1981 Rieti mile

Maree was the Lagat before Lagat was Lagat.

1955 wrote:

I understand that Sidney Maree beat Steve Ovett in the Rieti mile in 1981, running a 3:48. That was during the time frame it seemed that nobody except Coe could beat Ovett. But I can't find it on YouTube. Anyone know of any video of the race?

I have a brief edited version of the race from Italian footage. Maree went into the lead after the bell, with Ovett right behind him down the back straight. The Brit was just 0.1 behind at the 1500m, but then Maree went away in the last 100m, which he covered in 13.1. He covered the last lap in 55.1.

However it should also be remembered that Ovett beat him convincingly - 3:34.95 - 3:36.56 - 4 days earlier in the World Cup, and Coe beat him 3:47.33 - 3:51.81 - a week before that in Brussels.

Deanouk wrote:

1955 wrote:

I understand that Sidney Maree beat Steve Ovett in the Rieti mile in 1981, running a 3:48. That was during the time frame it seemed that nobody except Coe could beat Ovett. But I can't find it on YouTube. Anyone know of any video of the race?

I have a brief edited version of the race from Italian footage. Maree went into the lead after the bell, with Ovett right behind him down the back straight. The Brit was just 0.1 behind at the 1500m, but then Maree went away in the last 100m, which he covered in 13.1. He covered the last lap in 55.1.

However it should also be remembered that Ovett beat him convincingly - 3:34.95 - 3:36.56 - 4 days earlier in the World Cup, and Coe beat him 3:47.33 - 3:51.81 - a week before that in Brussels.

Thanks. Not often Ovett got dropped in last 100m, at least not in the 1977-1981 days. I've never been a fan of Maree's but he definitely had talent.

Ovett was, apparently, preparing for his wedding at the time. After the World Cup he flew home and then returned to Rieti for the race. As his coach Harry Wilson said this wasn't an excuse - he shouldn't have taken the race if he wasn't really interested in it - but it did come after his main objective for the season had been secured.

mark b wrote:

Ovett was, apparently, preparing for his wedding at the time. After the World Cup he flew home and then returned to Rieti for the race. As his coach Harry Wilson said this wasn't an excuse - he shouldn't have taken the race if he wasn't really interested in it - but it did come after his main objective for the season had been secured.

So, it's an excuse? That's how I read your comment. And that's fine! His mind wasn't on the race, which is understandable. It should be: "Ovett's excuse was that he was getting ready for his wedding." Of course, saying it like that sounds like sour grapes. So, humanity devised the old "...not an excuse, BUT blah blah blah harumph harumph" technique. Having it both ways.

I hate the "...not an excuse, BUT blah blah blah harumph harumph" technique. Either say you lost to someone who was better than you that day or give an excuse and say it's an excuse.

I'm just criticizing that point. I have no idea what Ovett said about the race.

BTW, I would say Ovett was better than Maree on the whole, but Maree was pretty GD good. He was strangely inconsistent, though, as Deano pointed out.

Maree was, indeed, pretty GD good. Another poster compared him to Lagat, but he was much more like Webb -- huge talent, but head case in big meets.

mark b wrote:

Ovett was, apparently, preparing for his wedding at the time. After the World Cup he flew home and then returned to Rieti for the race. As his coach Harry Wilson said this wasn't an excuse - he shouldn't have taken the race if he wasn't really interested in it - but it did come after his main objective for the season had been secured.

At the time Ovett said he was just tired. It was his 5th race in 2 weeks, and he probably didn't expect Maree to be in 3:48 mile form.

Ovett was certainly a better miler than Maree, but the latter did run a few blinding races in his career.

Ton's of people have run PR's after their big pressure race of the season is over and they're just racing to win for fun. Ergo, it's not like he bonked.

Tsk tsk...that's all you have to say? Can't we have a DVTT (tm) for this race or is it only Coe and Ryun who can benefit from such analyses? Sound like the pace was far from ideal and at Rieti there could have been some wind viz. 1983 Ovett WR with the palms bending sideways.

What's the difference between an excuse and a reason?

Gosh! Never had such a response to any of my posts before! To respond;

1) There is a difference between a reason and an excuse. Whenever an athlete performs below their usual standard there has to be an explanation, a reason why. any sensible athlete or coach will look for this reason - if only to try and make sure that the circumstances don't occur again. An excuse is usually something proffered by the athlete to argue that he could have won the race if only this or that hadn't happened!

2) Maree was certainly one hell of a runner, strangely not mentioned much in accounts of US distance running. Did he, perhaps, fall slightly between two stools, 1500 and 5000? Did he have the leg speed and acceleration to feature at the sharp end of championship races, especially at 1500?

3) Interestingly, 1981 turned out to be Ovett's last trouble free year. He seriously injured himself running into some church railings towards the end of the year that made him, almost, scratch the whole of the 1982 season. Serious injury disrupted his buildup to 1983 and in 1984 he had his well known medical problems in LA. He said later that if he had known this he would have trained harder in that year - it was meant to be a bit of a down year after Moscow - and run even faster!

According to a former training partner from the Phoenix club (as well as Wilson in a lecture in '87), Ovett was in the best shape of his life prior to and leading up to LA 84. He was doing unheard of sessions that he could previously not touch- even in his WR seasons of previous. Upper respiratory infection (from that beautiful LA air?) was his demise.