Without Dibaba and a vulnerable Defar, Kara could have done some damage in the 10K?
Without Dibaba and a vulnerable Defar, Kara could have done some damage in the 10K?
Linet Masai would have won
There was an article about this on Runners World. Apparently she opted no to because she wanted more "marathon experience this year."
Goucher would have been 6th place at best. 5 athletes ran better than her personal best, and the race was set up for a very fast last kilometer off a slowish pace. When Goucher PR'ed in Beijing, she got 10th (in a fairly honest race). Realize that her 10k medal came in a race where she ran 32:02.
In the 10k or marathon, Goucher will need the races to be tactical and relatively slow in order to make the podium. This is no slam against her. She just isn't in the sub-30 nor sub-2:20 league. That's just reality. I think expecting her to win gold medals is unfair. Her Berlin performance was excellent. Had she run the 10k and gotten 6th, that would have been excellent too.