Yet again,I’ll say that the my point is she has not put results on the board that match the hype of two years ago.As an athlete yourself you now that it is results that matter in the end not how how well you were going until the half way mark of a race.Yes I think she is good for the sport from a pr stand point and yes I think she seems a lovely person but I find it pretty funny that everyone needs to come out like a protective big brother when her results are questioned.She seems to bring out the paternal instincts in you all.You will notice that I’m not actually giving Des a hard time but the tri-industry in NTH America who over-hyped her in the first place.I think she is great but you can’t tell me she would get the same media attention if she didn’t look so good.
I was on my first loop when she came into the run turnaround. She looked frozen. She was not wearing much a tiny top and a bikini type bottom. She was going to call it a day and was saying she was done. Someone must have convinced her to continue because she repassed me in town wearing a garbage bag.
I think she is great but you can’t tell me she would get the same media attention if she didn’t look so good.
Since I’m not a total jerk, I wouldn’t have any idea if that is the case. I just wanted to point out how the olympic trials races work.
“Yes I think she is good for the sport from a pr stand point and yes I think she seems a lovely person but I find it pretty funny that everyone needs to come out like a protective big brother when her results are questioned.”
I am only a casual observer of the IM distance and its stars, but I think that several posts in this thread seem to show that Ficker is more than just a pretty face on the race course. She has a couple of 70.3 wins in the recent past right and competed at the US Olympic marathon trials right? Hard to say that she hasn’t done much since Kona 06. You are trying to equate paint her as the Anna Kournakova of triathlon and, IMHO, its not really accurate.
I never said that she was the Anna Kournikova of triathlon and it looks like in typical ST fashion words are going to be twisted and this will end up looking like a Des bashing session which it never was.She has had a bad patch results wise this year and that is a fact.Shit happens.She is pretty,she is marketable,she is a great role model and pr figure for our sport. I hope her bad year of IM racing turns around for her but please to all of you don't try to make out that that I'm giving her a hard time.
I think she is great but you can’t tell me she would get the same media attention if she didn’t look so good.
Since I’m not a total jerk, I wouldn’t have any idea if that is the case. I just wanted to point out how the olympic trials races work.
Will has that uncanny ability to think straight and be funny even after a whole day spent with an oxygen deprived brain…it is obviously not the case for everyone…
I never took your words to equate her with Anna Kournikova. I just think her results this year have been better than portrayed. She was focused on the Olympic trials, but has won Ironman 70.3 South Africa and placed 2nd at Boise 70.3. True, her two IM’s weren’t great, but that may well be luck of the draw, as I mentioned before.
Too many factors in an IM…Last year at Kona she was sick as well…
France may love the suffering athlete, but so do we. finishing a race after melting down like Bjorn and Desiree did yesterday means we cheer even harder for them next time.
“Des seems like a lovely girl and she has done pretty well in a few races but I think that after her second in Hawaii she bacame the most overhyped female triathlete in the sport,especially within the Nth American tri community.”
That is from your first post. I am having a very hard time, as are others it would seem, reading this as anything other than you giving Ficker a hard time. In “typical ST fashion” you either won’t or can’t acknowledge a fair reading of your own statements. When you state that Ficker is “pretty,” “marketable,” “a lovely girl,” “a great role model and pr figure for our sport,” you could very well be describing the lady who pours coffee at Starbucks around the corner or one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. A fair assessment of Ficker is that she has had less success since 2006 Kona than expectations would dictate, but that she remains a threat at any long course race. A couple of 70.3 wins in that same time period would seem to be sufficient evidence to prove that assessment. If she hadn’t won those 2 races, then maybe you characterizing her as “the most overhyped female athlete in the sport, especially within the Nth American tri community” would carry more weight.
Exactly my thoughts. I ton of athletes dropped out. It was soooo easy to do yesterday. The conditions were brutal and Desiree could have easily packed it up. But she did not. She got flack from this board in 2005 for the “IMLP Women’s Walkathon” and then comes back to take 2nd in Kona in 2006. I hope she bounces back to shut up all you guys second guessing her for simply being like any of us and “just finishing”.
Dev
OH lord,here we go.The overhyping came from the tri industry,as I said in a later post,not from her.
What is wrong with pointing out the fact that she is pretty,nice and marketable?Advertisers dream of finding athletes like her to promote their products.
Yes she has had less success since Kona 2006 than expectations would dictate.That is the whole point of my saying she was overhyped by the tri industry.Her results didn’t match the expectations.She has had some bad luck this year and I hope she turns it around.
