If you cold go back in time and change the outcome of one race, what would it be and why?

1972 Munich - Have the stupid US sprint coach get the US sprinters to their heats on time(Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson).

I'd have Domingos Silva Castro win at least a bronze medal in the 1988 Seoul 5000m final. It breaks my heart seeing him cry every time I watch the race.

Moscow 1500m 1980.

I wish Ovett could have kept it in his pants the night before and he might have had the energy left to defeat Coe.

Coe would never have become IAAF president and so athletics would still be corrupt, there would no threats to ban Kenya, and testing here would still be non-existent. Our natural Kenyan supremacy at middle and long distance could continue unchallenged for decades. Kiprop would not have been popped and would have broken El G's record and been favorite for Tokyo gold in 2020.

Not only that, but Borzakovskiy would never have been born and the 2004 final might have been completely different, and Kipketer would likely have gotten Gold.

The butterfly effect ran deep from Ovett's pants that night :(

Ohuruogu catches Richards-Ross at line in 2012 Olympics (W 400m). G-G-B medals instead of G-S-B.

Foster runs sensibly in the 5000m heats in Montreal and then thrashes the blood doper, like he usually does.

El K wrote:

Moscow 1500m 1980.

I wish Ovett could have kept it in his pants the night before and he might have had the energy left to defeat Coe.

Coe would never have become IAAF president and so athletics would still be corrupt, there would no threats to ban Kenya, and testing here would still be non-existent. Our natural Kenyan supremacy at middle and long distance could continue unchallenged for decades. Kiprop would not have been popped and would have broken El G's record and been favorite for Tokyo gold in 2020.

Not only that, but Borzakovskiy would never have been born and the 2004 final might have been completely different, and Kipketer would likely have gotten Gold.

The butterfly effect ran deep from Ovett's pants that night :(

Except Borzo's mum was a cleaner who never went near the Olympic stadium

I'd change the result of the 1999 NYC Marathon, where instead of running 3:45 and finishing in 6,000th place, I'd have come out of nowhere to run with the leaders in my #15XXX bib, as the commentators tried to understand the enormity of what was happening as the miles ticked by. Then, I'd top it off by winning the race in world record time...

I’d make sure Ryan Shay never started the 2007 Olympic marathon trials in NYC:(

Olympic trials 400 final.

Dipped showing the left shoulder, camera was on the right and lost the second place, got third. Same time to the 100th. But they gave me third. Wouldn't look at the far shoulder, just barely visible.

Had an A qualy and the guy given 2 nd place didn't. First made the final and finished just out of the medals. He went, we didn't. We could have built a medal relay. I might have made the final. Likely run out in the semi tbh. I was too often injured. I have the official photo in my scrap book. A guy slipped it to me after the race. I think I was obviously second.

I wish I'd dipped with the other shoulder. I was injured too badly from that season on.

Obviously not the USA.

You have one shot, and when that window passes you have to move on. Back then these opportunities came around years apart obviously.

Ryun beats Keino in '68 Mx. City. That race broke my heart.

Precious Roy wrote:

asdfasdfasd wrote:

2011 World championships. I would have Uceny not trip in the W 1500M final.

I would have liked to see how she would have finished. It would have changed her whole career

And run the race without any of the dopers. Alptekin and Bulut (1 & 2) were DQed for doping. Tomashova and Aragawi would later get caught doping, but kept their medals. Rowbury should have medaled and Uceny would have been there at the tape if she didn't get tripped.

Rowbury wasn't in the race. But the race changed the trajectory of Jenny's career. If Uceny didn't trip would Jenny have still won?

Jess wrote:

I'd have Domingos Silva Castro win at least a bronze medal in the 1988 Seoul 5000m final. It breaks my heart seeing him cry every time I watch the race.

Absolutely devastating. Good call.

I would give Paul Tergat the 2000 Olympic 10,000 over Gebrselassie. I feel like a single Olympic gold would have meant more to Tergat (with his multiple silvers) than Geb racking up his sixth OG/WC gold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D56ZAvcxN0

Similarly, I would give Hendrick Ramaala the 2005 NYC marathon over Paul Tergat, for the same reasoning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lf0m5j2OhY

Jager not hitting the last hurdle in Paris. Probably would have run 7:56.

young master wrote:

Similarly, I would give Hendrick Ramaala the 2005 NYC marathon over Paul Tergat, for the same reasoning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lf0m5j2OhY

Dam, threw in a 4:22 mile split. I wonder if he didn't do that if he would've had enough in the tank to out kick Tergat? What is that South African up to these days? And what happened to south African marathon scene?

That's an easy one. I ran 4 years of high school and then college track. I then ran AAU track for 3 years from 1969-1971. I got a chance to run a relay at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden, and even have a gold medal. However, I have to point out it was in a B race held early in the program when the stands were pretty empty! Then I ran sub-masters and masters races from my early 30s through my early 40s. I still run two road races a year.

But the race that I would love to run again was the our league championships my senior year in high school . I had been racing sub -par for a while, but a former coach started training me and I was running stronger. He told me that if I ran in the mid to high 52s I would definitely medal as that time always seemed to garner one of the three medals awarded. We ran in lanes. I was closely following the favorite. Then another runner, inside of us blasted through the last turn. As I came off the last turn I was in third. Instead of driving down the stretch (in those days the start and finish were in the middle of the track) I didn't push, getting passed in the last yard of the race. My official time was 52.4.

Many decades later I obtained a photo of the finish. It was taken from someone standing in the middle of the track down from the finish line. It caught the entire field. When I looked at myself I noticed that my arms were not driving. I wasn't using them at all. My memory is that I wasn't exhausted at. I just didn't push myself down the stretch!

Ironically as a coach I have always emphasized driving one's arms, especially in the last stage of a race. Perhaps, deep down inside I knew that's not what I did.

steeple k wrote:

Jager not hitting the last hurdle in Paris. Probably would have run 7:56.

That's a bit of a stretch. He didn't lose 4 seconds by falling. He would have been under 8, but not 7:56, bro. Probably like 7:59.12, maybe 7:58.95.

Riiiiiight.... wrote:

steeple k wrote:

Jager not hitting the last hurdle in Paris. Probably would have run 7:56.

That's a bit of a stretch. He didn't lose 4 seconds by falling. He would have been under 8, but not 7:56, bro. Probably like 7:59.12, maybe 7:58.95.

Birech won in 7.58.83. Jager had about a 1 second lead when he tripped so more like 7:57 high.

somewhere in between wrote:

Riiiiiight.... wrote:

That's a bit of a stretch. He didn't lose 4 seconds by falling. He would have been under 8, but not 7:56, bro. Probably like 7:59.12, maybe 7:58.95.

Birech won in 7.58.83. Jager had about a 1 second lead when he tripped so more like 7:57 high.

He may have been ahead by a second, but it is VERY generous to think that an upright Jager would have won by a full second.

Birech was sprinting in great form while Jager was laboring badly.

7:58 low had he not fallen.