Brendan Foster accused of being rude about Mo.

Bad Wigins wrote:

He's right. But what's Mo going to do on the track... chase records? There are no track records he's capable of getting, including 3:26.00.

idiot, we've been thru this

no

If Farah thought had even the slightest potential to match Jim Ryun's imaginary 3:25, he'd more than just "give it a go," he'd be throwing everything he had at it this year. He's a Briton, the mile is everything to them. He can't do it, he knows he can't, so does Salazar, so do you.

The BBC has an obligation to provide content to the people who pay for it - the British public. The majority of those people were more interested in Mo's race, charity runners, and celebrities than watching the elite races unfold. In that respect they did a good job.

They did have interactive options for people to watch a dedicated elite race feed with its own commentary, which was much less biased and provided greater insight into the race.

Too true, all the average British TV viewer can see at the head of the field is yet another depressing procession of Africans he doesn’t know from Adam - so of course, the commentator has to concentrate of matters he imagines might be of interest to non-runners.

I watched the dedicated channel, which concentrated on the leaders, but unfortunately, the commentary there was dire - the BBC found someone who sounded like that Lurch character and appeared to know nothing about marathon running.

As someone who was hopelessly wrong about Farah's marathon debut (I thought he would win in about 2hr 5min and said so on this site!)I hesitate to say anything ever again but ... . The BBC's coverage of athletics is awful. Any idea of being impartial observers/commentators has been abandoned and they see themselves as cheerleaders for "Team GB" (shouldn't that be Team UK in any case?). It gets worse when the athlete concerned - Farah - is a personal friend of one of the commentators , Steve Cram - something Cram has admitted in past broadcasts.

But you have to remember that athletics is one of the very few sports where the BBC is the main broadcaster in the UK - no cricket , very little football or rugby of either code etc. , etc. They cannot afford to lose their athletics coverage so they feel obliged to adopt this uncritical , fawning attitude all the time. It is pretty unpleasant to listen to if you are a fan of the sport and not some tub thumping jingoist!

On Farah's run ; to me he never looked comfortable , he looked heavy and seemed to be working very hard very early in the race. I wouldn't be suprised if it emerges in the next week or so that he was medically less than 100% when he started the race - something linked to his collapse in New York , perhaps?

mark b wrote:

The BBC's coverage of athletics is awful. Any idea of being impartial observers/commentators has been abandoned and they see themselves as cheerleaders for "Team GB" (shouldn't that be Team UK in any case?).

If you haven't seen French TV sport coverage, you haven't seen anything yet. Unbearable.

Unfortunately, people fall for patriotism. Patriotism only serves people in power and makes for horrible sport commenting.

or make that "commentating".

I wish we could see stories about track and field splashed all over our tabloids.

The only time we see any headlines are when someone dies, or a world record or Olympic medal holder gets busted for drugs.

Big Bren is just horrible as an announcer always has been always will be be. BBC seems fascinated with having ex athlete hero's as announcers vs qualified trained professionals.

Mo got caught up in the hype , he was being run around London like a chicken with his head off by the media etc. Im not so sure Alberto has the best marathon training formula out there. Mo was in the correct pace group , he may not think so and thinks he should have been up front as he has been quoted. If he had run with them given his final result Im afraid would have been even slower. His comment shows still a lack of respect for distance and the experienced athletes running it.

Bad Wigins wrote:

If Farah thought had even the slightest potential to match Jim Ryun's imaginary 3:25, he'd more than just "give it a go," he'd be throwing everything he had at it this year. He's a Briton, the mile is everything to them. He can't do it, he knows he can't, so does Salazar, so do you.

moron

try 7'19

12'40

26'30

no one is claiming 3'25

imbecile

Where does he get off criticizing Mo? I liked him in George of the Jungle and the first Mummy movie but everything else he has done has been a stinker.

He needs to stick to what he knows and leave Mo alone.

mark b wrote:

On Farah's run ; to me he never looked comfortable , he looked heavy and seemed to be working very hard very early in the race. I wouldn't be suprised if it emerges in the next week or so that he was medically less than 100% when he started the race - something linked to his collapse in New York , perhaps?

There they go with the excuses for Farah again. Never in the history of athletics has a runner been so coddled. Farah lost because, unlike his track rivals, the marathon big boys don't show him too much respect. Hopefully this will be a clear enough message to Kenyans and Ethiopians for more honest championship races.

And yes, the BBC is the Fox News of Britain.

drivel wrote:

It was fine that Brenda Foster said that he thought Mo should stick to track. The problem was he said it over and over again ignoring the possibility that other persons might have a different opinion.

An incorrect opinion. He could run a better marathon and do better times but he would not dominate like he has done on the track and when it comes to championships they are always run in excessive heat

He earned in that race more than he would earn in 10 top track races though and brought a lot of attention to the race and he has the fastest times run by an English man from 1,500m to the marathon which is not too bad! You should have heard the support for him on the course

Thompson ran a good race as well which has gone unnoticed

someone had to do it wrote:

try 7'19

12'40

26'30

No, and Mo's not gonna try for any of those times either, because he can't do it, and he knows it, and so do you. You shouldn't be so fanatic about things you don't even believe.

Joe Binks wrote:

Too true, all the average British TV viewer can see at the head of the field is yet another depressing procession of Africans he doesn’t know from Adam - so of course, the commentator has to concentrate of matters he imagines might be of interest to non-runners.

I watched the dedicated channel, which concentrated on the leaders, but unfortunately, the commentary there was dire - the BBC found someone who sounded like that Lurch character and appeared to know nothing about marathon running.

I watched on the red button too and regretted it, the main commentator was terrible, they should have let Richard Nerurkar do the talking. Not sure what I'll do next year.

El Keniano wrote:

And yes, the BBC is the Fox News of Britain.

If it was, the controller and board would be fired by the governing Trust.

The level of jingoism since the London Olympics though has been unbearable.

Amateur hours wrote:

Where does he get off criticizing Mo? I liked him in George of the Jungle and the first Mummy movie but everything else he has done has been a stinker.

He was funny on "Scrubs".

I didnt see anything wrong with what Brendan said , he is right Mo should stick with track until after 2016 Olympics

he can collect 6 gold medals during that time

On 23 April 2006, he finished ninth in the London Marathon with a time of 2:09:05 (the race was won by Kenyan Felix Limo, who clocked 2:06:39). Haile referred to the ninth-place finish as "the worst race of my career".[15] However, on 24 September he came back with a win in the Berlin Marathon in the fastest time of the year, 2:05:56. His time in Berlin made him only the fifth man in history to run under 2:06 for the marathon. This was followed by a win in the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan in 2:06:52.

On 30 September 2007, Haile won the Berlin Marathon in 2:04:26[17] (4:44.8 per mile), setting the world record and shaving 29 seconds off Paul Tergat's record, set on the same course in 2003. His victory further energized the celebrations of the Ethiopian Millennium (unique to the Ethiopian calendar), which began on 12 September 2007.

My money is on Farrah... He'll be back, and Al-Sal will have the right prescription!