LaShawn Merrit kicks home for gold like a boss

smart_move wrote:

Nah, if it is discovered that the blades provide an advantage then the relay team is tarnished as someone else pointed out. I can't remember the last time I saw the US 4 x 4 anchor take off without a lead, good job by Merritt.

Tarnished? How so? People on letsrun talking about them? Blade Runner was approved to run by the people in charge. I believe he was one of the top four S African runners. He should have been lead-off (he is not allowed to run the 2nd leg due to fear of collisions -- not 3rd or 4th either I believe). And if he is one of the 4 fastest in his nation, leaving him off was a mistake. Perhaps cost them Gold (although I suspect Merritt would have found a way)

Could they retroactively take away the SA medal if Oscar is later found to have an advantage? I don't know. But you're right, the way Merritt ran the last leg, it probably wouldn't have mattered.

As a side, what are the chances the CAS clears Merritt for the OG? I'd like to see Merritt and Wariner at full strength against James.

merritt at full strength would own james. wariner should move up to the 800 if he could.

I agree that Merritt would own James at full strength. And while I think Wariner's best days may be behind him, he still has the 3rd fastest time in the history of the 400. So it might be premature to say he should move up.

gomerrit wrote:

There is no way you could possibly know this. You are just making an assumption because you have a grudge against Mr. Merritt.

Everyone should just give Mr. Merritt his props and move on.

No, I have a grudge against dopers

Nobody has managed to answer why athletes who have not failed tests get stick on here whereas ones who have been caught doping is innocent

Since when has a doper ever admitted to it. No, every one comes up with some BS excuse

If he was not American I wonder if he would be getting the support. For me if he was British I would be even more against him. Mind you you've let 2 time doper Gatlin run here so maybe America is not really bothered about doping?

When it comes to doping so many athletes dope without getting caught that when one fails a test it has to be a black and white!

For the rest of you gullible muppets I've got some money resting in my account in Zimbabwe just send me your bank details and date of birth and I'll wire it over to you

go_merritt wrote:

Could they retroactively take away the SA medal if Oscar is later found to have an advantage? I don't know. But you're right, the way Merritt ran the last leg, it probably wouldn't have mattered.

As a side, what are the chances the CAS clears Merritt for the OG? I'd like to see Merritt and Wariner at full strength against James.

What chance of retrospective justice when you have Semenya racing?

The error supposedly was that Seiko timing had him at the slowest split - natural on the first leg out of blocks. Van Zyl was always coming in, so the slowest guy went out.

I think he was faster than the sieko splits showed. I watched the 400 line like everyone else and he looked low 45's.

VAn Zyl should have come in - he's world class - I am not so certain Pist should have been swapped out. He misses the podium but not the medal.

go_merritt wrote:

I agree that Merritt would own James at full strength. And while I think Wariner's best days may be behind him, he still has the 3rd fastest time in the history of the 400. So it might be premature to say he should move up.

That just demostrates in addition to being a poor judge of character how little you know about athletics. Premature! It's about 10 years too late for him to move up to the 800m

No, I just meant Wariner is one of the all time best in the event, so it is premature for people to say he should give up on it.

As far as Merritt, he made one mistake, and I believe him that it was unintentional. Obviously you do not. I give him the benefit of the doubt and he served his punishment.

Regardless, he is 100% clean now so nothing can be taken away from his heroic relay performance. Let's get back on track and congratulate the gold medal winning 4 x 4 and giving Merritt his props.

wariner cannot beat merritt and james is knocking right on their heels. it's going to be incredibly difficult for wariner to get silver next year. the way i see it

merritt

james

wariner

i don't think he would be a good 800M runner - i just made that comment sorta tongue in cheek.

Is Merritt's dick small enough for him to compete as a woman? He could really dominate against the women.

That's another reason I root for Merritt. He made himself the butt of all these jokes, so I like to see him run well as a some measure of personal redemption.

I also agree based on what I've seen out of Wariner the past few years, he probably will be trailing Merritt and James.

categorically wrote:

He ran something like 44.4-6 on the anchor. His last 100 was totally sick. He was stuck on the rail with the South African boxing him in so he slowed, got out to lane two and then totally destroyed the last 100.

Uh Ugh, American dominance gain the 4x400 relay.

go_merritt wrote:

I wasn't born yesterday. I think if Merritt wanted to dope he would take something more effective and less embarrassing than extenze. I doubt it even really helped him.

From what I saw in the relay, he is a gutsy competitor to be admired.

Why do you believe that he took extenze and that this caused the positive result? Because he and his people said so? The people doing the testing certainly did not pin the result on extenze.

go_merritt wrote:

I agree that Merritt would own James at full strength. And while I think Wariner's best days may be behind him, he still has the 3rd fastest time in the history of the 400. So it might be premature to say he should move up.

Wariner is 27 years old. Absent injury issues, he should be at his peak now.

LaShawn is America's #1 runner.

with a 1 inch dick.

AlphaBettor wrote:

LaShawn is America's #1 runner.

I agree. Before Merritt got suspended, he was clearly running superior 400m races to Wariner. Wariner hasn't been at his best since 2007 or so in my mind. But he is only 27, so there is time to improve yet.

Anyway, this is supposed to be just a simple thread congratulating him on his fine running in the 4 x 4!

'Anyway, this is supposed to be just a simple thread congratulating him on his fine running in the 4 x 4!'

Any thread is open to discussion

Congratulations on using a doper to win gold. At least Johnson sent his medal back

bobonuts wrote:

The error supposedly was that Seiko timing had him at the slowest split - natural on the first leg out of blocks. Van Zyl was always coming in, so the slowest guy went out.

I think he was faster than the [Seiko] splits showed. I watched the 400 line like everyone else and he looked low 45's.

Okay, you saw the heat and I didn't. However, if OP was anywhere besides lane 1 (maybe he was--as I say, I didn't see it), then his split would not have been at the 400 line.

[In any case, the split is taken when the baton (or the person carrying it, if it's not being passed) crosses the midpoint of the zone. I suspect bobonuts took this into account, but a lot of people don't know it...]