No doubt on any of what you wrote. What's interesting is seeing the "trump" power (the classical definition; not the guy with weird hair) of the Olympic medal, especially gold. Having done a bunch of events with Simon, no one really cares WHAT his medal is in. Everyone just knows he has an Olympic gold. EVERYONE understands that. It's one of very few "universal currencies" (at least when it comes to public speaking). Being POTUS is the same way. Or earning a Nobel.

I see this in a smaller way by virtue of having gone to Princeton. And, admittedly, it was part of why I chose Princeton over some other schools. Harvard still has ultimate dibs on this, and I'd say Yale is a close second, and Princeton is - now - a close third. It carries way more weight than it should when you say, "I went to Princeton." Trust me, I knew some dumb kids. Really dumb. But it's like the joke about "what do they call the guy who finishes last in his class in med school..."

We can digress even further into a discussion about what this says about society, but it's late...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

The IC is a complete fraud. Just a matter of time before he is busted by the feds. He did the 505050 to make $ for himself. He is jobless and homeless. He used up all the money he received from sponsors. Airbnb will be suing him for their $65,000 that's gone. He is a liar and a cheat. He's hoping now that elementary schools will pay him $10,000 per speaking event! The government already has nutritional programs in place for schools. James is out of his mind. IC will try anything to make a quick buck. I hope Jamie Oliver is aware IC is supposedly donating 100% of his profits to his foundation. If he doesn't, Jamie should sue the IC. IC was also having people donate money for a chance to win items that were donated to him. Isn't that against IM rules to take money or donations?

Ironcowboy feat unheard of in Spain... so when you say "largest spectacle - I can remember - in our sport", you mean in the US right?

Triathlon press over here only talked about Jan, Daniela & Marino... Furthermore, recent news came out that WTS mixed relay had more TV rating in Germany than TdF on that day.

So at least over here.... no spectacle.

I can remember some people trying different marketing endurance feats in Spain, like running 52 marathons, or doing 7 ironmans on 7 days.. But barely get noticed comparing to other triathlons on major sports newspaper (being soccer 90% of the content)

Along these lines, there are "currencies" that are recognized by society. As you said, Olympic Gold Medal, in my field an MIT degree is going give you auto credibility (although the India IIT grads seem to be getting the same treatment given how awesome they have done in tech). For those who can't achieve status by gaining a checkmark that gives them established currency (be it through intellect or sporting prowess in areas that are pre established) they need to create their own category and get out there and market the hell out of it. Running across the Sahara, 50/50/50 fall into this category.

I think the problem being a pro athlete in triathlon is that triathlon is not a spectator sport, so, in general, people in society outside tri don't care about triathlon. The people who care about pro triathletes are only the people who do triathlon. And arguably, as many of you have said, most age groupers don't care about the pros because unlike yesterday when Ironman show cased the pros as the rock stars of the sport who we should emulate, now the pros at the local IM are a bit of a side show and the main show is that "Anything is Possible"....the age grouper is the rock star for the day. Given all this it seems the best way to get noticed outside the sport by the media is (as you said) an Olympic Gold, or do something crazy like IC just did and market the hell out of the new category and resultant currency.

IC himself seems to be on a mission "to get noticed" (which is fine). He has said a few times he set the world record for most half IM's in a year and then most IM's in year but no one noticed and no one cared (which is true, we did not)....most of us did not even know there was a record for all this (I guess this falls into the "create your own category and be a world record holder in it). The most recent interview on Fox (which, by the way was pretty good), he talks about those world records (or at least the journalist mentions them, I can't remember who brought it up). Then the interview gets into 50 day journey.

When is the last time they interviewed Kienle on Fox (OK, arguably he is German, so how about someone like Tim DeBoom after he won Kona?). How often is Gwen getting on Fox after all those ITU wins?

So I can easily see how pro triathletes might feel that some guy with no speed suddenly vaults passed all of them in terms of exposure and sponsors and certainly feel a bit ripped off. Same deal with the guys running across the Sahara vs "Actually Fast Runners".

On the positive side, if he has inspire some people to get into our sport, then all the better. I personally don't care if he had an impact on childhood obesity. All of us here doing the sport today, the real people who have impact on that are youth sports coaches who are there day in and day out with kids keeping them engaged in sport. One guy whipping in an out of a state in a day will have less of a lasting affect than the high school track coach, or local soccer coach and to fight obesity, I think you need a lasting effect.

Hats off to the guy though for his mental and physical tenacity and support crew as well as their marketing (albeit some deception and misrepresentation). Pros can't mis represent what they have achieved anyway, because anyone can look up what they did, so the only records you guys can market are legit records, which sadly only a few of us inside the sport care about....so it gets hard to market Frodo's sub 8 in Frankfurt outside the sport and on the outside IC's 50 state odyssey will get more mileage and exposure. He's created a currency that general people will eat up.

