Its amazing, how everyone hopes for an injury to another athlete just so Lemaitre can medal.
How about building this kids confidence! His coach and handlers should not asses other performers. They should convince Christopher that he is capable of medaling in both the 100 and 200 and expect to win!
Keston Bledsmon runs 9.86 and says he will challenge Bolt. Whether he will or not, his belief that he can compete is what is driving him to run better times than last year, realistic or not .( STOP WITH THE PED NONSENSE UNTIL YOU CAN PROVE TO ME OTHERWISE).
Lemaitre has not improved from last year, and I am sure he him wont this year beacuse his handlers and coaches are a bad influence, telling him he cant run both events beacuse he wont be able to compete at both. THAT IS BEYOND SAD! They should always strive to win Gold, not BRonze, how the hell can he improve when they feed his subconscious negative thoughts. Mind over Muscle!
If Lemaitre does not run a legal under 9.95 this week (weather permitting). He will never improve on his 9.92 or 19.80, MARK MY WORDS! UNTIL THEY SURROUND HIM WITH PEOPLE WHO BELEIV IN HIS NATURAL TALENT! WHAT A WASTE!
elispeedster, I agree with you completely and share your frustrations. Unfortunately, what I see from Lemaitre is the typical passive and defeatist white attitude that we see from white people in so many other aspects of life. I do not know who's to blame here, but you're probably right, and it's on the coaches & handlers to give this young man the proper encouragement and build his confidence. If he doesn't believe he's good enough to win gold in both the 100m and 200m and train for that, then he should not be out there at all. After all, who trains with the mindset that they cannot medal in the 100, and MAYBE get a medal in the 200?
It's beside the point whether it's unrealistic or not. Yes, it's a packed field with Bolt, Powell, Gay, Blake, Gatlin, etc, but you have to believe you can beat them all. Plus, you never know what can happen, whether it's injury, false start, or one of the favorites just having a bad day. We know Asafa always comes up short in big-time meets. How fast is Gay, really, coming off that hip surgery? And is 30-year old former drug-cheat Gatlin really going to run 9.8s all the way thru London? This is ridiculous, you need to have complete confidence in your ability that you can fight and beat the Jamaicans, Americans, and the other guys from the Caribbean. No, it won't be easy, but this is the Olympics, the biggest stage with the best athletes in the world, and it's not supposed to be easy.
It's been difficult so far this year, watching all these black sprinters running sub 10s times left and right, while Lemaitre has looked very average in comparison. To be clear, I'm not trying to bash the kid, I'm his biggest fan. But our expectations have been raised and I'd hate to see such a great talent be wasted. Indeed I hope something good happens this week so we can get excited again about London.