Nic Bideau may not be the leader but AA is certainly corrupt. I feel like Sinead Diver's just the lightning rod for all the (admittedly justified) Bideau haters, who really have a problem with him rather than with her. Seeing Lisa Weightman get snubbed just gave them a purpose to crusade against him and his charges going into the Olympics.
BTW Diver's plantar thing was most a non-issue by early June when she won the Launceton half in 1:12:10. She was obviously not hobbled when she did that. She may have not been able to train as much as she wanted, though bear in mind she's been averaging 120-140 mile weeks when she's at full strength. For all we know, "not as much" for her could still be 80-100 mpw, and/or a lot of cross training. She might have been just fine even with training not going how she wants (and even in her successful races she's not trained as she wanted). She's just become the most convenient target in the anti-Bideau crusade (and again, Nic and his often self-serving politicking have done him no favors).
I do believe Diver's pre-race quad cramping was a sudden, random thing, especially if she's had a lot of stress or trouble sleeping right up to the marathon. Either way, she is 47 after all, the conditions at Paris are somewhat warm, and things like this can happen to you at this stage of life no matter how good of shape you're in. It's certainly possible it all came to a head at the worst possible time.
Just months ago everyone was calling for Gregson's head instead, and turned to Diver once the whisper campaign turned her plantar issues into "she's had constant injury problems!". Even Weightman's snub is just a means to an end for detractors. This is really about Nic Bideau and everyone wanting him gone, not that I can blame them.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Nic Bideau may not be the leader but AA is certainly corrupt. I feel like Sinead Diver's just the lightning rod for all the (admittedly justified) Bideau haters, who really have a problem with him rather than with her. Seeing Lisa Weightman get snubbed just gave them a purpose to crusade against him and his charges going into the Olympics.
BTW Diver's plantar thing was most a non-issue by early June when she won the Launceton half in 1:12:10. She was obviously not hobbled when she did that. She may have not been able to train as much as she wanted, though bear in mind she's been averaging 120-140 mile weeks when she's at full strength. For all we know, "not as much" for her could still be 80-100 mpw, and/or a lot of cross training. She might have been just fine even with training not going how she wants (and even in her successful races she's not trained as she wanted). She's just become the most convenient target in the anti-Bideau crusade (and again, Nic and his often self-serving politicking have done him no favors).
I do believe Diver's pre-race quad cramping was a sudden, random thing, especially if she's had a lot of stress or trouble sleeping right up to the marathon. Either way, she is 47 after all, the conditions at Paris are somewhat warm, and things like this can happen to you at this stage of life no matter how good of shape you're in. It's certainly possible it all came to a head at the worst possible time.
Just months ago everyone was calling for Gregson's head instead, and turned to Diver once the whisper campaign turned her plantar issues into "she's had constant injury problems!". Even Weightman's snub is just a means to an end for detractors. This is really about Nic Bideau and everyone wanting him gone, not that I can blame them.
I don’t actually recall that many people saying Gen shouldn’t be selected. She was in the top 3 (ahead of Lisa and beat her in an head-to-head race) and had recent form to support her selection. The criticism was always aimed at Jess (slower time and selected based on championship performance from outside the selection window) and Sinead (injury issues and no recent form).
You’re correct that she did a half in early June. But she also DNSed from the Gold Coast Half in July. She also hasn’t raced a competitive marathon since 2022, which is an incredibly long time for an athlete in her late 40s. The drop off due to age/time is inevitable, and all evidence would suggest that it’s happening to Sinead now.
Interesting all the MTC guys are listed as managed by Collis - but Stewy? Gotta wonder how he's getting into all these races? (Isn't Bideau not an agent atm?)
Just for a bit of perspective, if you look at comparable countries in terms of women's marathoning - GB and the US - they didn't end up with better results at the Olympics than Australia. Having a trial race clearly isn't a magic formula for success and neither is calling up a reserve. Overall, I think the Australian women did pretty well and all of the critics here seem to be losing sight of that.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
Interesting all the MTC guys are listed as managed by Collis - but Stewy? Gotta wonder how he's getting into all these races? (Isn't Bideau not an agent atm?)
Could have something to do with this:
WORLD ATHLETICS ATHLETES' REPRESENTATIVES RULES (Approved by Council on 31 July 2024 and effective from 09 August 2024)
“18. Conflicts of interest 18.1 Conflicts of interest may arise in the following situations: 18.1.1 Where an Applicant is an official or staff member of an Area Association or a Member Federation;”
He comes across exactly how you imagine he would, particularly a few mins in.
It’s puzzling why Nic didn’t mention that Diver had to have her foot injected shortly before going in to the call room before the Marathon. Seems to indicate that she wasn’t fully fit!
He comes across exactly how you imagine he would, particularly a few mins in.
It’s puzzling why Nic didn’t mention that Diver had to have her foot injected shortly before going in to the call room before the Marathon. Seems to indicate that she wasn’t fully fit!
Really?! That would certainly indicate something more than just a niggle. If the plantar was bad enough to need an injection for a race, fair to assume that not a lot of normal training would be possible.
Interesting all the MTC guys are listed as managed by Collis - but Stewy? Gotta wonder how he's getting into all these races? (Isn't Bideau not an agent atm?)
