

The Slowest Generation  - Shivetya
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324807704579085084130007974.html?mod=trending_now_3

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pedalpete
"America hasn't won an Olympic marathon medal since 2004."

American Men also didn't win a medal from 1980-2004, or between 1928 and 1968.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_at...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_\(men\)#Marathon)

The Marathon for women only started in 1984, and American's did not medal from
1988-2004.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_at...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_\(women\)#Marathon)

I'm not American, but American's have never been marathoners. It's an
extremely shaky argument that the current generation is slower based on the
statistics quoted in this article.

If America sees a long-term decline in something like the 4x100 relay (running
or swimming), then I'd say there might be some cause for concern, but I
suspect more people are competing in running events as a whole, and most of
those people are going to be slow, compared to the past when athletics was for
athletes.

