Amy Cragg just denied Kara Goucher an Olympic berth

That's what great teammates do. You have to give credit to both Shalane and Kara who gave everything they had. There is a reason they have been Olympians before.

run that by me again? didn't hear you the first 433 times

Wang Chung wrote:

You have to admire what she did for Shalane. But without that support It seems obvious that Shalane would have been caught by Goucher and may not even have finished the race. Like it or loathe it Cragg's behaviour prevented Goucher from making the team for Rio

I agree that without Cragg's help, Flanagan would have been 4th. Also, if the race had been 27 miles long, Flanagan may not have made it to the end, so Goucher would have been on the team.

However, the purpose of the trials is to send the strongest possible team to Rio, and I think that Flanagan is the stronger runner -- I would rather have her representing the USA than Goucher; I think she will do better in Rio than Goucher would have.

Impressed by everyone. wrote:

That's what great teammates do. You have to give credit to both Shalane and Kara who gave everything they had. There is a reason they have been Olympians before.

Sorry about that sextuplet post or however many it was. My iPad took a siesta

Wang Chung wrote:

You have to admire what she did for Shalane. But without that support It seems obvious that Shalane would have been caught by Goucher and may not even have finished the race. Like it or loathe it Cragg's behaviour prevented Goucher from making the team for Rio

Hell... I like her even more now.

I don't see it that way. Even if she took off, the outcome would have been the same. The announcers love to play up the teamwork angle, but the bottom line is it didn't matter.

actually it was Kara Goucher running too slow which prevented her from making the team. Had Goucher finished third, she would have made the team. Shalane finished the race faster than Kara did and was quite a ways up on Kara. Lets say that Cragg went earlier, I thin Shalane still finishes a couple seconds ahead of Shalane. Remember even though she looked awful, Shalane wasn't pressed and if the oly spot were on the line she probably could have found 15-20 secs over the last 2 miles.

Did you see Shalane at the end of the race? She collapsed and was put in a wheelchair. There is no way she could have found more time - she was right on the limit in those final miles.

I agree that Kara ran too slow, but I still think she would have hunted Shalane down if Amy hadn't helped her through that tough patch. If Shalane wins a medal in Rio she should share it with Amy because without her support she wouldn't have made it

I agree with all those saying that the result would have been the same no matter what Cragg did. Shalane is tough as nails. Maybe Shalane would have fallen apart slightly more without the encouragement, but let's be real - she finished more than a minute in front of Kara.

ddnbb wrote:

However, the purpose of the trials is to send the strongest possible team to Rio, and I think that Flanagan is the stronger runner -- I would rather have her representing the USA than Goucher; I think she will do better in Rio than Goucher would have.

Agreed. To be honest I'm not sure Kara is going to make it to July uninjured.

Didn't seem obvious to me that Kara would've caught her. I think Shalane probably would've hung on just fine.

kvothe wrote:

I thin Shalane still finishes a couple seconds ahead of Shalane.

Lol. In the condition that she was, I bet Shalane was seeing double...:).

skeptical of teamwork angle wrote:

I agree with all those saying that the result would have been the same no matter what Cragg did. Shalane is tough as nails. Maybe Shalane would have fallen apart slightly more without the encouragement, but let's be real - she finished more than a minute in front of Kara.

Tough as nails and remember she just F's shizz up

haha, no problem, I actually just figured it was the board being wonky and not showing you your post. happens often enough here. and I don't disagree with you, but as the other poster said, better to have shalane on there, she's the better athlete, and she'll be ready come Rio, no excuses.

That was pretty damn cool. Those two were shoulder to shoulder—neither one of them showing any intention to try to break the other. Seeing an obviously underperforming Amy Cragg grab a water bottle, and then another, unscrew the first one, and hand it to Flanagan was nuts. I don't know if Flanagan would've hung onto that third spot (maybe, maybe not), but theres no question Flanagan would've run a hell of a lot slower without Cragg there.

Wang Chung wrote:

You have to admire what she did for Shalane. But without that support It seems obvious that Shalane would have been caught by Goucher and may not even have finished the race. Like it or loathe it Cragg's behaviour prevented Goucher from making the team for Rio

Hmm, I guess you didn't see Desi who finished second? She was averaging 10 seconds a mile faster than the top five. Kara was the same pace as the two leaders and slowing.

Kara didn't have a chance in hell of catching anybody. Given her post race interview, she threw in the towel at 22 miles in her words.

Shalane is a tough and has a proven herself over and over again. Kara showed an interesting side of her post race interview. She dialoged a way over analyzed race prep and tactic. She clearly missed the obvious, Shalene is a front runner, her training partner was on the same page and at the same fitness level, they would naturally work together.( maybe Kara forgets how she Shalane did the same thing in London) Desi likes to charge in back half of the race and does so successfully ( maybe waited a little to late when the leaders made a break)

Kara is late stage career athlete that needs to relax a little and just go with the flow, today might have a had different result and nothing to do with Cragg.

If anything, Shalane was probably getting tired of Amy encouraging her every 5 seconds. There's a point in a marathon when you are hurting and no one what what someone says, it's super annoying.

There is one reason and only one reason Shalane is on the team - Amy carried her the last three to five miles. Had it not been for Amy, Shalane would have dropped far enough back Kara would have caught her. And Shalane is honest enough to admit it. "Sweet baby Jesus ..."