The Spanish athlete had enough room to pass, then the fading Ethiopian moved back on her

That video doesn't make it any clearer. From the looks of it Rodriguez didn't really have the room to make the move, which isn't unusual in a championship race. The problem was, however, that when you are PASSING you have to take the person in front into account. It seems that Burka's arm just went out, Rodriguez pushed back, and the collision happened. I don't think she did it intentionally, but Burka had the right of way and it seems like a fair (and even borderline fair) call. If it wasn't, I think the Spanish federation would have protested it.

natalia rodriguez got robbed! wrote:

no, Im referring to this one, in which she didnt EVEN touch her, and the ethiopian fall cause she can not keep up with the spanish and the other girl pace cos shes tired due to pushing too soon mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrwI9RKqBA0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eelmundodeportivo%2Ees%2Fgen%2F20090823%2F53771316711%2Fnoticia%2Fle%2Dquitan%2Del%2Doro%2Dde%2D1%2E500%2Da%2Dnatalia%2Drodriguez%2Dpor%2Dsu%2Dmaniobra%2Den&feature=player_embedded#t=11

look thoroughly at the first movie I posted as well, and you'll see how when the ethiopian FIRST twisted her trunk to the right, she did it by herself, rodriguez is too far away to even touch her, then the ethiopian slowed down and ran into rodriguez and then she fell down.

robbery.

If someone is slowing you go round them not though them

Classy reaction by Shannon- and a good effort.

I posted another clearer video too in the second page of this thread.

rodriguez is running strong, she saw big enough room and went for it legally, but it happened to be that the girl ahead was falling (exhausted)down by herself or even helped by the girl in the outside lane when she get nervous or something when feeling the breath of the other two passing her by.

And it made the spanish was pushed to the infield and it made it looked like 'the spanish was touching her' when actually you can see its not true at all, and it is the ethipoian running into the spanish, just watch the videos thoroughly please..

anyway Ive seen 1500 metres races with REAL contact and nobody complaint a bit.

high jump = no contact sport

running 1500 m = contact sport (imagine if there is no contact even like today..)

Imagine if Jamal and Rodriguez had been on the same team. Both would have been disqualified?

Some observations:

The three of them are running in lane 1

Burka is running in the middle-to-outside leding Jamal and Rodriguez

By world class standards there is enough room to make an attempt from the inside

Jamal and Rodriguez are running exactly step for step

Assuming Burka was not guilty of anything, it is impossible for me to determine from the

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DIaob7a8Ik

video, if it was just as much Jamal's fault for the collision as Rodriguez. If Jamal was not so close to Burka, Burka would not have fallen.

If Rodriguez was DQed, than Jamal should have also been DQed. Her running was just as dangerous and a factor in the Burka fall, evidently caused by her slight size.

It is obvious Rodriguez was not malicious and that she was faster.

It should have been both Jamal and Rodriguez or nobody.

But with Rodriguez winning and a badly injured Burka it was unlikely.

Emotions play a role.

Check out the IAAF day 9 highlights reel at :52 seconds - you can see the first contact from the front. From that angle it looks like Rodriguez tried to take a spot that wasn't there, and after that the jostling was unavoidable. She really should not have gone for the inside pass - but Burka really shouldn't have been taking up the whole damn lane either.

I think for once I agree with the brojos' analysis:

"In the replay we think it was pretty clear Rodriguez ran into a spot that was not big enough, hooked arms with Burka a couple times, stepped off the track and caused the petite Ethiopian to fall. Jamal on the outside seemed to help pinch Burka and Rodriguez even closer together, causing an unfortunate series of events."

i said differently but i agree with the agreer of the brojos.

But i add the fair play would have been DQ all three. They have all three nonos: run in the middle, not enough space, closing in from outside.

All 3 should go, or nobody.

I third that. SHe is the champion and she got screwed and it didn't feel good.

The ethiopian actually tripped over her own legs sending her to the ground. It was her own fault she wasnt capable of running at that point in time.

"All 3 should go, or nobody"

I agree with this.

