Lashawn Merritt couldn't perform when it mattered most.
Lashawn Merritt couldn't perform when it mattered most.
lip kitten wrote:
You are wrong. A 3:46 miler should've had a world championship/OG place higher than 7th. Webb is a great example.
No, you're wrong. Any one of the guys who beat Alan Webb in the Olympic final could have joined him in running 3:46 in that random forest in Belgium.
By Webb's 1500 PR he was probably #8 or worse at that time. If we convert Webb's mile to a 3:29-high, he is still at least #5 or 6 in that 2007 field. If you consider that perfectly paced record attempts like Webb's are a rare luxury in the running world, even more guys would have faster PRs than Webb. If you think Webb should have medaled in 2007, you didn't follow running in 2007.
I don't know how he beat Lagat at USA's, but it wouldn't be the only time Lagat ran worse than normal at USA's.
I wonder what the "clean" results of that race would be like. I guess all we know for sure is Ramzi #2.
ASAFA POWELL
/end of thread
Byzzle wrote:
ASAFA POWELL
/end of thread
Yeah, he only has an Olympic gold medal, a WC gold medal, a WC silver medal, two WC bronze medals, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and a Commonwealth Games silver medal.
No kidding, Asafa Powell is another guy with an excellent competitive record. Other than the 2012 final when he pulled a muscle, I don't know when he didn't perform to expectations.
Controversial pick but I'm going for Mo Farah
Sure he's won a few medals but his performances in finals have never been that great
Paula Radcliffe - if we limit the day that matters to the Olympics.
Yenew Alamirew - 9th in Olympics after being the second fastest all year.
This was the guy I was going to mention. For younger runners who might not be familiar with the name, Mamede, from Portugal, had the WR at 10,000 at 27:13 but was known primarily for being entirely non-competitive in major races. He once ran off the track midrace and explained he had to go to the bathroom. Never came close to a medal in the Olys, WC meet, or even the Euro Champs if I recall correctly.
This was the guy I was going to mention. For younger runners who might not be familiar with the name, Mamede, from Portugal, had the WR at 10,000 at 27:13 but was known primarily for being entirely non-competitive in major races. He once ran off the track midrace and explained he had to go to the bathroom. Never came close to a medal in the Olys, WC meet, or even the Euro Champs if I recall correctly.
kite fliar wrote:
Byzzle wrote:ASAFA POWELL
/end of thread
Yeah, he only has an Olympic gold medal, a WC gold medal, a WC silver medal, two WC bronze medals, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and a Commonwealth Games silver medal.
He should thank Usain Bolt for his RELAY medals!
Quenton Cassidy.
Beats the world's fastest man at some podunk meet and then gets silver at the following Olympics. Workout hero.
Joe Falcon
George Atlas wrote:
Not Jim Ryun, .
A silver medal isn't performing when it matters most?
Jim Ryun and Ron Clarke - They held world records and dominated their events but could never get a gold medal most likely due to overtraining.
Webb had the #1 time in the world at 1500m in 2007 as well as the fastest mile in years.
And he did that winning against a world class field in Paris.
I don't think he had any losses going into Osaka.
He was the favorite to win.
Lagat certainly wasn't the favorite that year.
Thanks for this excerpt. This was utterly fascinating, I had no idea.
under pressure wrote:
Vera Nikolic in the womens 800m is another example of not coping with intense pressure. This could have ended tragically, but fortunately she came back to win the European Championships in 1971 and finish 5th at the 1972 Olympics. Going in to the 68 Olympics as world record holder she had the weight of the Yugoslav nation on her young shoulders. They had already hung the gold around her neck and even prepared a celebratory stamp to commemorate her expected victory.
From Madeline Manning Jackson's biography Running For Jesus:
i just knew i could hold my pace, and even if a couple of runners passed me, i had enough left to finish among the qualifiers for the finals. Then i began wondering about vera. i glanced around. my lead was secure but vera wasn't even second. i couldn't afford to keep looking behind me, but i took one more long glance an i moved into the last curve. no vera. she wasn't going to challenge me for the lead. she must be running just hard enough to barely qualify and is saving herself for the final, i told myself.
but i was wrong. as i crossed the finish line i turned around and looked through all the runners and vera wasn't there. doris brown, waiting to run in the next heat, had watched our race. what happened to vera? i asked her, puffing. then i noticed some of vera's teammates crying. what's wrong with everybody, doris?
i don't know, mad, doris said. vera stopped after 300 meters and just walked off the track and right out of the stadium.
i could hardly believe it. i knew she had a lot of pressure, but she was too tough an athlete to quit a race. no one knew what happened or why. that night i learned that her coach had followed her out of the stadium and up to the footbridge that connected the practice track and the stadium. he saw her climbing the fence on the bridge and caught her just before she tried to jump to her death.
it really shook me up. i wanted badly to see her, but they were not letting her talk to anyone.......................
the next day, as i left the olympic village to go for the 800 meter finals with doris...we noticed vera with her coach. she was crying. i left the other girls and ran to her.
how are you feeling? i asked, she didn't speak much english but she shrugged and nodded, trying hard to hold back her tears. i took her hands in mine, and thought i knew she wouldn't understand every word, i'd hope she'd understand where i was coming from. she looked amazed that i would break my concentration on the finals just to talk to her. i know that you are a great athlete, i said. i want to see you go back and get yourself together and get your mind together. pray to god for strength, and when you come back, you'll come out fighting and be the runner i know you are. she cried openly and then nodded as we hugged each other.
(a year later at the europe vs. americas games in germany i ran into vera's coach. how is she? i asked. she's here, he told me. when you stopped to talk to her before your own finals, it brought tears to my eyes. if you hadn't done that, i'm sure she would have given up. it was the turning point in her life. she's back in training, and while she's not in top shape yet, she's coming back. by then she had seen me and ran up to hug me. 3 years later in munich she was again among the top 5 800 meter women in the world.
Clarke got medals at major games including Olympics but didn't have closing speed when someone was able to latch on when so much at stake. This doesn't mean that he didn't perform to full capability. The Olympics where he was in his best shape was at altitude where he was at severe disadvantage to the Africans and had no chance. A similar comment applied to Ryan . The Games were at Mexico City. At the next games in Munich Ryan was in good shape again but got tripped. Your conclusion that they overtrained yet still got medals shows total ignorance . Suggest you keep off making comments in future.