Angelo Taylor cost us the Gold Medal.

is the promise ring dead? wrote:

rubbish wrote:

Blaming the loss on one guy is just dumb.

^This. Angelo Taylor has done a lot for the U.S. so you blaming him for the team getting silver is trashy and classless. It may not be gold, but it's still an olympic medal.

otay

Anyone notice one of the message board advertisements:

Merit Financial - Gold

amazing!

There are only 350,000 people in the Bahamas -- about the same as Riverside, CA. While the islands are apparently chock full of quarter milers, it is still a disgrace for the US to be beaten by them.

Lol at the people taking the Chinese girls comment seriously.

Sprint Teezer wrote:

Verburg would have gone faster.

What was his split?

nikeman wrote:

should have put McQuay on anchor instead.

I cannot see why McQuay was not put on the anchor. He was clearly the top dog for America. There is a decent chance he could have run down the Bahamas' anchor

i guess the adage is true... everyone loves a winner

Should have run Christian Taylor...

I would have placed Wallace Spearmon on the team with McQuay on the anchor - McQuay was sensational.

hellokitty wrote:

I guess they felt Taylor was the most experienced runner left so they used him as the anchor. .

Are you kidding? Experience?

I will bet that the other runners as HS and in college have run many many many anchor legs. If Taylor had to be on the team put him up front where as another person said at worst he runs what the runner did in the prelim, but I bet he runs faster and in the end we get a gold medal.

Drummond really screwed that one up.

Look guys, the US was lucky to make the finals, much less medal. The leadoff runner in the prelims BROKE HIS FREAKIN' LEG in the last 200m. So we ran the finals with #'s 2, 3, and 4 from the trials (with #'s 1 and 5 being the previous Olympic Gold medal winners since 2004, OUT). No one would have said "anchor Mcquay" after seeing him get eliminated from the finals in the open 400 with a 45. Taylor's choice was questionable at best seeing how his last 150 of the 400H went, but Clement finished that race even worse than Taylor, and who knows how Tinsley felt. The only thing I would have considered beforehand would have been anchoring a younger, fresher Nellum and putting Taylor's experience and aggression on the 2nd leg. I thought they ran well to get silver with damn near the "B" team, though, no other country could have done that.

The order totally makes sense--three completely untested guys and one (admittedly really old) four-time Olympic vet. They almost had to make the choice. That being said, I would've switched Angelo and Bryshon--he put in a very good prelim anchor and you could tell he had more (as I'm guessing Chris Brown did, but Brown didn't anchor the final).

I do not agree with the calls for McQuay anchoring--he was important in the middle to build up a lead; I totally see him as a catchup guy rather than a closer, which isn't to say he wouldn't have won it, but I really like him in the middle.

Did I miss something in regards to Kerron not running?! He seemed the obvious choice for me...

Americans were shut out of the 200m and 400m correct? And only Gatlin (doper) got the bronze in the 100m. Well, American sprints have gone in the tank, but at least we're not doping (besides) Gatlin. Or else we are, and we really suck. Why are Blake's traps so huge? That don't look right. And Bolt winning with his giant stride advantage, I'm sorry, it's not that impressive. It's just like a done-deal, unless he falls. Sprints -- below 400m -- have always bored me, to be honest. But this year especially. The fastest guy wins. In the distance events, will and heart play a much bigger role. That said, why can't we catch more dopers? The men's and women's 1500m were a travesty, won by probable cheats. How long do we have to wait until they are caught? 6 months? Honestly, besides Rupp and Manzano (and Centro), and Mo, and Rudisha, these games have been kind of a downer, with all the suspicion regarding cheats. At least we know Bekele isn't a doper. Much respect to him. Blessed by God. Anybody else got Lagat tonight in the 5k, capping one of the most epic careers ever?

Again, Americans get to decide who is doping and who is not? - your arrogance is astounding. Sadly the hypocrisy is now on the other foot - the women's 4x100 was clean when the East Germans were dirty? yea right!

Or we can blame the gold medal on the Bahama's anchor. He picked up those skills running at Baby Nats for Dickinson State (ND).

I agree with the drug tainted comment.

He should have never got in the blocks in the Open 400.

He knew how injured he was. It was hard to watch and figure out why he attempted to run.

All you Boo-Bird Armchair Quarterbacks never accomplished anything in your lives until you found a little dark room with a computer/internet connection and this depreciating web site. You have shown you have no respect for the sport or the effort to achieve at a level you will never understand by actually talking with your feet.

Those defending what happened understand the reality in that the US should be proud to have WON the silver medal with the guys that were available. The winners were just a little better on a day that we were about as bad as we will ever be.

I know winning is the goal but amazingly they were in a position to have a chance. Taylor could have declined the opportunity but he didn't and not for selfish reasons. If he thought someone else could help the team's chances better, he would have stepped aside. He's a proven champion, much unlike most of you.

I agree with the drug tainted Merritt comment.

He should have never got in the blocks in the Open 400.

He knew how injured he was. It was hard to watch and figure out why he attempted to run.

Typical letsrun moron wrote:

Give him a break, he's been partying with the underaged Chinese woman's gymnastic team for the last week and they called him up at the last minute to run the 4x400 and he did the best he could.

Yes, it was unwise of Taylor to party so hearty. You could see the effects in the last 50m.

At his age, he needs more recuperation time from the mastering than the sweet young Chinese minxes. Should have quit 48-72 hours prior to competition.