Could have something to do with this:
WORLD ATHLETICS ATHLETES' REPRESENTATIVES RULES (Approved by Council on 31 July 2024 and effective from 09 August 2024)
“18. Conflicts of interest 18.1 Conflicts of interest may arise in the following situations: 18.1.1 Where an Applicant is an official or staff member of an Area Association or a Member Federation;”
As far as AA is concerned Nic is NOT a manager anymore. However of course it’s evident he’s the one getting his athletes into races and negotiating shoe deal's (aka manager). Collis is just there to hold the bags for Nic, believe me i’ve seen ;)
AA are more than happy to look the other way for this sort of stuff. That’s why we host a meet named after a drug cheat. thx for that Nic!
In all seriousness it’s hard for me to really dislike Nic after all of these years. It’s actually kind of funny he manages to hold down his job with all this stuff that comes up. It’s like every time something comes up in the Australia Athletics world it can always be traced back to Nic. Yet no matter how many times this happens he just deflects any fault or blame and no one ever seems to really question it. Although I think his days in Athletics are numbered, who’s to say someone else doesn’t step into his role.
Interesting all the MTC guys are listed as managed by Collis - but Stewy? Gotta wonder how he's getting into all these races? (Isn't Bideau not an agent atm?)
Interesting all the MTC guys are listed as managed by Collis - but Stewy? Gotta wonder how he's getting into all these races? (Isn't Bideau not an agent atm?)
Who manages Stewy now?
Good question.
When you go onto the athlete profile pages on the World Aths website there is usually a 'Representative' tab. For example, if you go to Linden Hall's profile page the 'Representative' tab shows Ray Flynn.
On McSweyn's profile page there is no 'Representative' tab.
Another thing that has been bugging me has been the positive spin on both Gen and Jess' decision to take the lead/push the pace just before the hill. While you could perhaps argue that Jess was able to hold on (had a very respectable 13th place finish), Gen blew up and was passed by multiple athletes who were not in the lead group when she was on the front.
Everyone here is talking about how great it was that they were in the lead at half way, yet simultaneously criticised the French woman and Italian male who pushed out solo early in race. To me they are essentially the same - a push for TV time. It's a bit like a grade 9 boy "winning" the first lap of a 1500. Prior to the Olympics, Gen had run a total of 2 marathons, both of which combined had less elevation than the Paris course.
There is no scenario in which pushing the pace is a good strategy against a group of women that includes athletes who have ~10 minutes faster than you over the distance, and won NYC/Boston etc., particularly when the biggest obstacle on the course is still coming up. The smart move (especially having just bridging across to the lead group) would have been to sit in and conserve energy as much as possible. So a flawed strategy to that is getting a positive home spin?
Another thing that has been bugging me has been the positive spin on both Gen and Jess' decision to take the lead/push the pace just before the hill. While you could perhaps argue that Jess was able to hold on (had a very respectable 13th place finish), Gen blew up and was passed by multiple athletes who were not in the lead group when she was on the front.
Everyone here is talking about how great it was that they were in the lead at half way, yet simultaneously criticised the French woman and Italian male who pushed out solo early in race. To me they are essentially the same - a push for TV time. It's a bit like a grade 9 boy "winning" the first lap of a 1500. Prior to the Olympics, Gen had run a total of 2 marathons, both of which combined had less elevation than the Paris course.
There is no scenario in which pushing the pace is a good strategy against a group of women that includes athletes who have ~10 minutes faster than you over the distance, and won NYC/Boston etc., particularly when the biggest obstacle on the course is still coming up. The smart move (especially having just bridging across to the lead group) would have been to sit in and conserve energy as much as possible. So a flawed strategy to that is getting a positive home spin?
Jess didn’t push the pace, she ran her own pace instead of letting others dictate it.
A near perfect even split despite a massive hill in the second half would suggest that her race strategy was not only good but also incredibly well executed.
It didn’t turn out so good for Gen. Marathons often don’t.
Another thing that has been bugging me has been the positive spin on both Gen and Jess' decision to take the lead/push the pace just before the hill. While you could perhaps argue that Jess was able to hold on (had a very respectable 13th place finish), Gen blew up and was passed by multiple athletes who were not in the lead group when she was on the front.
Everyone here is talking about how great it was that they were in the lead at half way, yet simultaneously criticised the French woman and Italian male who pushed out solo early in race. To me they are essentially the same - a push for TV time. It's a bit like a grade 9 boy "winning" the first lap of a 1500. Prior to the Olympics, Gen had run a total of 2 marathons, both of which combined had less elevation than the Paris course.
There is no scenario in which pushing the pace is a good strategy against a group of women that includes athletes who have ~10 minutes faster than you over the distance, and won NYC/Boston etc., particularly when the biggest obstacle on the course is still coming up. The smart move (especially having just bridging across to the lead group) would have been to sit in and conserve energy as much as possible. So a flawed strategy to that is getting a positive home spin?
Jess didn’t push the pace, she ran her own pace instead of letting others dictate it.
A near perfect even split despite a massive hill in the second half would suggest that her race strategy was not only good but also incredibly well executed.
It didn’t turn out so good for Gen. Marathons often don’t.
As I said in my original post, Jess was able to hold on and had a very good result. But if we want to look at splits - every single athlete who finished in front of her ran a negative split (top 6 all ran 73/69-70). Running on the front is associated with a greater energy cost, no matter how you slice it. It's why pacers are used. Conversely Gen had a 3 minute positive split, and was beaten by 8 women who were not in that lead pack at the halfway split.