A few more points about Boling that people forget. He ran a wind legal time of 10.11 +0.5 at only 19 years of age! He ran a windy
100 meters time of 9.98 in high school which is the fastest time under any conditions for a high school kid ever.
If this kid would have only ran the 100 & 200 meters with better coaching all through college who knows just how fast his personal best
times in the 100 meters would be. It would be alot faster than his wind legal 9.98! It's such a sad situation what has been done to the
kid. He had Lemaitre Talent and they turned him into a friggin relay runner. Pathetic, Stupid and it makes me so flipping angry!
I don't buy the TEAM GUY for racking points for his team. This doesn't happen to black prodigy sprinters. Only to white sprinters. The
kid was run into the ground for 4 years in college running every event known to man. He had the worst coaching because he
was mainly a work horse in as many events as possible to make his coach's look good but hold back his career.
The man has Two of the fastest indoor 200 meters of all time and he ran a 19.92 outdoors into a strong negative wind. So yeah let's just
move him to the 400 and let him run relays at best. What a slap in the face olympic medal or not. No one cares who runs the relays. He
will be quickly forgotten when his career is over and very few if any will ever remember him.
Sorry guys but I just hold this in most of the time. It needs to be said.
I agree that considering what he accomplished as a high school track prodigy Boling has definitely underperformed. So this begs the question why. In truth, and to keep this fair, track is an impossibly difficult sport and there are tons of very talented guys that fall short. Many of whom are black. So its not uncommon. That being said, some of the biggest reasons for failure are: lack of personal motivation, lack of personal dedication, lack of a family support system, lack of facilities, lack of finances, serious or continual injuries. Boling has had none of these issues.
So then why is it? Not actually talented enough? I dont think anyone believes that. Perhaps lack of proper training for him and ineffective coaching? Probably. Having to push through psychological barriers after hitting barriers? Probably. Having to deal with the extra pressure of being white when the system doesnt support that? Definitely. Having to fight against unseen ESG forces? I would say so as well. That's a lot to deal with, and it may be possible that he doesnt ever run the sprints competitively again. He does seem a bit fragile and he is a product of his generation. How tough is he really??
But at this point, for where he is, I would say the clear fact is that the 400m is the right choice for this year for his career as a whole. I hope he makes the olympic team, wins some hardware, and then goes back to the sprints next year. I believe the 100m and 200m are his best events. He has a coach who knows how to prepare for that. We've seen it with Kerley and its hard to imagine that wasnt part of his decision in selecting Francique. I am hopeful that he does still run the 100m in the future, but it would be naive to think that he isnt going to have to battle on some levels to see that happen. he'll have to prove himself again.
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