Seyta wrote:
Khannouchi arrived in the US in 1992 when he was ~21, and wasn't even relevant on the distance running scene until about 5 years later. When he set his World Record in London (US record as well when doing so), he had become a citizen and had been living here for 10 years.
No one is arguing that Solinsky is the best US runner, just the best one not to make the Olympic team. While Khannouchi was living and training in the US in his prime, he didn't contest an Olympic Trials until 2007, past his prime. It's not going out on a limb to say that Khannouchi was the best marathon runner in the world from 1997-2002. He made the call to run London instead of the Trials in 2000 when he wasn't sure he would have citizenship (he did in fact have it in time). USATF was willing to let him run the trials as long as they knew he would have citizenship by the Olympics, but Khannouchi wouldn't run the Trials unless he had citizenship a week before London (which was 3 weeks before the Trials in 2000). According to his lawyer, he would have had his citizenship sooner if he had made it more of a priority.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/06/sports/olympics-khannouchi-demanding-sprint-for-citizenship.htmlIf he had run the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2000, he would have been an absolute lock to make the team. He could have made winning the Trials look easier than Rupp did this year.
While he had a few OK performances after 2002, he never placed top 3 in a marathon again, and he didn't compete at the 2004 Marathon Trials.
I think it's fair to say when you're talking about American runners who failed to qualify for the Olympics, Khannouchi is a different category than Solinsky. I'm fairly certain that Solinsky would have done everything he could have to run the Olympic Trials, as opposed to taking a payday in London.