentioning that she won the damn thing. If I weren't watching BBC America I wouldn't even have know that she was the one that won the damn thing.
These guys clearly have no standard whatsoever in choosing who wins these AOY awards. The mere fact that Bolt won last year over Rudisha and Felix won over the likes of Adams, Ennis, SAFP, Pearson and Perkovic this year is a farce. This has nothing to do with skill and completely everything to do with likeability.
Congrats to AF,I really like her, but she should not even be second. I am guessing that the most unbiased panel will put her in about 5th (i.e., T&FN). They know more than I do and I almost always trust their opinions over those of individuals.
Felix winning is slightly ridiculous if you think about it. In theory, that means if someone has a pretty decent season, then only runs the relays at the Olympics/WC, they can achieve athlete of the year. Not saying Felix only had a decent season, but I don't see it as AOY worthy.
What's ridiculous is the theory that is being suggested.
The most unbiased panel is always the one that agrees with "my" decision. This is the same panel that selected SRR as AOD over Veronica Campbell. Yeah, that was real unbiased!
TrackFan4Ever wrote:What's ridiculous is the theory that is being suggested.
The most unbiased panel is always the one that agrees with "my" decision. This is the same panel that selected SRR as AOD over Veronica Campbell. Yeah, that was real unbiased!
This is the one that always gets me going SRR over VCB as AOD LMAO .........YOU COULDNT MAKE IT UP. What exactly has she done to be worthy of this ? For me VCB deserves this but then again with the kind of biased selection panel making these decisions it is expected
I don't really get the uproar in this thread. In the other one, okay, you had all the guys with their WRs, and Bolt gets picked ahead of them. Here, I would've picked SAFP and Ennis ahead of Felix, but still, it doesn't seem that unreasonable.
j-a-m wrote:I don't really get the uproar in this thread. In the other one, okay, you had all the guys with their WRs, and Bolt gets picked ahead of them. Here, I would've picked SAFP and Ennis ahead of Felix, but still, it doesn't seem that unreasonable.
Not Valerie who was unbeaten all season ? or Sandra Perkovic who was prolific and totally dominant ?
My TOTALLY bad!! All this time, from my first comment onward (Mine was the first to comment on this thread!!), I've thought this to be about the TRACK AND FIELD NEWS AOY.......NOT any other, whether it's IAAF, ESPN, or whatever!!
Sorry, I guess I should have read the initial post a bit more carefully!
But as to the IAAF awards, I not only disagree with their choice, but I have NO or LITTLE respect for the award itself!!
To me, it's not much different than the Oscar's, the Emmy's, the Grammy's, the National Book Award's, even the Nobel's!!
They're all either totally political, or they play to sentimental favorites, or they lean to who's more currently popular!!
All of which have NOTHING to do with who's BEST!!
Which is what AOY should be all about!!
In the T&FN sense of the term, I still choose Jessica Ennis!!
j-a-m wrote:I don't really get the uproar in this thread. In the other one, okay, you had all the guys with their WRs, and Bolt gets picked ahead of them. Here, I would've picked SAFP and Ennis ahead of Felix, but still, it doesn't seem that unreasonable.
Not Valerie who was unbeaten all season ? or Sandra Perkovic who was prolific and totally dominant ?
agreed, these girls got out voted on the "female athlete with more sex appeal " funny how female athlete awards come down to who has greater sex appeal sometimes rather than true merit
The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete have tougher competition and/or are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix, Ennis should be ahead of those others.
j-a-m wrote:The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete have tougher competition and/or are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix, Ennis should be ahead of those others.
j-a-m wrote:The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete have tougher competition and/or are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix, Ennis should be ahead of those others.
If thats the case then the top heptathlete should be the AOY every year....
If someone like Adams dominates her event, regardless if event is not as good of a measure of complete athleticism as Ennis, or no one was throwing as far as in the past, if she was able to be above and beyond the competition THIS YEAR, then she is deserving.
j-a-m wrote:The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete have tougher competition and/or are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix, Ennis should be ahead of those others.
If thats the case then the top heptathlete should be the AOY every year....
If someone like Adams dominates her event, regardless if event is not as good of a measure of complete athleticism as Ennis, or no one was throwing as far as in the past, if she was able to be above and beyond the competition THIS YEAR, then she is deserving.
j-a-m wrote:The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete have tougher competition and/or are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix, Ennis should be ahead of those others.
What a a load of total tripe. Speed is not the only measure of athletic ability (SAFP and Felix).
And while Ennis is an awesome athlete and an awesome looking athlete, she is, as with nearly all multi-eventers, not able to cut it in an individual event - although she may prove me wrong in the 100H if she focuses on that event alone. I find it difficult to rate as AOY an athlete who can only throw the javelin 47.49 when the WR is just a little bit further.
By j-a-m's moronic logic then the AOY would have to be awarded to the best marathoner every year, given there are a hell of a lot more people running marathons than the 100m or 200m or any other event.
Also by j-a-m's stupid logic then perhaps Bolt shouldn't be AOY because when he is on song and not injured he does not have any competition either. How pathetic that because an athlete completely dominates her event (a la Adams and Perkovic) that some idiot thinks this devalues their performances.
