PROUD of Alicia Monson

How do you know she's not on drugs? i wouldnt have thought there is such a thing as clean and american in top leval sport.

Or the fact that USA has the strongest drug testing protocols in the world.

nobody accuses Mu of doping either

Ha ha ha ha ha, USA must be above all conflict of interest.

Just go look at how many posts on this board talked about Kersee’s pupils doping.

Actually, USADA not only made no attempt to bust Houlihan (or any Nike-sponsored American star) but tried to get her off the hook. Read this:

washingtonpost.com

A positive test, an infamous burrito and a running career in purgatory

Instead of becoming the best middle-distance runner in U.S. history, Shelby Houlihan is losing the prime of her career to an offense she says she didn’t commit.

Open link

Monson is getting more confident and starting to take risks. We all know racing in the red is uncomfortable but Monson is pushing her limits. If she keeps it up she's going to be a big game changer in the Olympics.

I was literally yelling at the TV at that moment, even before they came up on her, yelling “get out of the way!”, “Get OUT of the LANE!”, etc. I’m with you.

A long way to go before she is a medal contender, not fast enough to be anything other than making up the numbers. No final lap pace is her down fall, regardless whether a faster or slow race

Context. At the WC she is up against the worst dopers in the game. You know, because Ethiopians now have the magic running gene. Well except the men anyway.

I wouldn’t count on that. At all

SMH....nobody impeded Monson.

How about just run faster.

American records in 5. & 10k, 5th in the world 10k, but has yet never had won a US championship. Crazy

I love Monson but have to agree with this poster. Last lap Tsegay was the first to deny Monson when she tired to move. Monson made another move 75 meters later and a Kentan runner did the same thing; however, at the same time Hassan was moving and just ran wide and faster to get past the Kenyan.

Alicia never made a strong enough or aggressive move to show she BELIEVED she was fighting for a medal. The last move she made happened 250m to go but it was to little as with 225m all the runners began a mad sprint for home and Alicia was backing off from being repelled by the Kenyan.

Alicia will get stronger next year but Ritz needs to get her were she can run her last lap in AT LEAST 62 seconds. Gidey did it in one year so can Alicia.

You do realise that this message board is frequented by thousands of people, all of whom have varying opinions on various topics?

You put it quite well, Vipam.

I was proud of her, too, but she still needs to jump up another level or two to medal in a World Championship. But she had a phenomenal year, and that's something to be proud of for sure. I think she's the best US distance runner on the track right now. I think a combination of her various records and her beating Cranny by quite a bit puts her above her for now.

I don't think anyone was trying to target her or anything. I don't think Monson is big enough fish for the Africans to specifically target, although I'm sure she's good enough that they are aware of her and know her. But it's not like she's a Hassan or something, who I am sure they do use team tactics to try to beat.

But I'm sorry, Monson isn't a tiny or frail girl. If she has enough energy, she can fight for herself out there. As someone else said--to win a championship distance race, you have to be fit enough to have enough energy to deal with all the jostling and tactics. If you are indeed fit enough, you will have enough energy to deal with that s--- and go through.

Monson isn't quite there yet, but if she puts in a good few years, she might be there in the future. And that's indeed something to be proud of and optimistic about as an American!

Commentators mentioned the Africans "did not want her there"...hinting that they were blocking her as a strategy. Hell, even the former Ethiopian, Hassan, admitted in an interview that she blocked to make it hard on her [Tsegay] before she fell in the 10k.

The Africans will block and impede at championship meets as a team strategy. The Americans don't because they never run as a team most of the time.

To me, the idea that a few short, skinny Africans can out-physical a larger American runner is baffling to me. Either way, any contact takes away energy. It's a net negative for your race.

Yep, I agree. I think in theory Monson should be able to hold her own, since physically I think she is bigger than all of the various women trying to block her. But--as you said--all of this takes amounts of physical energy that are hard to come by at the end of a 10,000m final, so I'm not surprised she wasn't able to get around them tonight.

And yes, the Americans don't tend to use team tactics, versus the Ethiopians who famously do.

I think maybe in the future, coaches of the best American runners who are in contention for medals should maybe build some of this physicality and tendency towards team tactics into their training for championships.

Because yeah, pushing and shoving and what-have-you just kind of comes along with the territory.

As you described in Hassan's post-race interview, she definitely admits to it. It must be a cultural difference, because I feel like almost no Americans would admit to something like that in a post-race interview, even if they probably have been guilty of it themselves (cough cough Chelimo). Then again, Chelimo wasn't American-born. I really do think it's a cultural difference.

Misstress Barbara - I'm Running ft. Sam Roberts

She's bigger than the Ethiopian runners, so I fail to see how she could be pushed around them. When she made a move, it wasn't decisive enough. She went part way and then settled. The big issue, though, is that she lacks the speed to contend on the last lap. She is a phenomenal time trialer for an American, though. Anyway, Hassan moved Tsegay out to lane three, using her arms and legs, only to be, as far as I can tell, clipped on her right foot with Tsegay's left and going down for the count. So, the physicality was against any and all competitors but especially those outside their citizenship.

I shouldn't respond to obvious trolls other than to down-vote, but fifth in the world is certainly something to celebrate.