No O'Keeffe in marathon?

Woof. Hard to believe one word of that looking at her gait off the line. You can’t be that caliber and be that out of touch with your body. Would have been better to say “It was my spot, and I don’t regret leaving the start line and becoming an Olympian.” Hard stop. The timeline she gives is total bull and doesn’t line up with when USATF called McClain. Genuine question — Has there been any indication she’s been healthy since pulling out of the Mini 10k?

She doesn’t need answers on her hip, she needs them about her decision to surround herself with people that said this was a good idea and that she’d still be America’s darling after. Sad to see that photo will be how the Puma logo is remembered for this marathon and not the stellar run by Dakotah.

If Lyles had won the 200m, he would 100% have competed in the 4x100m.

she said Allistar was telling her she gets a D in fueling and brushed it off as a joke but it was a bit alarming

What makes the Olympics so prestigious is that you are representing your country on the biggest stage. This isn’t representing your country. And there’s no way an athlete of her caliber would not know that her body is incapable of running near her normal marathon pace for even 5k. She should have given the opportunity to Jess. Deeply disappointing.

There's a lot I like about LRC & some things I don't. I think they, generally, do a good job pushing back where they can but this is not one of those examples. Another poster shared that Alistair is her coach & her agent & that's where you go for your quote? It's like Gault wants to show us how well connected he is in the running world & can get a text back from Alistair Cragg but it sounds like Cragg is likely a part of the problem here. You should be using your reach/platform to see if USATF medically evaluated her/cleared her to race. Should have confirmed if there is or isn't some process in place to sub in for injured athletes. Should reach out to her sponsors to see if she needed to start to get paid. Etc.

US marathoners have displayed a pattern of doing this. Ask USATF about it. It seems like the athletes are the ones deciding that they're going to get their Olympic moment. Maybe doctors should be more involved or someone else should step in & be rational in this high stakes of a situation. Serious question: did USATF know that she had injury issues beginning a week ago? Did they ever evaluate the athlete? I want to know how that communication went & at what point everyone felt good about an athlete competing who couldn't make it more than a few steps. Something clearly broke down.

Guess who was the top american who proved strong fitness at the NYRR Mini 10K back in June? Who was the only marathon qualifier to not run? Look, keeping top run form is super tough in the distance events. We need USATF to fix this for good. I am game for sending all expenses paid alternates for the 10k, 5k, and marathon. It seems these are the events where issues happen most often.

Great run by Jess McClain at the mini 10k!

Again, my comments are not about these athletes. It is a pattern amplified by a top Ethiopian male giving up his spot to the eventual men's marathon olympic champion just one day before.

Clearly, contractual issues played a role here. It is not fair to the athletes involved. It is also embarrassing for none of our USA sports journalists to call a spade to spade to fix this especially Des Linden. You don't see this in other sports. If you cannot compete for a team sport, you sit the bench and alternate takes your spot. This is what needs to happen. We need to bring a bench of top talent beyond the 100/400 for the relay pools.

I think the minimum expectation is that our 3 representatives finish the race. It was clear that Fiona had a 0% chance of doing that today, and knew it from before the gun even went off. Thus, this was a straight bonus grab on her part and was extremely selfish. Hope she realizes the ill will that she generated for herself today among the US distance running community and for her sponsor. Hope she likes that bonus! Because she embarrassed herself and her country today and will never get another contract when this one is up.

Do we know what the deadline was for her to withdraw and be replaced?

If it was say, Tuesday, then at that time she may still have had a hope that the hip issue would resolve in time. In that case benefit of the doubt goes to the person who earned the spot. I would think differently about that scenario than if the deadline was, eg, last night.

I’m not your friend, runnerdave. You sound like an overly dramatic boomer with zero compassion and a bone to pick.

You once posted this about Joan Benoit Samuelson (below), so you will recall Joan ran the 1984 marathon on a surgically repaired knee just 17 days prior to the race without any clue how it would turn out, but apparently she has your deepest admiration because she miraculously won.

It’s called taking a chance and having bad luck, Dave. I guess if Joanie didn’t finish in 1984, you’d have a completely different and “horrified” opinion of her.

Try having a little compassion for a young woman forced to make a very tough game time decision that you can’t comprehend despite your “deep respect for the sport”.

I believe the deadline was the Friday evening before the Sunday morning race, like a 36 hour timeframe to withdraw.

Lots of judgment and holier than though posts on this thread that I don't really buy. Fiona won the trials and deserves all the benefits of doubt here and given the incentives I think the vast majority of people would have done the same in her shoes. Being an Olympian is once in a lifetime and damn straight I would give it a shot despite not feeling well. Not to mention the contractual incentives. This is a structural issue that should be dealt with in that manner rather than criticising the athletes.

When it comes to deciding to run hurt, runners have to realize the marathon is a much bigger, different beast than any shorter race. It takes just about everything you have in you when you're 100%, and Fiona (bonuses or not) as well as any US representatives should have realized that if there was any doubt that she could run a race of any kind, she should not have been out there even if she talked herself into start or could otherwise find a way to the starting line. That's one distance where you're best off not taking any chances regardless of the personal or professional stakes running the race carries. Don't have a runner run it if it isn't 100% clear they can assuredly finish it.

Joan ran the TRIALS 17 days after Stan James did his magic on her knee; the trials were in May 1984 … The OG in question were later that summer of 84 ..she was strong structurally sound at that time … gold medal, 40 years ago.
Again she was running for Nike and Athletic West at the W OT Marathon, not the OGames representing the USA.
You probably weren’t even born yet .. freaking nitwit.

No. Joan Benoit ran the USA Olympic Marathon TRIALS 17 days post-surgery in May ‘84. The Olympic Marathon in LA was Aug ‘84. During the 3 months between she had a very successful build-up.

Very different circumstances than O’Keeffe’s.

At least the worst US T&F Olympian. There was some seriously unsportsmanlike sh!t going down in tennis and other sports.

I find it interesting that people think they know they would be a bigger person than Fiona. Every single one of us that dreamed of being an Olympian since they were young would make this exact some decision. I know I would. The opportunity to be labeled Olympian doesn’t come along easily and may never come her way again. Fiona you made the right choice and the one that all of us would.

It is a tough call tbh for her...but I find it hard to believe this is not a bone issue. I have had hip flexor/pointer/labrum issues in the past that were definitely painful to run through and I ended up having to rest to resolve them BUT they would always loosen up and if I could deal with that...the rest of the run was fine. It got to the point that I was concerned I had a st fx in that area so have other people had hip issues that were not st fx that caused this level of limp?

Most of us would not make that decision. Running injured is extremely selfish and shows a complete lack of integrity.

Everything about her symptoms, gait, and how quickly she dropped out screams stress fracture. Yet, they got an MRI and not an X-ray? They know what her injury is (it’s a stress fracture) but are pretending to be surprised so she can get her bonus.