Do you consider Fiona O'Keeffe an Olympian?

Nuguse was not an Olympian before Paris. She is an olympian because she participated, not because she made the team. Had she withdrawn, not an Olympian.

Was Sydney Maree a 1 time or 2 time Olympian?

Yeah, you have to actually TAKE PART in the Olympics to be considered an Olympian.

Otherwise, you're just an Olympic qualifier, not an Olympian. Nuguse qualified for 2 Olympic Games and became an Olympian in Paris.

I'd probably agree with this... if she didn't run, she could say, "Olympic qualifier" or, "member of the 2024 US Olympic Team," but not, "Olympian."

She legitimately qualified for the team, so she's earned the right to make her choice. She should be under no obligation to hand it off to the alternate if she doesn't want to. It might be different if there were team scores involved.

And we under no obligation to respect her decision, seeing it as poor character.

Not good for sponsorship.

The main point of having an alternate is in case one of the 3 on the team gets injured at some point between the Trials in February and the Olympics in August. If Fiona O'Keeffe got injured in April and was clearly unable to run, that's where the alternate comes in. When somebody gets injured in the final days before the race, and it's not even immediately clear how serious the injury is, that's a really tough spot.

I listened to Des and Kara’s podcast from a couple days ago. I found two comments interesting:

—Kara said NBC told her not to call Yared Nuguse a two-time Olympian. He would be an Olympian for the first time once he started the first round in Paris.

—Des said the real value for O’Keefe in going through with the race is major marathon appearance fees. She said the press releases for those races always tout “12 Olympians” or whatever, and starting the race enables Fiona to extract greater appearance fees to make up for her likely paltry net income over the last year or two.

She won the marathon trials and qualified. That’s what made her an Olympian. Anyone being an arm chair critic who can’t beat Fiona Keefe in a race should drop dead

That’s one reason, but that’s not necessarily the only reason. She obviously did it for pride and the experience as well.

Out of dozens of runners who are making their living as a professional and sacrificing everything to make that marathon field, only three make the Olympics. Only three can claim to be positive, happy endings to their 2024 Olympic seasons. Why you have to s-it on one of them, I have no idea

You’d be considered a marathoner if you competed marathons, and you’d especially be considered a marathoner if, on the most important day on the racing calendar, you ran faster than everyone in the entire nation.

furthermore, you would ordinarily get the admiration of the public for making a prudent decision to step off when you have an injury, but the ppl here are awful

That’s true. In addition to the higher appearance fees, which Des said is the main thing, Des and Kara listed other factors justifying O’Keeffe starting the race, including:

—contract bonuses that raise the value of future year contracts

—the opportunity cost of missing out on a six-figure paycheck for a debut marathon (which apparently is more than for subsequent marathons)

—getting the experience of an Olympics under her belt to be ready for the next one

—being selfish. Des owned up to this one—she said elite running is a selfish, individualistic sport, and that it’s ok to look out for #1, because you have to.

Another tidbit is that O’Keeffe didn’t call McClain out to Paris—USATF did.

I made only one post in this thread essentially defending Ms. O’Keefe. However, what is a debut marathon? Has not Ms. O’Keefe already debuted with her Trials win? Or does this word have various meanings here?

She's an Olympian but so is RayGun. So is just BEING an Olympian all that much to brag about anyway?

RayGun scored a 0 for her dance routine. O'Keeffe scored a DNF. Who competed more? We here at DAG think you have to give the edge to RayGun but we could see it either way

RayGun by a landslide, because she looked relaxed.

I think the argument is that after her 1:07 debut in the half marathon (the fastest ever by an American woman), there would have been a lot of interest from race organizers in getting her to debut at the marathon distance in their race. So she could have gotten a six-figure appearance fee plus whatever prize money she would gave earned with a good result. Instead, she chose to debut at the Olympic Trials, where she did win $80K for first place, but that amount was not guaranteed, was not announced until the week before the race, and was still significantly less than she would have gotten by debuting at another marathon. The opportunity cost of debuting at the Trials may have been $50-100K, and starting the Olympic race allows her to be called an Olympian, which enables her to recoup that foregone income in appearance fees in future marathons.

Yes. She made the team (she wasn't chosen, like say, Kipchoge and she started the race. Injuries happen in this sport and often at the very wrong time.

I don't think she would have gotten a six figure appearance fee for a debut marathon off 1:07. Until she's actually gotten a decent marathon under her belt, she's not in that realm.

Fact nr. 1 - She's an Olympian
Fact nr. 2 - Facts don't care about your feelings

any questions?