defar and t. dibaba NOT doubling at worlds.

coach d wrote:

Stars? Rivalries?

Seriously?

They are both HUGE stars in Ethiopia, which is the important thing here because at championships the ethiopians usually run on team orders with one star and the others as "support riders". As much as you might be right about DL that doesn't apply in ethiopian internal affairs leading up to Worlds, they've both probably insisted on being treated as #1 getting to call the tactics of both races (Defar won OL 5000 in 2012 and has the best 10000 time in 2013, with Dibaba it's exactly the other way around). None of them can afford to lose both distances, the effect on future appearance money would be too great, and playing support already from the starting line is, as it seems, not even an option.

I called Sihine this morning and he told me in case T. Dibaba will be defeated (in the 5k) he won´t nail her anymore. Reportedly she was quite scared afterwards and refused to line up in the 5k

who knows wrote:

I called Sihine this morning and he told me in case T. Dibaba will be defeated (in the 5k) he won´t nail her anymore. Reportedly she was quite scared afterwards and refused to line up in the 5k

I hope they have offspring soon. A kids of theirs will probably be able to run the 10000 sub 26 at 15-16 years of age. God knows what a male kid would be able to do... ;-)

This is the reason why the 5,000 and 10,000 don't belong in the same championships. They are way too similar! Competition is diluted and we don't have a true long-distance champion (unless we have a double winner).

"however a lot of "hardcore" athletics fans can appreciate the stamina and turn of speed that the 10,000m runners have"

When they go out at 5+ minute pace in championship races, it's hard to discern their world class talent from Bill's at the local 5k. True Bill won't close as fast as they will, but watching a four mile prelude to a fast two mile finish isn't very marketable or watchable for that matter.

coach d wrote:

Did you not see the French video feed for the Paris DL meet

Did you watch the OLYMPICS?

Olympics - top 10 rating events *

1. Opening ceremony, 26.9 million (27 July)

2. Closing ceremony, 26.3 million (12 August)

3. Usain Bolt wins gold in the 100 metres final, 20 million (5 August)

4. Mo Farah, gold 10,000 metres final, 17.1 million (4 August)

5. Jessica Eniss seals the heptathlon with 800 metres win, 16.3 million (4 August)

6. Tom Daley takes bronze medal in the 10m platform diving final 15.9 million (11 August)

7. Greg Rutherford wins gold in the long jump, 15.6 million (4 August)

8. Usain Bolt wins gold in the 200 metres final, 15.4 million (9 August)

9. Mo Farah wins gold in the 5,000 metres, 12.9 million (11 August)

10. Sally Pearson takes gold for Australia in the 100m hurdles, 12.1 million (7 August)

This is going to be the weakest women's 10k field in years.

If we look at the London top 10, no Sally Kipyego, no Vivian Cheruiyot, no Werknesh Kidane (is she injured?), what about Beleynesh Oljira - she appeared on the Ethiopian list, so that's one. What about Shitaye Eshete, the Ethiopian running for Bahrain?

Who else is running for Ethiopia/Kenya? Are Kenya and Ethiopia sending their B team or C team?

Jo Pavey pregnant. What about Julia Bleasdale? Are there any Brits running at all?

Russian team has one entry in their list, Gulshat Fazlitdinova, who appears to have run 33:06 in 2012... are all their other long distance women banned or something?

Who else could turn up and finish in the top 5 or medal?

Kim Smith recovering for an achilles injury and won't be ready. anyone else?

At this rate, not only will Sharlane medal, but both Hastings and Hasay will finish in the top 10 (even if Hasay does get lapped).

To be honest if the big names met too often, Track and Field would be boring. The Biggest Basketball teams/football teams/Tennis players/etc don't meet all that often unless they are always the finalists. Running takes it out of the body, elite running more so, always facing your competition strains the body, increases niggles and injuries and that only lessens the quality of performance when it comes to top meets and tournaments.

Sometimes less is more.

You have starlists here

My prediction is:

1. T. Dibaba

2. G. Cherono

3. Oljira

4. Flanagan

5. Chebet

6. Ababel

7. Eshete

8. Chepyego

12. Hasay

ognjsi wrote:

Russian team has one entry in their list

Then again, so has Great Britain on the mens list... ;-)

Letsrun.com wrote:

Setting up fixes on the European DL circuit (you run x, I’ll run y) has been the norm for a long time, but come on at Worlds?

