Captain Geetch wrote:
Park Si-Hun over Roy Jones Jr. for the light-middleweight boxing gold in 1988.
A reasonable choice. Here's the fight (Interestingly, Jones -- despite the decision against him -- was named the outstanding boxer of the Games and went on to a great pro career. while Park Si-Hun never boxed again, stung by the shame and scorn from that undeserved decision.):
https://www.asianboxing.info/videos/category/park-si-hunCoevett wrote:
Coe would have won gold in the 800 and 1500m in Seoul, and be the unquestioned GOAT today. The old leftie fart who left him out of the team for political reasons should live on in infamy.
And not only in Seoul. Also in Barcelona, in Atlanta and even Sydney.
lease wrote:
Noah Hansen wrote:
What would be some of the worst performances to win the Olympic finals?
[Centro's] 3:50 1500 in 2016 has to be up there.
Now how did I *know* you would include that? God, some of you guys are so boringly predictable.
Centro's run might not count as one of the all-time greats but he was brilliant in holding off the best in the world--at least two of whom "should" have benefited more from the opening pace than he did.
Geez my bad. I never watched it I just saw the time. I'll make sure to check it out
Sorry, but I feel like this entire thread was a set up to bag on Centro. Can we move on from this topic?
This is Jim Kiler wrote:
Any race Mo Farah was in has to be considered.
You just mentioned Farah because you have 4 choice to be right.
Coevett wrote:
Look how far down Wells was on Leonard at 50m. That was due to a sluggish start caused by his near total inexperience of using starting blocks. Doubt if there has ever been such a gap overturned in the second 50m in an Olympic 100m final. And Wells explosive start was his strength! Several days later he lost to doper Pietro Menea by 1/100th of a second, the same guy who had ran 19.72 the year before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpLaeh5RTMY
Nice find. What an athletic effort by Wells at the end to win.
Captain Geetch wrote:
Park Si-Hun over Roy Jones Jr. for the light-middleweight boxing gold in 1988.
This
think first wrote:
think first wrote:
One before that was slightly worse:
Sorry, it was quite much earlier. Pekka Vasala (Finland) won 1972 final in relatively modest 3:36, which also ended up being his lifetime PB.
3.36 was only 3 seconds off the world mark at the time. Not bad for a championship final, as Walker ran 3 39x in '76, and Coe ran 3.38x in '80. Vasala also beat the reigning champ, Keino, and ran the last 800 in about 1.48 - the winner of the 800 was only just over 2 seconds faster. It was a great final and a superbly judged race.
The face-plant by Shaunae Miller-Uibo to beat Allyson Felix in the 400 in 2016. To win by eagle-diving and putting your face on the track looks seriously bad.
Men's basketball, 1972, Soviet Union over US.
Let it Rupp wrote:
Star wrote:
Peter Rono's 3:35 1500m win in 1988 was worse than Centro's win where Centro ran the last 500m in 1:03, while holding off both the defending Olympic Champion and defending World Champion who were trying to chase him down.
In Rono's race, Coe (Oly Champ), Bile (World Champ) and Aouita (word Record holder) were all missing.
Cram was there but dealing with a calf injury.
Makhloufi and Kiprop were healthy and in the race where Centro won.
You can't just look at the winning time in a distance or middle distance race.
Kenteris winning the 2000 200m in 20.09 was pretty bad.
This. There's a difference between "slowest time" and "worst performance."
Centro's performance was a great one, even if it was in a slow race. The goal of the world/olympic final is to win the race, not run the fastest time. At least that's how I look at it for distance events where tactics come into play. I would bet my left nut that all the guys in that race would have preferred to win that 2016 final in 4:00, than get 4th in 3:27. Just like all the guys who run the Monaco 15 would rather get 8th and run sub 3:30 than win in 3:34. That's my take.
That being said, off the top of my head, Kirani James' 400 gold medal in 2012 comes to mind. Not only was the time somewhat slow (like 43.9) but there was nobody else really great at the time in the race.
Exactly, centro ran the race that was given to him. Worst performance for the others, best performance for him! Its not his fault.
Armstronglivs wrote:
The face-plant by Shaunae Miller-Uibo to beat Allyson Felix in the 400 in 2016. To win by eagle-diving and putting your face on the track looks seriously bad.
Interesting, seems heroic to me.
Nevertheless, My mind goes to worst performance/most disappointment, I not sure if they are the same thing because if they are...how come we have not talked about Mary Decker in KILLER shape and ending up on ground, and Pre just making rookie mistakes in his only olympics. 2 best (MD) runners ever from our country...zero medals...thats weird/unfortunate.