One by the greatest tactician of the 21st century, Centro. Most of Centro's championship races are 3-act plays written in real time by his artistry and strategy. Poetry in motion.
The other by a young prodigy gradually expanding out his palette of color. In due time he will be creating works on par with any Old Master.
Both were the opposite of flukes. They went exactly as these two geniuses planned them from the time the gun went off.
NY Giants over undefeated Patriots is the biggest fluke of all time. Centro is less than Cole because the entire field couldn’t get past him in a very slow race. That tells you he was the class of the field that day
Re: NY Giants, that wasn't a fluke. They previously showed they could hang with the Patriots when they lost to them by only 3 points in the last game of the regular season. With their killer pass rush, the Giants were able to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks (Brady's Achilles heel), and they had a strong rushing game which allowed them to win the time of possession. Sure, that David Tyree catch was miraculous, but they had played the Patriots close for nearly 8 full quarters (including that regular season game) prior to that point. They also didn't benefit from any crazy flukey advantage in number of turnovers in the Super Bowl (each team had only 1). Notably, they outgained the Patriots 338-274 in total yards. That was a legit hard-fought victory.
NY Giants over undefeated Patriots is the biggest fluke of all time. Centro is less than Cole because the entire field couldn’t get past him in a very slow race. That tells you he was the class of the field that day
Re: NY Giants, that wasn't a fluke. They previously showed they could hang with the Patriots when they lost to them by only 3 points in the last game of the regular season. With their killer pass rush, the Giants were able to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks (Brady's Achilles heel), and they had a strong rushing game which allowed them to win the time of possession. Sure, that David Tyree catch was miraculous, but they had played the Patriots close for nearly 8 full quarters (including that regular season game) prior to that point. They also didn't benefit from any crazy flukey advantage in number of turnovers in the Super Bowl (each team had only 1). Notably, they outgained the Patriots 338-274 in total yards. That was a legit hard-fought victory.
NY Giants over undefeated Patriots is the biggest fluke of all time. Centro is less than Cole because the entire field couldn’t get past him in a very slow race. That tells you he was the class of the field that day
Re: NY Giants, that wasn't a fluke. They previously showed they could hang with the Patriots when they lost to them by only 3 points in the last game of the regular season. With their killer pass rush, the Giants were able to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks (Brady's Achilles heel), and they had a strong rushing game which allowed them to win the time of possession. Sure, that David Tyree catch was miraculous, but they had played the Patriots close for nearly 8 full quarters (including that regular season game) prior to that point. They also didn't benefit from any crazy flukey advantage in number of turnovers in the Super Bowl (each team had only 1). Notably, they outgained the Patriots 338-274 in total yards. That was a legit hard-fought victory.
I believe they were 9-7 regular season they shouldn’t have even been in the playoffs. That’s why it’s a fluke
Re: NY Giants, that wasn't a fluke. They previously showed they could hang with the Patriots when they lost to them by only 3 points in the last game of the regular season. With their killer pass rush, the Giants were able to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks (Brady's Achilles heel), and they had a strong rushing game which allowed them to win the time of possession. Sure, that David Tyree catch was miraculous, but they had played the Patriots close for nearly 8 full quarters (including that regular season game) prior to that point. They also didn't benefit from any crazy flukey advantage in number of turnovers in the Super Bowl (each team had only 1). Notably, they outgained the Patriots 338-274 in total yards. That was a legit hard-fought victory.
I believe they were 9-7 regular season they shouldn’t have even been in the playoffs. That’s why it’s a fluke
Nope. They were 10-6, which was tied for the third best record in the NFC. In the playoffs, they beat two 13-3 teams on the road (Dallas and Green Bay). If a team makes it all the way to the Super Bowl, they deserve to be there.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
I think since Peter Rono in 1988, only two Olympic 1500m gold medalists have gone on to lose their next two races - Centro in 2016, and Hocker in 2024.
Whose gold do you consider the flukiest?
Centro's was flukier. Who would have ever thought the race would play out like that, or that no one could ever move around him?
Hocker's race went exactly as anticipated. Only shock was that his kick was there in a fast race, twice even.
Both well earned.
In 2016 Centro and his coaches knew exactly how the race was going to go if it went out slowly. He adamantly fought for the lead position and had to have trained to run that kind of race with a 50.low last lap.
He beat some incredible 800m runners who were insanely good 1500m racers, including a 3:26.69 guy and Taoufik Makhloufi, an Olympic gold medalist in the 1500m and silver medalist in the 800m.
Centro's by a mile. If the pace were legit, he could not sit. Hocker kicked off of a pace that stretched out the field from the gun.
This is the correct answer. As the media pointed out ad nauseum that year, Mikey Brannigan ran a faster time than Centro. It also appears that Hocker’s kick is comparatively better after several 1500 rounds than it is in a well-rested DL race.
Centro's was flukier. Who would have ever thought the race would play out like that, or that no one could ever move around him?
Hocker's race went exactly as anticipated. Only shock was that his kick was there in a fast race, twice even.
