Why do runners DNF?

They could have all finished the 10k race. Then they would have missed making the team in 5k. (Well, Jenkins didn't make the team anyway.)

The purpose of the Olympic Trial is to make the team, at least for those who have realistic chances of finishing in the top three. They are not trying to prove their toughness to some random observers.

as someone who ran hurdles -- where the hurdle monster can jump up and grab you -- i find the negative premise obnoxious. you don't win hurdle races safely and slowly jumping way over barriers. your silly post telescopes down to calling anyone not taking the gold a loser and inferior. it's baby fascism. he who wins the race is the ubermensch. i think we all know the best runner or most talented doesn't necessarily win. it's the better guy on the day. some days illness, injury, or some issue intervene.

also, to the extent we are discussing non-crash DNFs, smart athletes know when they are cooked and when finishing it out can only risk worsened injury or illness, or when they need to figure out what is going on. doggedly finishing a race mid-pack or even last, feeling unwell, or dragging a leg issue, is dumb. while pretending to motivate "winners" you're actually using this to diss "losers." this isn't constructive. if someone finishing badly is ever to fix their situation, it's not doggedly doing every race the same albeit with tryhard enthusiasm. it's learning how to be better. and if a strong athlete DNFs, they usually have a big picture reason. they are sick or hurting and the idea is not to toss away conference or nationals on Joe Mama U's invitational meet in december. shut it down, figure out the issue, and be ready in 2 months when they count.

this is actually how winners operate. no one wins races gutting out an issue and it's generally only wise when you're toast and just finishing gets your team conference or nationals points. other than that it's dumb priorities.

if we are talking HS varsity or above and you have a rash of DNFs you have probably gone badly awry on your coaching. one athlete we can discuss their explanation, physical health, and mentality. several suggests you have either over- or under-cooked your training and your athletes are stopping because they feel underprepared or overworked and not themselves to race at their difficult level.

it's clever to blame the athlete but usually when Joe Pro bails they weren't going to win the race either. if Joe Pro usually is highly competitive Joe Pro is the least obvious suspect.

if your coaching plans are so spotless they shouldn't be considered why didn't your squad go 1-2-3 today? only an egomaniac or obsessive doesn't consider their own possible role.

As a 1500-5000 runner primarily, I've seen DNFs for 3 reasons:

1. Injury, most common in XC (rolled ankle, spiked incredibly badly, a bad fall, etc)

2. Time - if it were a time trial type of race and you were significantly off pace, there's no point in finishing, for example, the last 2500 of a 5000 just to stick it out.

3. Illness - this was the only time I DNF'd. When I was in 24:30 true 8k xc shape (a legit 4.97 mile course), I had a meet where I was sick the 2 nights before and had incredibly crappy sleep, and I felt already wiped after a 5:10 first mile. Realized there was no point in turning in an completely horrible and dropped at about 2k in.

Never DNFd but did ask organisers to delete some of my times.

i never DNFd but the one time i considered it, during my worst XC race ever, it would have been just as well. within a week i found out i was iron deficient anemic and was shut down for the season anyway. in many situations sensing such abnormality is just good biofeedback.

kurt angle hurt his neck in the trials semifinal. that's a totally different calculus than chiding Joe Runner for not finishing heat 5 of the Joe Mama U unscored meet with a knee injury, GI issues, or whatnot. and if you know what he did, they shot him up with novocaine aplenty where the idea was get through the elite events then figure out what damage he'd done himself. and he never made it back to another olympics.

that's also setting aside kurt angle being part of foxcatcher which was a kind of crazy place if you're aware.

last, he "suffered nerve damage to his face ... multiple knee surgeries, torn muscles, dislocated shoulders, ripped ankle ligaments and had bone chips removed from his spine.
He had neck surgery in 2003." i kind of doubt you were any good if you don't have old age ambivalence over injuries you played through as a kid.

Well my one running DNF was because my hamstring gave out about 11 miles into a marathon and I did not relish suffering just to finish in an incredibly slow time and likely do more damage to it.

I guess I was just weak...

Codswallop