Dathan Ritzenhein
Kenenisa wins, Ritz sets AR at Zurich
August 28, 2009
Kenenisa wins 5th Golden League in 5000M- Amazing Finish http://www.diretube.com - Ethiopian Video Sharing Site.
American Dathan Ritzenhein set the American Record in 12:56
Ritz's Splits
30.9 [15th], 61.8 [1:32.7] [15th],
61.8 [2:34.5] [15th], 61.3 [3:35.8] [15th],
62.7 [4:38.5] [15th], 62.2 [5:40.7] [14th],
62.8 [6:43.5] [12th], 63.9 [7:47.4] [11th],
62.9 [8:50.3] [9th], 62.9 [9:53.2] [8th],
62.5 [10:55.7] [7th], 60.4 [11:56.1] [3rd],
60.2 [3rd]
2:00.6 for his last 800, 4:06 last 1600.
About Dathan Ritzenhein
| Organization: | Nike |
| College: | University Of Colorado At Boulder |
| High School: | Rockford High School |
| Bio: | One of the greatest high school Cross Country runners of all-time, Dathan Ritzenhein won the Footlocker National Championships an impressive two years in a row. While attending the University of Colorado,… + See More +One of the greatest high school Cross Country runners of all-time, Dathan Ritzenhein won the Footlocker National Championships an impressive two years in a row. While attending the University of Colorado,… + See More - See Less -One of the greatest high school Cross Country runners of all-time, Dathan Ritzenhein won the Footlocker National Championships an impressive two years in a row. While attending the University of Colorado, Ritzenhein won the NCAA Championship in the 2003 and was the 5k runner up to Robert Cheseret. |
Technology changes everything, INCLUDING RUNNING, so to stay competitive, ALL Elite runners will eventually have to use Technology in their Training, or get left behind. Americans should enjoy this TEMPORARY Technological advantage while it lasts because the East Africans will eventually use the same Technology to improve their performances.
Winning in the Future will be more about Technology than Natural Ability. For example, scientists can already manipulate Genes to improve endurance.
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/08/64659
Good going, Ritz!!!!!
Way to go Ritz! I saw you run your senior year state final back in high school... you were, and still very, very fast. My buddy couldn't catch you :)
Best wishes
There is technology in the footwear..... where do we draw the line?
You're absolutely right about Ritz being fast and tough. He got 3rd in the 2001 Jr. World XC Championships, so he DEFINITELY has the Natural Ability to contend with the World Beaters.
When I first started running I remember Kennedy and his 12:58! But this is a huge PR! Great things to come!
Now Im gonna go run a really hard workout! I was a bit inspired!
THANKS RITZ!!!
The answer is that Altitude Simulators, though EXPENSIVE, are MORE EFFECTIVE & MORE PRACTICAL than physically travelling from Altitude to Sea Level to train. Since using Altitude Simulators is the BEST WAY to Live High & Train Low, it HIGHLY FAVORS PRIVILEGED athletes who currently have access to them.
But today's state of the art is tomorrow's common practice...Further stunning performances like Ritz's will prompt the rest of the world's Elite Runners to use LHTL technologies. Perhaps the cost of Altitude simulators will decrease over time like most tech gadgets,but again, this begs the question of how much Technology should be allowed in sports before it becomes a Technology Competition rather than an Athletic Competition ?
L.Y.-Michigan State Alumnus
Furthermore, the East African athletes who are going to attempt to replicate "Live High Train Low" benefits are going to be a part of training groups and will most certainly run in shoes provided to them and have access to a car, bicycle, or a bus to travel to lower altitudes in a short amount of time. Whether you intended to or not, painting some kind of picture in which accomplished athletes in East Africa don't have access to shoes and/or a car ride is completely crass and misinformed.
Technology threatens to change Athletics Competitions into TECHNOLOGY Competitions, which is not what Sports is about. The nature of Sports competitions is to determine the BEST ATHLETE, NOT which ATHLETE HAS THE BEST TECHNOLOGY. Look at those Controversial Swimsuits from the 2008 Olympics...Michael Phelps recently lost to a guy wearing a High-Tech Swimsuit...Is this the Future of sports, where the BEST ATHLETES lose to lesser athletes who have the BEST TECHNOLOGY ? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/michael-phelps-loses-to-g_n_246281.html
As for your point that "Live High, Train Low Technology" (LHTLT) is readily available to anyone who seeks it, I DISAGREE. Alot of East Africans don't even have shoes when they start running, let alone cars....Your point that one can rent a shack at Altitude, and drive down to Sea Level to train, proves my point that LHTLT users have to have Significant Financial Resources. Sports should be about Athletic Ability, not money and technology.
