From A+++ to F, we hand out grades to all 32 US distance runners who ran in Tokyo

Generous to Murphy if you're giving Coburn a F. She owned her bad performance but Murphy was just as poor - he got his tactics badly wrong and finished DFL in a slow race. He was a serious gold medal threat and tanked. He deserves a F as well.

Sisson deserves a B+. She gave her best race. It's not her fault that the global 10k is just so far above the level of US women right now. Honestly, racing the 10k in the next few years is going to be demoralising for US women. It was one thing when Ayana was lapping the field in 2016, it could be dismissed as a one-off or chemically aided. But now, there's multiple women running sub-30 on a consistent basis, as well as breaking 30:30 in tough conditions. I'm not sure how US wom n can bridge that gap

Iron Bars wrote:

Rojo,

Lay off my boy Chelimo!! He is a killer who at times pushes the envelope. This is what we need, a brawler. Also, you were a bit harsh on Grant Fisher. Other than that, pretty solid grading. You did forget about Yared Nguse, which is an F. Unless you are actually dead, either run or give up your spot to the alternate.

Initially, Iwas harsh on Nuguse but he couldn't have given up his spot. He was trying to see if he could run. He tested it out the day of. The start lists are already out. It's not like they would replace him with Engels.

What's crazy to me is that he didn't at that point just go jog it. I heard he hasn't missed a day of running. So he's able to run, just not sprint top speed.

Iron Bars wrote:

Rojo,

Lay off my boy Chelimo!! He is a killer who at times pushes the envelope. This is what we need, a brawler. Also, you were a bit harsh on Grant Fisher. Other than that, pretty solid grading. You did forget about Yared Nguse, which is an F. Unless you are actually dead, either run or give up your spot to the alternate.

A few more:

NBC = F on the coverage. What a goddamn sh!tshow with Peacock. F U x 10000000

Tokyo = F for not allowing vaccinated fans and for robbing Jewitt of his spot in the finals.

I like Paul. he's fun to talk to. I don't get why h e thinks I'm a hater or am spreading negativity. If I see bush league activities, i need to call it out.

And i defended him at USAs. I thought , "that had better not be a DQ." But the dude also has to learn to knock it off.

Iron Bars wrote:

Rojo,

Lay off my boy Chelimo!! He is a killer who at times pushes the envelope. This is what we need, a brawler. Also, you were a bit harsh on Grant Fisher. Other than that, pretty solid grading. You did forget about Yared Nguse, which is an F. Unless you are actually dead, either run or give up your spot to the alternate.

A few more:

NBC = F on the coverage. What a goddamn sh!tshow with Peacock. F U x 10000000

Tokyo = F for not allowing vaccinated fans and for robbing Jewitt of his spot in the finals.

Chelimo is an a$$ and shows himself to be time and time again, He may have talent, but he's about as mature as a 10 year old boy. He thinks he's funny and original but really he's not likable

rojo wrote:

What do you think of our grades?

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/08/grading-the-american-mid-distance-distance-runners-at-tokyo-2020/

Here's the thing. You simply can't trust Gault to be fair or objective anymore. He has Chavez disease. He's too busy trying o suck up to the pros so they "like" him as opposed to doing his job covering the sport. Plus he's been dishonest in the past

adflkj;laac.hoh wrote:

rojo wrote:

What do you think of our grades?

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/08/grading-the-american-mid-distance-distance-runners-at-tokyo-2020/

Here's the thing. You simply can't trust Gault to be fair or objective anymore. He has Chavez disease. He's too busy trying o suck up to the pros so they "like" him as opposed to doing his job covering the sport. Plus he's been dishonest in the past

What do you mean "dishonest in the past"? Please give an example.

adflkj;laac.hoh wrote:

rojo wrote:

What do you think of our grades?

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/08/grading-the-american-mid-distance-distance-runners-at-tokyo-2020/

Here's the thing. You simply can't trust Gault to be fair or objective anymore. He has Chavez disease. He's too busy trying o suck up to the pros so they "like" him as opposed to doing his job covering the sport. Plus he's been dishonest in the past

Come on, he's not even close to Chavez. Did you listen to Torch Talk? My god, that was awful. They refused to criticise any American and they barely discussed any non-American athletes other than Hassan. It was like they weren't covering a global sport at all

Jonathan Gault wrote:

adflkj;laac.hoh wrote:

Here's the thing. You simply can't trust Gault to be fair or objective anymore. He has Chavez disease. He's too busy trying o suck up to the pros so they "like" him as opposed to doing his job covering the sport. Plus he's been dishonest in the past

What do you mean "dishonest in the past"? Please give an example.

