deanouk wrote:
I can't believe the amount of misinformed nonsense and nationalistic bias I've just read through by some on this thread.
I was lucky enough to be in the Olympic stadium tonight and was really looking forward to the 1500m final. My first reaction was how badly the kenyans ran! My second was that Makhloufi looked very good, perhaps too good.
But when I got home tonight and looked at the splits of the race which I'd also V + from the tv, I have to say that there was little to suggest that he is on peds, accept the fact that he won relatively easily. Analysis of his split times however underline the fact that the rest of the field was pretty weak (in terms of their performances tonight) as far as Olympic finals go.
It's rather sad that some Americans on here (by no means all) feel the need to have their athletes win at all costs. Most countries would be ecstatic to get a silver medal and 4th, rather than stating that the 2 guys ahead must have been cheating.
I'm not saying that Makhloufi is definitely clean, but what he did is not as impressive as what many others, e.g EL G, Lagat, Ngeny, Cacho have done in previous Olympic or World finals. And Bile came from practically nowhere in 87 to win the World title with a last 800 of 1:46.9 in a 3:36 race!! Makhloufi ran his last 800 in 1:50.3, almost 3.5 secs slower. Did everyone shout out "Cheat" when Bile easily beat Cram in 87?
I have the vast majority of 1500 split times from Championship races over the past 40 years to compare with, and there are many with better performances than the Algerian's.
Lets look at Makhloufi's splits in the final: -
43.7, 58.9, 1:43.7 (700m), 1:59.1. 2:41.2 (1100m) 2:54.7, 3:07.1 3:20.0, 3:34.08
Or laps of 58.9, 60.2, 55.6, 39.3 (52.8 for final 400m, NOT 49 as some on here have claimed!!)
Now compare to EL G's 2004 win in almost exactly the same time.
EL G's laps were 60.8, 61.0, 53.4!, 39.0
EL G's last 700 was 1:32.4, Makhloufi's was 1:35.0
last 400 ~ EL G- 52.0, Makhloufi's - 52.8
last 300 ~ EL G - 39.0, Makhloufi's - 39.3
last 200 ~ EL G - 26.3, Makhloufi's - 26.8
last 100 ~ EL G - 13.3, Makhloufi's - 14.0!!
So EL G was faster than Makhloufi over every "last" split in his 3:34 win.
If we take Bile's corresponding splits when winning the World's in 87, in a slightly slower 3:36.8, again we see his closing splits were faster than Makhloufi's:-
Bile ~ last 800 - 1:46.9, 700 - 1:31.6, 400- 51.5, 300- 39.0, 200- 25.8,
100 - 13.1
And Coe in LA 84 in a faster overall time of 3:32.5 was also faster than Makhloufi for most of his closing splits:-
Coe ~ last 800 - 1:49.8, 700 - 1:35.5, 400 - 53.2, 300 - 39.2, 200 - 25.7,
100 - 12.7
The claim from Cram that Makhloufi ran a 25.0 sec 200 section is not quite accurate. He was level with the leader at 1200m, passed in 2:54.7, and his next 2 x 100m sections went 12.4 (3:07.1) and 12.9 (3:20.0). Still a very fast 25.3. However, he then slows down dramatically, to a last 100m of 14.0.
This wasn't because he was "easing of" as some suggest (although he did the last few strides), but because he'd made his effort in the 200m section between 1200 & 1400. He clearly could not sustain that speed in the home straight and it was clear to me watching in the stadium as well as later at home on tv, that his form was going in the straight and his knees were dropping. Those behind him that tried to go with the burst with 300m to go, also slowed in the last 100m
As I've said, I'm not certain that Makhloufi is clean, but he should be given the benefit of the doubt in the meantime. Again, I'm sure that many have cheated before and not got caught, so I'm not naive enough to believe that if he is dirty then the test will come back positive. All I do know is that what he did today statistically was not as impressive or as suspicious as other athletes' performances in the past, who were certainly not crucified quite so openly and quickly as Makhloufi has been today on these message boards.