Technology threatens to change Athletics Competitions into TECHNOLOGY Competitions, which is not what Sports is about. The nature of Sports competitions is to determine the BEST ATHLETE, NOT which ATHLETE HAS THE BEST TECHNOLOGY. Look at those Controversial Swimsuits from the 2008 Olympics...Michael Phelps recently lost to a guy wearing a High-Tech Swimsuit...Is this the Future of sports, where the BEST ATHLETES lose to lesser athletes who have the BEST TECHNOLOGY ? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/michael-phelps-loses-to-g_n_246281.html
As for your point that "Live High, Train Low Technology" (LHTLT) is readily available to anyone who seeks it, I DISAGREE. Alot of East Africans don't even have shoes when they start running, let alone cars....Your point that one can rent a shack at Altitude, and drive down to Sea Level to train, proves my point that LHTLT users have to have Significant Financial Resources. Sports should be about Athletic Ability, not money and technology.
As for the East Africans somehow being deprived of altitudes advantages, the average altitude of Kenya, for example, is around 6,500 ft, and the Ethiopian highlands have an altitude ranging from 6,500 ft to 13,000 ft. Certainly in these countries, athletes could find living situations similar to my Boulder, CO example. As I said before, the "Live High, Train Low" method is replicable around the world, and the same applies to the East Africans. The East Africans probably don't utilize this strategy (Of course I don't know for sure if all training groups in East Africa do or do not use it) because they are ridiculously dominant. Clearly, "ZERO-GRAV" and "Natural Ability vs. Technology", you are not fully informed of opportunities available to all people, you just have to look around. As they say, "Winners find a way".
the norwegian nordic ski team applied "live high train low" technology and several years later cleaned up the medals at the olympics. so nike was not the first to do it.
Use of this Technology is UNFAIR to those who don't have access to it, like many of the East Africans, so its use will eventually tilt the playing field heavily in favor or those privileged enough to use it. (you did say the Nordic Ski team cleaned up the Olympic Medals after using Live High, Train Low Technology)
This begs the question of how much Technology is TOO Much Technology in Sports ? Think of the controversial "Hi-Tech Swim Suits" from the 2008 Olympics, or Overly "Springy" Drivers in Golf. It threatens to turn Sports into a competition of "Who has the Better Technology" rather than who is the Better Athlete. Whats to Stop Nike from introducing "Semi-Anti-Gravity Shoes" like the "Air Zero-Grav" (i made that up) so their runners can compete at a Fraction of their Body Weight ?
Technology and Sports Performance is a difficult matter because everyone wants to win, but Sports should be about Athletic Ability not an athletes use of Advanced Technology to Artificially Improve their Athletic Ability.
gives me chills every time i hear it.
Continue
Africans have environmental advantages over non-Africans. What do we do, expect them to stay in USA for 5 years before they are able to compete?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Oregon_Project
http://www.tracktownusa.com/track.item.5/the-oregon-project.html
The Nike Altitude Project is NOT basic Altitude Training. It is an advanced Scientific project designed to give participants the best of both worlds hence the name "Live High, Train Low", i.e. the Increased # of Red Blood Cells-RBCs of living at Altitude, while allowing them to train at sea level. Everybody knows the human body runs slower at altitude because of decreased Oxygen levels, so by doing High Intensity Running at Sea Level, participants get the physiological improvements of high intensity training, while increasing RBCs through living at Altitude.
The controversy surrounding these methods is that True Altitude Inhabitants can't have it both ways....They Live AND Train at Altitude. To get the benefits of "Live High, Train Low" they would have to travel thousands of miles from altitude to sea level everyday, which is financially impossible considering the extreme poverty of most African countries.
While the Nike Altitude Project is not blatant Blood Doping, it is HIGHLY Controversial. It begs the question of how much technology should be allowed to enhance a runner's natural ability ? I applaud Coach Salazar and Nike for publicly sharing information about the project. This is not a shadowy, Government Sponsored Doping Program. But it is does push the boundaries of Natural Ability vs. Technological Enhancements.
