Why did Flo Jo not run the 400 in Atlanta?

[fasttrack85]

She confirmed that she was training for the marathon and then decided to train for the 400 in 1996. Did she run on the circuit anywhere in 1996? What ever became of that?

[Conor Dary]

She confirmed that she was training for the marathon and then decided to train for the 400 in 1996. Did she run on the circuit anywhere in 1996? What ever became of that?

Well, I would say you said it yourself. A bit delusional by those days. The marathon? That was pretty comical.

[fasttrack85]

Well people can train for whatever they want to train for. While I don't think she would have been much of a factor for the Marathon she could very well have been somewhat of a factor at least at the us trials for the 400 meters. She may have been hanging her hat kinda high but I wouldn't say she was delusional.

[Conor Dary]

Well people can train for whatever they want to train for. While I don't think she would have been much of a factor for the Marathon she could very well have been somewhat of a factor at least at the us trials for the 400 meters. She may have been hanging her hat kinda high but I wouldn't say she was delusional.

Well, if Carlos Lopes had said he was going to train for the 100 meters I think that would qualify as delusional. Ditto for the other direction.

Sadly, it was irrelevant anyways, since she died about 2 years later.

[mcgato]

She may not have been delusional, just knew that making wacky goals of marathon, 400m, or whatever would keep her name in the news.

I recall that she was brought into a Miami road race, probably a 5K attached to a marathon, and there were splashy articles about her transitioning to the marathon. That was a few years after I moved away from the area, so my recollection of the details is fuzzy.

[Conor Dary]

She may not have been delusional, just knew that making wacky goals of marathon, 400m, or whatever would keep her name in the news.

Okay, yes, that makes more sense. Still seemed kind of nutty at the time.....400 maybe, but the marathon, oh boy...

[fasttrack85]

Maybe she was coming out with some fashion product line???? I heard she was trying to get into that after she retired. Usually when people hang up their spikes they hang it up for good.

[Dutra5]

Since she ran a 48 point relay leg, I think the 400m makes sense even if by Atlanta it was a bit of a pipe dream.

The marathon on the other hand.....

[Master Po]

To speak to the question of the thread's title (and thus step past the marathon questions) -- sometimes with an athlete as high profile as Flo Jo, who presents so many possibilities for discussion (and argument), it is perhaps easy to miss a somewhat mundane and simple explanation that would likely apply to most athletes: By 1996 she was 36yo. I suppose that's not an absolutely "impossible" age for an elite (or aspiring to elite) 400m runner, but it's certainly moving to the outside edge of possibility. But she had also been out of the sport, in terms of elite level training, for several years (basically since 1988, right?). So, however serious she might possibly have been about training for the 400m -- I have no idea how serious she might have been -- to attempt a comeback at age 36, to begin to approach the serious base training involved in the process, at that age and after several years away from the sport, would stop most athletes.

[nianchengyu]

the question i concern about is why she did not compete 400m in a open race instead of relay type?And I once heard she obtain the ultimate chance to run 4 by 400m relay in 1988 OLY.