When the rewards are greatest in an area that they draw the greatest competition. It happens everywhere and always. Why the implications of this are so indigestible to some is always a surprise, but it often leads to them drawing the wrong conclusions (or at least failing to draw the sometimes obvious ones).
j-a-m wrote:The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete... are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix... should be ahead of those others.
What is your measure?
I've know many flat sprinters who struggled to kick a ball or catch a frisbee = no coordination. All world class throwers have high-end kinesthetic (athletic) sense... they have to if they want to produce effective technique.
j-a-m wrote:The events in which SAFP, Felix, Ennis compete... are a better measure of athletic ability than the events in which Adams, Perkovic compete. That's why SAFP, Felix... should be ahead of those others.
What is your measure?
I've know many flat sprinters who struggled to kick a ball or catch a frisbee = no coordination. All world class throwers have high-end kinesthetic (athletic) sense... they have to if they want to produce effective technique.
You are missing the point. The 100 and similar sprints are the glamor events with the greatest remuneration. Thus, they get more people pushing harder for those events. Do you think that there are only one or two people in the US capable for walking under 4 hours for the 50km? There are not enough willing to work at it given that the rewards are rather modest. Events with lower earnings potential draw less interest and hence less competition.
ATK wrote:If thats the case then the top heptathlete should be the AOY every year....
There are many different events in t&f, so you need some sort of criteria to compare those events when you vote for something like athlete of the year; those criteria can either be explicit or implicit.
As part of those criteria I don't think it's useful how much an athlete dominated their event within a given year; that could just be for a lack of competition. The following three criteria, on the other hand, I do consider useful in comparing different events:
- performances compared to all time bests; - level of worldwide competition in that event; - overall athletic ability.
With respect to overall athletic ability, multi eventers will look good every year, sure, but it's only one of many criteria. What Ennis did in London compares favorably to all-time bests in the event; that's not the case for multi eventers every year.
Win/loss record against competitors Times/distances/marks (their top mark but also marks across the whole season) Medals won (I don't consider relays) Margin of victory Historical perspective (is it a new event? Past seasons of athletes in the same event etc) and then, to a lesser extent, how competitive that event is compared to other AOY nominations.
And my winners are as follows (with analysis to follow in next post)
Win/loss record - Adams Times/distances/marks - Ennis Medals won - SAFP Margin of victory - Ennis Historical perspective - Ennis
Felix does well in the "time/distance/mark" in terms of her best mark (historically) as she ran the 6th fastest time ever and goes 4th on the all-time list. But SAFP equals her here with 7th fastest/4th on list and Ennis is there too with 12th best mark/5th on list. Looking at their full set of marks, it's more hazy; SAFP's next best mark is 19th on the all-time list, while Felix's is 46th. Ennis's next best is 18th. Looking at the whole season, Felix's races over 200m are a handful, so it's hard to compare her 200 season agaisnt SAFP's 100m season, where the latter ran more and had more opportunity to run faster...but also lose. Unfortunately, due to whatever reason, Adams and Perkovic's bests are much lower in the all-time lists so they lose out here. Win/Loss record, Felix, Ennis and Adams do very well. Perkovic too. SAFP not so well. Medals won, SAFP wins with gold and silver. Her most direct comparison is Felix who also has two events. However, event specialists Adams, Ennis and Perkovic dont have the opportunity. But either way, SAFP has the nod in medals won. Margin of victory is where it's a bit easier to compare. Ennis wins here easily with her massive 306 pt winning margin, then possibly Perkovic with her 2m margin over Felix, then Adams and SAFP in that order. Historically, for me, Ennis wins as the first woman to go over 6900 twice in one season since 1988. Felix is second as the first woman to go sub 21.7 since 1998.
And I’ve done all that and forgotten Sally Pearson , Anna Chicherova and Spotakova
26mi235 wrote:The 100 and similar sprints are the glamor events with the greatest remuneration. Thus, they get more people pushing harder for those events.
That's correct. An additional aspect is that the sprints are easier to train for in developing countries than some other events, because you don't need that much equipment.
Gabriella wrote:Felix does well in the "time/distance/mark" in terms of her best mark (historically) as she ran the 6th fastest time ever and goes 4th on the all-time list. But SAFP equals her here with 7th fastest/4th on list and Ennis is there too with 12th best mark/5th on list. Looking at their full set of marks, it's more hazy; SAFP's next best mark is 19th on the all-time list, while Felix's is 46th. Ennis's next best is 18th. Looking at the whole season, Felix's races over 200m are a handful, so it's hard to compare her 200 season agaisnt SAFP's 100m season, where the latter ran more and had more opportunity to run faster...but also lose. Unfortunately, due to whatever reason, Adams and Perkovic's bests are much lower in the all-time lists so they lose out here.
Exactly; somehow those guys arguing for Adams or Perkovic seem to forget that.
No, the people pushing for Adams and Perković have a firmer sense of reality and what the true value of all-time lists is. It's obviously not remotely the same in all events.
) Craig Mottram won World bronze over 5000m in 2005 (another white man!) and there have been numerous Arab & Berber men (neither 'white' nor 'black'!) that have medalled over 5000m and 10000m, most notably a certain Hicham El Guerrouj over 5000m. So, it really isn't that significant IMHO, that a (black) Englishman or a (white) American medalled in London. 