How can you say that it is equivalent to blood doping? Endurance athletes have used altitude training for decades. Keep in mind that Salazar's group still works as hard as anyone. Simply living in the house doesn't make you run faster, the training does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Oregon_Project
http://www.tracktownusa.com/track.item.5/the-oregon-project.html
"The argument for altitude rooms is that they make up for those athletes that can't live high. What they don't take into account is that people living high don't get the benefits of training low." Alberto Salazar was confident the Anti-Doping Agency would ultimately approve the altitude house, saying that it's no different from other legal scientific advances like heart rate monitors and sports drinks.[3]
In 2006, the subject was revisited more thoroughly by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which claimed that it could be equivalent to blood doping and therefore they should be banned"
It never surprises me how easily questionable methods are rationalized when Americans are the ones in question...however if the East Africans had Use of Nike's High-Tech Facilities & Coaches, how much more would they embarrass the rest of the world ?
http://www.tracktownusa.com/track.item.5/the-oregon-project.html
"The argument for altitude rooms is that they make up for those athletes that can't live high. What they don't take into account is that people living high don't get the benefits of training low." Alberto Salazar was confident the Anti-Doping Agency would ultimately approve the altitude house, saying that it's no different from other legal scientific advances like heart rate monitors and sports drinks.[3]
In 2006, the subject was revisited more thoroughly by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which claimed that it could be equivalent to blood doping and therefore they should be banned"
It never surprises me how easily questionable methods are rationalized when Americans are the ones in question...however if the Africans had Use of Nike's High-Tech Facilities & Coaches, how much more would they embarrass the rest of the world ?
http://www.tracktownusa.com/track.item.5/the-oregon-project.html
"Nike's Oregon Project is a group created by athletic shoe company Nike in 2001 to promote American long distance running, using air thinning technology.[1] The runners live and train in Beaverton, Oregon near Nike's headquarters.[1] Some of the runners in this group live in a specially designed house where filters are used to remove oxygen from the air to simulate that the athlete is living at high elevation. Numerous studies[2] have shown that living at altitude causes the athlete to develop more red blood cells, increasing athletic performance.
The group includes the 2007 World Championship 10,000m Bronze medalist Kara Goucher, her husband, 2000 Olympian Adam Goucher, rising stars Galen Rupp and Josh Rohatinsky, Amy Yoder Begley, a 2008 Olympian at 10,000 meters, and Matt Tegenkamp, who is also a 2008 Olympian running in the 5000m.[4]"
However, everybody loves an Underdog, and Ritz's Breakthrough 12:56 5k will give hope & inspiration to Non-African Runners. But I don't agree with the IAAF making the World XC Championships a biennial event because of East African Dominance. Using that logic, (predictable winner ethnicity), the championships in Hockey, Swimming, Formula 1, Figure Skating, Mens Tennis, NASCAR, Equestrian, etc. should be held every 2 years. Also, when XC was dominated by Non-African Runners (John Treacy, Craig Virgin, Carlos Lopes,Lynn Jennings, Sonia O'Sullivan etc), nobody was complaining, so whats the problem now ?
Well, the golden AFrican is Kenenisa, who else?
Kenenisa is fast yeah and I bet for a world record next year.
Sileshi Sihine (12:47), Eliude Kipchoge (12:46),Isaac Songok (12:48), Saif Shaheen (12:48), Edwin Soi (12:52), Tariku Bekele (12:50), Moses Kipsiro (12:50), Moses Masai (12:50), Joseph Ebuya 12:51), Thomas Longosiwa (12:51), Abraham Chebii (12:52),Gebremariam Gebre-egziabher (12:52) Augustine Choge(12:53) , Abraham Cherkos (12:54), Abebe Dinkessa (12:55) just to name a few under 12:56 PB's coz the list can go on for a while and I am not even talking about under 13:10 or people that aren't running for their original countries...
Most african runners are golden as you say coz they train really hard to make sure they make money to get their families out of poverty, to make sure the next generation will be able to get an adequate education, clean water and live well.
Ritz ran well and I still think he can improve his times if he keeps training really hard and well. But his success is nothing but good for the sport as your media will talk more about track and field. But the poor africans as some call them proved the whole world that they can be powerful, dominant, fast and strong for years without having the same facilities and privileges and still can be humble about it. Coz today you win but tomorrow u can lose. That's just the game!
I second this.
dont credit salazar for this performance, as in multiple articles, salazar has declined to take credit for the performance. good old alberto duly recognizes the phenomenal aerobic development done by brad hudson. lets face it, you dont knock nearly 20 seconds off an already phenomenal PR by training with the oregon project for 7 weeks
GO RITZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/nike.html
East Africans naturally live and train at high altitude, so Nike invested heavily in Altitude Simulation Technology to help Elite American Runners improve. The rest of the World has been looking for a way to compete with the Steady Stream of East African World Beaters and Money, Technology & Science seems to be the Answer...This will surely continue the debate about P.E.T...Performance Enhancing Technologies