Felix Sanchez (© Getty Images)
Hello everybody,
I think the breakthrough of Allyson Felix and all the other teenagers is very interesting. On the other hand I am still convinced that we athletes are like cars. You can only drive us so fast so long. I believe everyone has his 3, 4 or even maybe 5 years at the very top. Everyone has his window. The question is what window do you want to have?
In the US they have the youth system, the college system and after that there is the international scene. If you peak too early you are going to miss out on your window!
It’s like this South African 400m Hurdler (editor: Louis van Zyl, World junior champion born in 1985). He’s done great things already. But when one matures faster than people his own age, realistically it is very hard for them to progress again at a later stage in their career.
It is believed that the full maturity stage is reached at 22, 23 years of age. If an athlete has his best years when he’s 19 or 20 you can’t expect him to come back again when he’s 25 or 26.
Allyson Felix is on pace to run much faster than Flo Jo’s world records if she continues progressing they way she has been. But that again is very unlikely. I really do hope that the people surrounding her and people at USATF will preserve her. She has a great talent, it would be a pity to burn her out so soon.
I know what she must feel like. I remember when I was younger and I wanted to run at each and every meet and in all the races in order to help my team. I always wanted to run all the events but today I understand how fortunate I have been to always have people around me who would hold me back, who would preserve me.
They had seen talent in me and they wanted me to succeed in my career. They put me in the bigger picture and raced me sparingly and today, I constantly thank them for that.
Felix