A Nina Kraft story


I was riding on a bike trail in Polk County FL about 9 or 10 years ago

When a bike rider passed me

I road that section of trail 3 times a week For 6 months and had never seen another rider there

I picked up the pace and started riding next to her. She said hello, asked how I was etc.

We road together for approx 5 miles. I was having to give a good effort to stay with her. She was not breathing very hard at all

I told her my name and she replied that she was Nina Kraft I remarked I thought I had heard of her before.

She gave a very disappointed sigh and said yes I can imagine you have. I had no idea what she
Want or why she seemed so dejected when I said that


We road together for another half hour taking about nothing and everything. Very nice person. She told me her email.

I looked her up when I got home and realized why she had sighed like that. Didn’t make any nevermind to me

We emailed back and forth a few times over the next couple of years as friends about nothing in particular

What a tragedy. My prayers are with her family

Hello devashish_paul and All,

Nicely said .....

RIP Nina

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

 
I met Nina at the training center in Clermont. I was alone in a lane, she asked if we could share..no prob. She started swimming...quite well. So at a rest I said, "wow, you're pretty good". She laughed. I asked if she was pro, then I asked her name. I had no clue. I looked her up when I got home.

I ran into her twice at Florida 70.3. She recognized me and we chatted. SUPER nice lady.

It's very sad to hear her passing.

It's really sad to see dark thoughts cloud people's minds. We don't really know them, but reading their posts you say "I kind of like this guy" (the Thailand dude).

Hopefully we can give more support to those that are still around than we did (as a community) to Nina.

Six years today Nina raised her arms in victory at Ironman Louisville, becoming the oldest winner in history at 45 years and 7 months. Even a decade after Kona there were still people hating on her for her doping. My wife and I were friends with Nina and witnessed first hand how much this hurt her. We mourn her passing. We pray for her family.

Sad news: another former professional triathlete took his own life; Frenchman Jonathan Tryoen, 34 and father of two

The psychology here of hating Nina is interesting. By hating Nina we, as fans of sport, are deterring other potential dopers for if and when they get busted. We're not doing anything useful to Nina (or the doper who has been busted and paid their penalty). But I think it is a human psychoogy to shame the criminal long after they are busted and paid their penance to society and this base hurtful behaviour is pre conditioned even in the playground at a very young age (mob shaming of the other kid who did something wrong, even after the kid said sorry and owned it)...many grown ups don't grow out of that.

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People are fickle about what justifies prolonged hatred of an individual for crimes committed.The doping thing is interesting because for some reason dopers are put at the very top of the list of people to hate long after they have paid for their actions while at the same time lauding the careers of athletes who have committed serious crimes.
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I have always been amazed at how badly repentant dopers are treated in individual sports like cycling or tennis while society seems to turn a blind eye to celebrity athletes in team sports who have been found guilty of sexual assault,domestic violence,drug dealing/using,etc,etc,etc. That acceptance of celebrity criminals is even more bizarre when it comes to actors and musicians/singers who seem to use that image as part of their professional worth.

Different situation, but I can't help remember the 100+ pages of outright hate that "Finman" got on these forums. Sure, it's cheating, and shouldn't be condoned, but seriously? Hating for 100 pages on a BOP AGer just because they wore fins in an IM swim and then called him out to the point that it jeopardized his career?

I'm sure others will disagree with me, but that was like the smallest fish to fry in all of the inequities and injustices in triathon.

I think people hating in sports is a lot more of self-projection than policing. Sports is one of the few places where you really are supposed to 'play fair', and interestingly enough, I think fans hate even more on AGers they can relate to (hence Finman) as opposed to otherworldly pros who cheat with steroids,etc. that they can't directly relate to.