The 200/400 double was impossible in Beijing. I think she and Sanya would have both done that double if it were possible, but it wasn't. It is crazy that they won't space the sprints out so that athletes can double like they space out the distance races. Put the 100 and the 400 early, and the 200 later in the games. Felix is still young, and has many years of great running ahead of her.
It looks like most of the people on here didn't look at the Olympic schedule.
Didn't Felix have the fastest 400 time in the world this year? Of course, she would have doubled in the 400 if the schedule would have allowed it.
On of the main reasons she ran the 100 in the trials was so she could be put on the 4 x 100 team.
it looks like most of the people on here don't have a clue. she already was on the olympic team in the 200 so she was eligible for the 4x1. how do you think she ran the 4x4?
here's the schedule:
8/16 -- 400 heats
8/17 -- 400 semis
8/18 -- rest
8/19 -- 200 heats (morning); 400 final (night)
8/20 -- 200 semi
8/21 -- 200 final
do you mean to tell me that should could not have jogged a 23 in the morning of 8/19, taken a nap and then dusted a really weak field in the 400 final that night? this schedule hardly is "impossible" like several of the "experts" on here have proclaimed.
She was on the 4 x 400 team because she ran a really fast time this year in the 400. There was little chance 4 US women would run a faster time.
It would have been a bigger risk to assume she would earn a spot in the 4 x 100 if others ran well in the 100 at the trials.
No one was going to be able double and do their best at the 200 and 400 at this Olympics.
big gulp would be good wrote:
She was on the 4 x 400 team because she ran a really fast time this year in the 400. There was little chance 4 US women would run a faster time.
It would have been a bigger risk to assume she would earn a spot in the 4 x 100 if others ran well in the 100 at the trials.
No one was going to be able double and do their best at the 200 and 400 at this Olympics.
would you mind getting a clue before posting? a silver in 200 and a gold in the 400 > than a silver in the 200. she would have walked away with that if she had done the 200/400 double.
she ran the 100 at the trials primarily because she wanted to run the 100 in the olympics -- not to put on a good show to convince the coaches that there weren't 4 faster runners than she. her stated goal was to run 4 events in beijing. again, get a clue and stop posting this tripe.
cheech wrote:
it looks like most of the people on here don't have a clue. she already was on the olympic team in the 200 so she was eligible for the 4x1. how do you think she ran the 4x4?
here's the schedule:
8/16 -- 400 heats
8/17 -- 400 semis
8/18 -- rest
8/19 -- 200 heats (morning); 400 final (night)
8/20 -- 200 semi
8/21 -- 200 final
do you mean to tell me that should could not have jogged a 23 in the morning of 8/19, taken a nap and then dusted a really weak field in the 400 final that night? this schedule hardly is "impossible" like several of the "experts" on here have proclaimed.
Uh, yeah. She could have jogged Round 1 of the 200, and then run sub-50 in the 400m final. But for a girl who doesn't run a lot of 400s, how do you think she'd feel the next day for her 200m semi? Her legs would likely be a little sluggish and sore. So she had to make a choice. And the obvious choice would be to choose the event you've won 2 world titles in. But I suppose Felix and her coach should have consulted you first, huh?
Felix and Richards probably would have liked to try the 200 and 400 double if the schedule were different.
Article after last year's world championships where Felix beat Richards:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083102172_pf.html
The victory in hand, Felix turned the tables and said she was considering turning her attention more fully to the 400, Richards's specialty, upping the ante on their growing rivalry and raising the possibility that both she and Richards would chase a 200-400 double at the 2008 Summer Games.
Philip Hersh's blog
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/07/richards-felix.html
The international track federation deprived the world of a possible Beijing showdown between the two U.S. stars by refusing to make a schedule change that would have made a 200/400 double practicable in the Olympics.
That left Felix to concentrate on the 200 and Richards the 400, the races that each won handily at the U.S. trials in Eugene.