Have a trials race where first three across the finish line with the Olympic standard make the team. Any other way invites unfairness, corruption, croneyism, politics, etc.
you're the one who vandalized the thread by telling Amby Burfoot to "shut the f*ck up"
My bad. My emotion got the better of me. I should have said, "you're wrong. please don't post again until you can support your offensive mischaracterization of our completely fair selection process."
I'm a huge fan of the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. In fact, I may have attended more Marathon Trials than anyone else, beginning in 1968. Just one problem: The Trials are also stupid and misguided. How would you select the best U.S. marathon runners to compete in Paris?
The purpose of the marathon trials is to provide an entertaining race, which a selection committee is not.
It also happens to pick a good team. Your selection committee idea would never have selected Molly Seidel in 2020 or Galen Rupp in 2016.
Yeah, selection process and fairness questions aside, it's pretty ridiculous to propose getting rid of the most entertaning Americans only race in existence and it's only once every 4 years as it is. Let's just go ahead and pull the plug on a sport that's already on life support.
Your posts just reek of jealousy. I actually agree with you (and disagree with Amby).
In my entire life, Amby Burfoot has never come up on my radar, not even once -- until now. It's doubtful it will ever appear again. The only reason why his name in on my radar today is his unforced error, and his gratuitous attack on our completely fair selection process.
Of course he never came on your radar. He has class; you don't. He won the Boston Marathon; you...never really won anything
In my entire life, Amby Burfoot has never come up on my radar, not even once -- until now. It's doubtful it will ever appear again. The only reason why his name in on my radar today is his unforced error, and his gratuitous attack on our completely fair selection process.
Of course he never came on your radar. He has class; you don't. He won the Boston Marathon; you...never really won anything
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If anyone thinks that the proposed selection process above wouldn’t be as corrupt as everything else in this country, they are sadly mistaken (and not paying attention).
So Amby, I would posit the very reason for the existence of this message board is so that people like you can generate discussion. So the fact that you were given a heckler’s veto by a moderator and told to go away is reprehensible. I am not clear on what the answer is to the Olympic selection issue though. I do think that selecting an elite who couldn’t prove it on a certain day does snack of elitism. I do think subjectivity is lessened by having a race where the selections are made by the results in the race, and not potentially something less objective. I also would be concerned about someone not being sure of his status and trying to race too many marathons to ensure selection. But you generated discussion, and that is the point of this site, or at least that is what I thought.
So Amby, I would posit the very reason for the existence of this message board is so that people like you can generate discussion. So the fact that you were given a heckler’s veto by a moderator and told to go away is reprehensible.
So Mantz & Young were the 2 with the standard & go 1-2. Korir is an Olympian who has run 2:07. Feel like there are a ton of guys you could have argued for 3rd. Korir bested them today & makes the team.
On the women's side, maybe you could say Sisson was off or maybe Fiona O'Keeffe is the real deal. Either way they both make the team & O'Keeffee doesn't go to the Olympics with the presented criteria. Say what you want to say about Lindwurm. She wouldn't be top-3 on paper. You want to send D'Amato or Hall instead? Both great runners but both have shown that they don't always perform well in the heat.
Erasing the Trials erases an American winning a meaningful marathon. It erases sponsorship exposure at the event & afterwards. It erases local qualifiers getting stories in their hometown newspapers. Nothing I watched today makes me think the process is broken. I don't want USATF kicking Lindwurm off the team because D'Amato is a good time trialer (I like D'Amato, just using her as the example).
I love that Okeefe and Lindwurm just performed and let their legs tell this horrible opinion to go and shove it!
Under my 2+1 system, the top two would be on the team, joined by someone who has also earned a spot through performances over the previous 12 (or 18) months, based on metrics that are known to all (absolutely no room for "decision making" by people we can't trust).
I love that Okeefe and Lindwurm just performed and let their legs tell this horrible opinion to go and shove it!
The jury's still out until mid-August regarding those selected in today's races. Unless the two you reference both finish in the top 30 in Paris, Amby's thesis wasn't refuted today.