If they wanted to "fix" this, they could still both run the two races and set up a win each - a gold and a silver each, if that's how good they are, is much better than a gold each against reduced opposition. Nobody talks about Yohan Blake's 2011 100m gold medal without saying that Bolt false started.

My suspicion is that they don't trust each other enough to let each other win. I would really like to see what happens if the first half of their plan does not work out as planned - will we then not still see them both in the 5000m? I think this could backfire.

Answering myself: on

http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships

, the "Team manual" indicates the deadline to enter 'qualified' athletes was 29 July (section 9.2). Then, the final confirmation (of athletes actually going to compete) deadline is 9:00 the day before the event (section 9.3.1).

On the same page on the IAAF site, the team listing still has both in both races.

So, if I read all of this right, technically anything can happen and we will be dead sure only the day before each race.

I'm not quite sure what the point was behind posting the Olympic viewing audience stats. Take out Usain Bolt and Sally Pearson, and the remaining 7 out of 10 quoted events would have been viewed primarily by residents of the host nation. Farah/Ennis/Rutherford were all on the same evening, so those viewing figures are referring to the same people. I can't imagine that there were a lot of people outside of Great Britain who tuned in to watch Greg Rutherford in the long jump. Not exactly global appeal. Meaningless stats really.

Seems like a smart move by Ethiopia. Why have your athletes go to war in one event, only to lower both of their chances to win in the other?

Spread out the favorites, enter two different groups of athletes in 5k and 10k, and see if the squads can deliver a champ in both while fending off Kenya.

I don't think this is as selfish as it seems on the parts of Dibaba and Defar. They are just maximizing the chances of an Ethiopian win in 2 events, while doing the same for themselves. For them, it's a win-win, and all of Ethiopia is happy.

Our job should be producing U.S. athletes that can go as a competitive unit in 5k/10k, not whining that Ethiopia has the option of spreading out their talent and remaining dominant as a team in each event. How sad is it that when the world's best come together, we have to look within one nation to make the 5k and 10k a contest worth watching?

I hope both those CERA cheaters get busted!!!

Would there be anyone left if the dopers were removed?

RRRR wrote:

I don't think this is as selfish as it seems on the parts of Dibaba and Defar. They are just maximizing the chances of an Ethiopian win in 2 events, while doing the same for themselves. For them, it's a win-win, and all of Ethiopia is happy.

Also, behind the proven stars they're sending a young team this year, both men and women. That might also be a countermove by EAF to the fact that young ethiopians are starting to go straight up to the Marathon, similar to what the kenyans have for some years now. So some of those on the team might not even be around trying to qualify for track in two years unless they're given a chance now. With Dibaba and Defar only doing one event each there's room for two additional girls, one in the 5 and one in the 10.

Juts today, the IAAF website had photos touting a 5000-meter showdown between Dibaba and Defar. So...what's going on, exactly, and who's clueless and who's just slow to react?

I don't conform to those who assert that 10k and 5k are nearly the same races. Compare the 5k and 10k of Bejing 2008 and London 2012 and you will find the variances easily.

5k has much more in common with 1500m because, in recent years, it has been transformed into a 1500m race with a 3500m jogging ( very slow ) preperation session. It is appropriate for middle distance runners. In opposition, 10k-races are always highly dramatic in their development – beginning slow, but then coming into speed erruptions eliminating one racer after the other. And you can observe interesting sub races within the race: Remember how Shalane Flanagan won her bronce medal in Bejing hunting and fighting down Linet Masai and Lucy Kabuu.

10k races requires highest degrees of endurance in comibination with resistance against pace fluctuations and the ability for enormous finishing speed. And it needs a lot of running intelligence to apply the appropriate tactics along the ongoing distance of 25 laps.

So, definetely: The real queen of distance running is the winner of the 10k due to the combination of required abilities.

It is a misery that the TV doesn't show the whole race in its develepment but only single sections – mainly the first lap and the 2 last laps. So, as a TV spectator you are not able to catch the moment when the take-off begins. They – the TV broadcaster - don't understand that the result is nothing without the way to the result. They don't be aware that although nothing seems to occurr every moment is in tension of the possibility of an unpredicatble shift of mutual action within the running pack.