Great video. The second and third angles show a lot. It seems clear that the contact started when Rodriguez ran up into Burka's left arm while it was swinging normally, not that Burka held her arm out to block Rodriguez. However, I find it impossible to rule out the possibility that Rodriguez initially had room to pass, then Burka started angling her whole body to the inside to cut her off. Rodriguez had room to get her hips even with Burka's, but it is not clear if she ever had room to make the pass without running into Burka's arm.

Rodriguez's hand to Burka's back is beside the point, as is her single step on the infield.

In any event, I feel better about the result now, since both athletes made mistakes. Even if Burka did not foul, it was bad strategy to leave almost enough room for a competitor to pass on the inside, and then try to hold her position when someone took the bait. Rodriguez probably fouled, but in any case had bad strategy to make such a risky physical move on the inside.

I don't see that Jamal did anything remotely illegal.

I watched it a number of times and I agree. There was no obvious push. Burka collided with Rodriguez. It should have been a no call. Unless there is clear evidence of a push it should have been a no call.

But it is not illegal to leave room either. Just as Jamal can move into Burka's lane from the outside as long as she doesn't impede - which she didn't, and you have agreed.

The decision was a fair one - Rodriguez tried to run through Burka,(as Rowberry saw and her view at the time was better than ALL of ours) a little bit of room but not enough, or why did she have to step off the track? Burka clearly had lane one to herself, Rodruigez should have waited to see how it played out over the last 200m - it might have opened up in the next 100m. It's too bad for both as Rodriguez finished well, and Burka was left on the track. For all we know Jamal might have wound up third.

As to the idiots saying that Burka was done and slowing down?!! She had the lead for Christsakes. NO ONE, only she herself, knows how she would fare the rest of the race. Only idiots like the above posters say how others will respond over the last 200m - that's why they have the races, so that we can find out. Who would have thought that Malaudzi would hang on to the lead in the 800? He fought people off coming at him.

this is called 'I push too hard too early and everybody will run over me in the homestrech because I didnt properly measure my strength and everybody can see it based on my pace compared to the pace of the other two that are passing me by'

you should know it ,Is is very common in T&F, It Happens in 400 first of all stop bullshitting and insulting people on the forum please as noody did it to you.

I think this is exactly right. It's certainly not clear that the Spaniard pushed her down unjustifiedly. I suspect what happened is Rodriguez saw a small gap on the inside, though large enough to pass if Burka doesn't move in at all. But Burka did, Rodriguez pushes her a bit to stay on the track as Burka moves slightly inward. Burka's balance was off for whatever reason (fatigue surely contributed) and she went down. Rodriguez clearly was forced off the track, though. I say no DQ for lack of clear evidence. Passing on the inside like that was poor, though. But it isn't illegal.

more superlative wrote:

There's nothing clear about that video, even from multiple angles. I've watched it a dozen times and still haven't made up my mind. The inside pass is always poor form, but it's hard to tell who initiated the contact that started the fall. I'd like to see a shot from the outside of the track, get a better look at their arms. Tough call either way.

And she fell down after contact; let's be clear.I don't think it was overly strong contact, though--not clearly enough to justify DQing Rodriquez. But there was contact.

natalia rodriguez got robbed! wrote:

skip to 0.31 she clearly fell down by herself! brutal robbery.

you be the judge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DIaob7a8Ik

Aqui'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYIfMk2fM2g

(And no I'm not Spanish. I'm an American.)

Come off it. Man, everyone has no objectivity when it comes to their own runners. Look, Rodriquez pushed her. No doubt about it.And Barcelona was a better team than Chelsea. (Sorry, couldn't help that one. The Brits have it coming, anyway, after the 4x1.)

natalia rodriguez got robbed! wrote:

the spanish girl do not touch at all the ethiopian,she is exaushted at that time. and if anything, it would be the outside lane girl trying to push toward the infield the ethiopian and get away with it, then the spanish is affected and step on infield, I dont think its unfair to say its a normal episode in a 1500 metres run and of course legal, even less strong than it is usually seen when 200 metres are left. plus the spanis was clearly the winner of that race.

anyway its very sad to work so hard and be blatantly robbed like that.

rodriguez is pushed by the ethiopian off the track because she ALREADY has taken up the room that was empty one second before