I can see it from an American perspective because sprinting is held on such a pedestal, but it was the polar opposite where/when I grew up... in the unevolved 80s any white kid in the UK who could run over 1500m was asked if they were a refugee saved from the Ethiopian famine.

Distance running idols are surely still largely Kenyan and Ethiopian?

If someone had occasionally told 13 year old me he could've been bumping into women that look like Tirunesh Dibaba at meets I would've stuck with the shit a hell of a lot longer.