As for the 70.3 win this year.Don’t suppose you checked out the winning time and splits not to mention the competition.A win is a win though and lord she will win more 70,3 races than I ever will.
Thank you! Anyone whose done an IM knows that anything can happen on any given day. Anyone who has the audacity to second guess someone’s performance in an IM is just way out of line. She’s an athlete who happens to be attractive, not a model who happens to be an athlete. She has good races and bad races just like everybody else. She finished when she was obviously having one of those seriously bad races. She’s a pro in every sense of the word and an athlete worthy of respect.
Your assessment fails to account for the marathon focus that Desiree went into pretty much immediately after the Kona 2nd. Of course her tri results will “suffer” a bit during and immediately after that sort of focus. One doesn’t make the Olympic marathon team by continuing to bike and swim on a level that would support tri results on part with a Kona 2nd. Given that the trials just took place a couple of months ago…I’d suggest it will still be some time before her triathlon fitness is back on par with 2006. Plus…as those others who were there on the day have said…the conditions were highly unfavorable for low bodyfat types like Desiree. I can empathize…having experience similar lack of ability to perform to capability at Powerman Ohio a few years ago because of being underdressed for a rainy 50 deg day.
You may be right…but it is too early to make that conclusion based on some significant variables you left out. Lets see what happens over the next couple of years. After all…people were also writing Macca off at Kona after several spectacular failures there…
I'd really like her to come up to IMC this year and have a crack at that race.I think she might find herself liking the conditions a whole lot better up there.She has all kinds of potential and you never know,she just might be able to step up to a win there.You are right though about not sending her to the junk pile yet.Like you said there have been many great Ironmen and women who took some time to get it right.We shall see.
“As for the 70.3 win this year.Don’t suppose you checked out the winning time and splits not to mention the competition.”
I was all set to drop this until that sentence. Ficker won the race…that means that she is the winner. Not the “real” talented female triathletes who didn’t race that day. Using your logic, one could say that Macca’s win last year was less impressive given the illnesses that the Germans faced during race week. I don’t buy it- the best racer wins on race day. You obviously have an issue with “Nth America” and our triathletes, but why make the effort to take away from a racer’s accomplishments?
I think that what you are saying is that she is pretty and marketable, but her victories and results aren’t really that impressive. Here in America, we call that a “back-handed compliment.” Better to just say that you aren’t a big fan of “Nth American” triathletes no matter how talented they may be…
If you knew me you would realise how stupid your comments about my feelings toward Nth America considering this is my fourteenth summer tri-season here.I'm not going to get personal with you so I'm going to drop this now before it becomes a typical ST insult session.Good luck to you.
I’m not trying to get personal with you either. I just wish that whatever your true feelings regarding Ficker and her recent results were better phrased and or interpreted. I just read your previous post and you seem to be a bit more supportive of her abilities than other posts. Maybe a good race at IMC will put to bed this issue. Enjoy the rest of your stay in the US and best of luck for the rest of the season.
That is from your first post. I am having a very hard time, as are others it would seem, reading this as anything other than you giving Ficker a hard time. In “typical ST fashion” you either won’t or can’t acknowledge a fair reading of your own statements
Thanks for pointing this out. As usual, because this is a forum where you can shoot off your mouth and hit the send button without thinking twice about what you’ve just said is typical. Then, when backed up into a corner, all the excuses come flowing out.
I’d love to see some of these people in a room with their comments up on a white board with the athlete they are commenting on sitting there to explain themselves.
If you knew me you would realise how stupid your comments about my feelings toward Nth America considering this is my fourteenth summer tri-season here.I’m not going to get personal with you so I’m going to drop this now before it becomes a typical ST insult session.Good luck to you.
I love it…says how STUPID a person’s comments are, then says he isn’t getting personal. Dude, you really need to learn how to phrase your thoughts so that you don’t come across as an ass. If you put more thought into what you type, maybe you would not get the reaction you are getting…
Dude, I’m gonna come to your defense. Here are the facts- Desiree has faltered on every IM she’s done since Kona '06. That’s 4x in a row- '07 Austria, '07 Kona, '08 CDA, '08 IMLP. In every case, it was the run portion where she fell off (ironic, no?). Regardless of each situation, the result is that she is very inconsistent. She has done fine at the 70.3 distance. Maybe the IM distance is not right for her? Other female pros have had much more consistent results year after year at both distances with much less attention. But Desiree still sweeps up the media. Nobody is saying that she does not deserve attention as a pro athlete. But the hype? I say no. Others are far more deserving.