Answer my question. Why the dis on Grijalva? Do you really believe he is that inferior of a runner that he would beat Kincaid by 7+ seconds in the Olympic 5k final?

used to run in college wrote:

John Gault's grades are fine.

Rojo, your comments are why none of the professional runners consider this site legitimate media. Rojo is a caricature of the typical message board poster hoisting unrealistic expectations on athletes that performed within reason of what should be expected.

Purrier was not a medal favorite. She was maybe an outside contender at a medal but had never shown the ability to mix it up at the level of the women who medaled.

Mate, people on here were talking about Purrier being in the "top tier" of the 1500 with Kipyeyon, Hassan, Muir and Tseguy. When she was on the Monaco start list people were talking about her breaking Houlihan's 3:54 American Record. People were definitely talking about her as a medal contender, saying she could beat Muir, and she herself talked about going for gold.

I still think a D+ is harsh on her. As another poster pointed out, Linden Hall is an experienced athlete having an incredible year. Tanaka ran utterly fearless. Freweyni Gebreezibeher came out of nowhere this year but ran consistently excellent all year, meanwhile Stafford pulled a 2019 peaking well and saving her best races of the year by far for the semis and finals. There's no shame losing to any one of those women, but probably disappointing to lose to all of them. I'd say a C is more fair. Just can't pretend there wasn't a ton of hype on these boards (and from Mark Coogan's camp).

rojo wrote:

Iron Bars wrote:

Rojo,

Lay off my boy Chelimo!! He is a killer who at times pushes the envelope. This is what we need, a brawler. Also, you were a bit harsh on Grant Fisher. Other than that, pretty solid grading. You did forget about Yared Nguse, which is an F. Unless you are actually dead, either run or give up your spot to the alternate.

Initially, Iwas harsh on Nuguse but he couldn't have given up his spot. He was trying to see if he could run. He tested it out the day of. The start lists are already out. It's not like they would replace him with Engels.

What's crazy to me is that he didn't at that point just go jog it. I heard he hasn't missed a day of running. So he's able to run, just not sprint top speed.

At last, someone acknowledged that Nuguse earned the right to wait until race day to see if he could run.

It would have been ridiculous for him to start and jog through it. He hasn't trained all these years to embarras himself by running 6-minute pace in a 1500m heat.

DontFeedTheTroll wrote:

You give Rupp a B?

He was a legitimate medal contender and he bombed out. Being the top American doesn't count for much. He came in 8th. That's a disappointing result. You don't get a B+ for disappointing results. That's C- territory.

Based on his OT 10000m performance, he wasn't a legitimate medal contender at all and he actually did better than I thought he would..

LOL Rojo gives the same grade to Cole Hocker, a 6th place finisher, as Paul Chelimo, bronze medal winner.

And he starts thread after thread praising Cole Hocker

And he starts no such thread for Chelimo and in the thread he started after the Olympic 5k he “forgets” to mention Chelimo for winning a bronze medal

And he criticizes Chelimo got his racing tactics EVEN THOUGH CHELIMO DID NOT BREAK ANY RULES

Chelimo is likable and funny. His little twitter joke about the beds in Tokyo made the Colbert show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrpt9W9Fu7k&t=346s&ab_channel=TheLateShowwithStephenColbert

Starts at 5:15.

spinachdip wrote:

Chelimo is likable and funny. His little twitter joke about the beds in Tokyo made the Colbert show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrpt9W9Fu7k&t=346s&ab_channel=TheLateShowwithStephenColbert

They all did better than I ever could, so A+ to them all. For reals.

Are these grades for their effort? Surely they're not for their results other than the medalists. Given the women distance runners and Klecker B grade is an absolute joke. They were embarrassed by the international completion.

The Purrier hype was real, it was rivalling the Hocker talk. A 3:58 was being talked up as a mere skip from 3:54 and 14:30 over the 5k. I like Purrier, but she's not among the very best yet and a C is about right for her. 3 seconds down on your PB in the biggest race of your career is a little disappointing