FYI

Jamie Oliver publicly thanked the IC in the last few days for a £70k donation to the Jamie Oliver Foundation.

Nice first post.....why don't you shed some light or proof, better yet, call IC directly and discuss.

FWIW - JOFF was linked to the donation page and you can donate directly, so that eliminated any potential of funds being pass through donations.

I am sure elementary schools will pony up $10,000...especially when the don't have $ to give teachers decent raises or buy books for students or fund athletic programs.

Seriously, you need to delete your post unless you have proof.

Yeah, I'm late but...

GJ winning 11 ITU races in a row is impressive if you are insular with regards triathlon. Problem I have with GJ's accomplishment (of course it's great) is that she doesn't have to race every ITU race i.e. she has missed a few because only the 5 best results (+ grand final) count (GJ has won 6 out of the 9 possible with the GF still to come). To me that is far less impressive than say Edwin Moses going almost 10 years (122 races) without losing (i.e. similar to GJ in which he could largely pick and choose) or Steve Redgrave winning 5 consecutive olympic golds (for 5 Olympics he had to show up on a single day and be better than anyone else, no picking and choosing involved, and a feat not accomplished by anyone else ever in a pure athletic event). I even class Sebastian Vettel winning 9 consecutive GP races as more impressive the GJ's feat...he didn't have the luxury of being able to skip a race (of course F1 has a lot of variables involved that affect how impressive and much of an accomplishment is down to the driver alone). Even within triathlon, I still think Chrissie Wellington has a more impressive accomplishment of never having been beaten over the iron distance (13 IM races + 1 ITU long distance race + 2 Alp d'Huez long course races)...sure, she pulled out of the 2010 Kona race beforehand due to illness but otherwise her record is unblemished (and she started a few races in less than good condition due to prior crashes e.g. 2011 Kona).

I have not been on Slowtwitch for a long time, but heard about this guy from a friend (who doesn't do any tris). Came to Slowtwitch to see what the consensus was on his achievement after reading about it elsewhere (surprised a Slowtwitch link didn't come up when I googled his name + triathlon...maybe there's a reason mainstream companies don't sponsor triathlons/triathletes if the 'biggest' (?) forum/news site for tris (and one that is primarily focused on IMs to boot) doesn't even show up in searches for one the biggest triathlon stories of the year. Perhaps some non-triathletes searching for this guy would have come across Slowtwitch, seen this whole new world they were unaware of and having their interest piqued, instead of reading articles on Runners World, Red Bull, etc, although triathlete.com does pop-up further down on the first page). TBH, I think the IC feat was the most impressive. A lot of you seem to suggest that you could do it if given the time and money. I doubt it. I think most (99%) of you wouldn't be able to do 50 70.3s in 50 days in 50 states, more due to the mental side of things (that's still a 92 mile run week on top of the almost 400 miles/week cycling...most of us don't do either one of those over a 7 week period or would want to). I reckon most of us couldn't work for 14 hours-a-day for 50 days straight without complaining a whole lot, let alone adding in all the traveling and actually being productive. Someone mentioned the cyclists doing the equivalent of 330 km/day...that's in this league as well, if not greater, because that's over 365 days (only reason you could argue otherwise that running marathons every day (after cycling) is really hard on your body, impact-wise, so injuries I would think are a bigger factor in the 50/50/50 thing).

I honestly don't care if he used IVs or not (and the mental fortitude required to do a marathon on an elliptical is more impressive than doing a standard one in my eyes, I can barely do 30 mins on a treadmill and the elliptical is even worse for me). I look at this as a pure can you do it or not, just like climbing (mountaineering...rock climbers are a fussy bunch) a peak or crossing the Antarctic...people do it many different ways, using different techniques but no one complained that Amundsen used dogs where as Scott was under man-power alone. This guy is the first to do 50/50/50. Sure, it's a concocted achievement/feat (as is winning 11 ITU races 'in a row'), but most are nowadays, just as a tri itself is a concocted sport (taking 3 established ones and mixing them). Those arguing that GJ is a thoroughbred, etc, are true, but she is actually a failed track athlete (and this is actually USAT's philosphy at the mo for finding tri stars...look for subpar swimmers and runners and converting them). Just like 'every' triathlete, they aren't good enough in any one of the individual sports but are great when all 3 are mashed up. So those of you complaining that IC performances are subpar should think a little more. Yes, they are compared to a pro doing an individual IM but who knows what the outcome would be if you are asked to do 50 on consecutive days (but this will never become a new event as way too out there). 30 years a go, swimmers, runners, cyclists were/could have been making the same argument about triathletes and their new sport.