Should Bernard Lagat have be Disqualified in 5K finals for Obstruction based on IAAF Rule 163.2

bbc wrote:

Who cares, this guys all from kenyan but rep 3 nationalisties.

WTF?? You're trolling, you had to TRY to write that poorly.

Lagat moved no more than about 6 inches to the left and he was clear enough to take the position that he took. He is NOT responsible for being close when the guy in second starts to take ground BACK.

The guys complaining here need to watch more closely than they have done.

Lagat did impede Kipchoge the last 50 meters, but it probably wasn't illegal, just perfect tactics/luck for him. Lagat had enough room to pass, made a big move to surprise Kipchoge, was by him, and then ran a bit out of gas. At that point, Kipchoge responded with a nice acceleration that might have carried him past Lagat, but he thought had room on the inside, and simpy didn't(though he might have still tried to slide by after he commited to that move), and then it was too late. THere is no rule that says Lagat can't run where he was running (outside of lane 1), there is no rule saying Lagat can't slow down the last 20 meters of a race, and there is no rule saying that Lagat must get out of the way of a faster finishing runner.

So, it was clearly legal, just a little bad luck for Kipchoge, and the perfect timing for a move by Lagat to get ahead, and then be in the right spot to not let Kipchoge come back on him.

yes DQ him and awrd the medal to the athlete with the best coiffured hair in the champs - Mr Webb

NativeSon wrote:

How do you watch a tape in slow motion?

We recently subscribed to Charter digital cable (our local provider), and it is pretty cool. While the show is going you hit "pause" on the remote and then "ffwd" to ge the slow motion affect.

NativeSon wrote:

How do you watch a tape in slow motion?

We recently subscribed to Charter digital cable (our local provider), and it is pretty cool. While the show is going you hit "pause" on the remote and then "ffwd" to ge the slow motion effect.

I actually just watched it again on USATF and, yes, Lagat did impede Kipchoge in the final 20M... looks like Kipchoge could have passed him back in the final meters, or at least made it close to a lean. Interesting... watch how Kipchoge eats up ground the last 20M.

There were rumours that the Uganda Federation wanted to lodge a protest for Lagat's disqualification, but they later abandoned it because it was not their athlete who was supposedly impeded. If they did and succeded, their bronze would be upgraded to a silver. USA would loose a gold but gain a bronze.

you don't have a .13 second lead at the finish line while being 'far enough ahead of the other guy' like someone posted earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQrEOxHezw

Look at the video at about 3:03-3:04

Kipchoge is slowing down at the end (not trying to run into Lagat who's in his way)

Look at the 800 Meters race and see how an athlete should run and win cleanly without impeding their opponent. Lagat should have run like the way Kirwa Yegocompeted and beat the opponent without obsstruction.http://www.usatf.org/events/2007/IAAFWorldOutdoorChampionships/video/

dfdi wrote:

you don't have a .13 second lead at the finish line while being 'far enough ahead of the other guy' like someone posted earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQrEOxHezw

Look at the video at about 3:03-3:04

Kipchoge is slowing down at the end (not trying to run into Lagat who's in his way)

But the 800 winner has to take the whole straight to get by Reed and picks a lane to do that. Kipchoge gets passed and Lagat moves over to the rail(as most people do) and Kipchoge tries to run up the same lane, which is already closed.

Grounds for a DQ would have been if Kipchoge went outside Lagat and Lagat moved out to cut him off.

lagat did pass and move in front of kipchoge, but the latter ran up on lagat at the very end only because lagat knew that he had it won and slowed down. now kipchoge knew he had lagat in front of him and should have moved out to his right a bit to have the opportunity to pass him, but I just don't think that he could have done it--or rather, if he could have done it, lagat wouldn't have slowed down.

1500 Observer wrote:

If you study the video over the the last 5-10 meters of the OSAKA 2007 5000 finals, IMHO, Bernard Lagat impeded Eliud Kipchoge from progressing with his accelaration which is contrary to the IAAF Competitions Rules in particular Rule 163 Section 2 on Obstruction.

So by your logic the two Kenyans directly in front of Rashid Ramzi in the 1500 final should be disqualified for impeding Ramzi's acceleration? What is the difference? It's not the leading runner's job to move out of the way of the trailing athlete -- that's not impeding -- it's the job of the trailer to get around the leader. What Baala did, that's impeding -- knocking people down to get through them.

dfdi wrote:

you don't have a .13 second lead at the finish line while being 'far enough ahead of the other guy' like someone posted earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQrEOxHezw

Look at the video at about 3:03-3:04

Kipchoge is slowing down at the end (not trying to run into Lagat who's in his way)

Unless you have a view from the front of the runners you're talking out of your behind.

Leirbag wrote:

I actually just watched it again on USATF and, yes, Lagat did impede Kipchoge in the final 20M... looks like Kipchoge could have passed him back in the final meters, or at least made it close to a lean. Interesting... watch how Kipchoge eats up ground the last 20M.

It's not Lagat's responsibility to "get out of the way" and if Kipchoge wanted to pass him back he should have gone outside. Lagat had plenty of room to cut in if that's what he did. There is no way a protest would have been upheld.

I donno, it didnt really look to me that lagat had room to justify moving in. Legat's torso had a few feet on Kipchoge, but their strides were overlaping that entire strait. When lagat moved in, Kipchoge easily could have been triped up by lagat's stride. Thats from one video angle anyway, I'll see if i can find other angles that might show there was more space.

norphxc wrote:

I donno, it didnt really look to me that lagat had room to justify moving in. Legat's torso had a few feet on Kipchoge, but their strides were overlaping that entire strait. When lagat moved in, Kipchoge easily could have been triped up by lagat's stride. Thats from one video angle anyway, I'll see if i can find other angles that might show there was more space.

With about 25 meters to go he would have had enough room to move to the rail....if that's what happened.

He moved in, but was never completely infront of Kipchoge. If Kipchoge had enough track before the finish to try to move around the ouside of legat, he would have had to slow up a step, then move around. I thats what I'm seeing off the video, and i think that if Kipchoge could have easily slid a few inches to the outside to pass lagat back, he would have tried to.