Both well earned.
In 2016 Centro and his coaches knew exactly how the race was going to go if it went out slowly. He adamantly fought for the lead position and had to have trained to run that kind of race with a 50.low last lap.
He beat some incredible 800m runners who were insanely good 1500m racers, including a 3:26.69 guy and Taoufik Makhloufi, an Olympic gold medalist in the 1500m and silver medalist in the 800m.
Wasn't a fluke at all.
Bingo.
Centro knew he could win a slow race with his godly last lap.
He went to the front and bent the race to his will.
That's not a fluke. That's a masterful execution of strategy.
I think since Peter Rono in 1988, only two Olympic 1500m gold medalists have gone on to lose their next two races - Centro in 2016, and Hocker in 2024.
Whose gold do you consider the flukiest?
Centro. Because his was so slow it doesn't really compare with Hockers 3:27 Oly gold. Hocker may have lost his next race but it was still respectable considering it was fitness evaluation for Zurich.
One by the greatest tactician of the 21st century, Centro. Most of Centro's championship races are 3-act plays written in real time by his artistry and strategy. Poetry in motion.
The other by a young prodigy gradually expanding out his palette of color. In due time he will be creating works on par with any Old Master.
Both were the opposite of flukes. They went exactly as these two geniuses planned them from the time the gun went off.
^^^YES^^^^
Each planned and trained for their respective situations.
Centro knew if he was on the rail at the front at the bell he could unleash the 50.x 400 he specifically trained for. His session of Tempo run then 4x400 @ sub 50 before Rio was AlSals final workout with this tactic exactly in mind. Keep in mind that all the athlete's in the final were keen on sit and kick plus the Rio final was delayed 15 minutes and the athlete's were held up standing in the very hot stadium before starting with no chance to warmup again...definetely adding to the slow pace and playing into Centro's plan.
Hocker knew he had the best final 100 out of every 1500 runner that can also run sub 3:30. After increasing his strength all year and hitting 8 flat at 2 mile, he knew his tactic to win would be to stay on the rail the whole race, hang on for dear life, then burn everyone down the final straight.
I believe they were 9-7 regular season they shouldn’t have even been in the playoffs. That’s why it’s a fluke
Nope. They were 10-6, which was tied for the third best record in the NFC. In the playoffs, they beat two 13-3 teams on the road (Dallas and Green Bay). If a team makes it all the way to the Super Bowl, they deserve to be there.
Soooo if someone makes it to the Olympic final of the 1500 they deserve to be there. So there are no flukes with Centro or Hocker
Hocker ran the race of his life when it counted. Maybe he's only the 5th best in the world on any given day.
Centro won a kicker's race that nobody wanted to take the pace in. All Centro's global finals except 2019 were slow though - the 1500 used to be raced that way a lot, before Jakob.
Soooo if someone makes it to the Olympic final of the 1500 they deserve to be there. So there are no flukes with Centro or Hocker
Agreed. They are both deserving Olympic champions.
I’ll add that it’s silly for the OP to use their losses following the Olympics as indicators that their victories were flukes. There’s obviously a big difference between championship racing and Diamond League racing. In Centro’s case, his races following his 1500 win in Rio weren’t even at the same distance, and one wasn’t even on the track. The first loss was a 1,000 and the second was the Fifth Avenue Mile!
I think since Peter Rono in 1988, only two Olympic 1500m gold medalists have gone on to lose their next two races - Centro in 2016, and Hocker in 2024.
Whose gold do you consider the flukiest?
Centro had medaled at worlds before Rio, and nearly medaled in London in 2012. You could never call his win a fluke, even if the way the race played out was surprising.
It's too soon to say if Hocker's was a fluke, but it seems pretty unlikely. Whether he won any regular season (read:meaningless) races since Paris has nothing to do with it. It more so depends on how he does at worlds and Olympics going forward.
Boggles my mind you guys think a 3:27 is a fluke. Running doesn't have flukes unless people fall en masse.
Everyone is forgetting that Jakob opened the door for Hocker after he initially cut him off. There’s no way Hocker would have taken gold if he had to go the long way around Jakob. That’s the fluke right there.
Centro won in a slow race, but it was Centro who dictated the pace. Tactically that was his best chance and he made it happen. He's fortunate that no one else wanted to lead a fast race, but that's usually a dubious strategy in championship racing.
Hocker won a very fast race, but it was Jakob who dictated the race tactics. Hocker, as an outstanding kicker who (in retrospect) could still kick in a fast race, probably has a better tool set to win races regardless of the race tactics, but was fortunate that the inside lane opened up on the final straight.
I find Centro's win more impressive because he made the race unfold the only way he stood any real chance of winning it, but it was by design not by "fluke".
Flukie doesn't mean cheating. It just means flukie. I would say good question. Centro seems the obvious choice because he needed the race to be super tactical but then again olympic races are tactical quite often. So Im going with Cole even though I wasn't crazy surprised. But the memory of him sneaking along the rail with seemingly no room while the announcers were still talking Kerr and JI shall not be forgotten.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.