deena needed help

Americans should help Americans more often.

On the scene wrote:

The only words that Clint shared with Deena was whether or not a MALE was getting close so that she would be more careful of not getting clipped.

Yeah, right. I'm sure that's what Clint was telling Deena after he looked back at Dita with a mile to go: "Deena, there are no MALES within 150 meters of you, so don't worry about getting your heels clipped by MALES."

If you're going to pretend that you have inside information about what happened, try to make your story plausible.

Ethics aside, Clint's presence in front of and next to Deena over the last several miles seriously detracted from a good race, and may very well have affected the result.

If, as you say, his only job was to make sure that MALE runners (those clumsy fellows) didn't clip Deena's heels, then Clint injected himself into the race in an entirely inappropriate manner.

Man the Hanson's rock. Not just one. All of them. They hung in there with Deena. Way to go USA !

http://trackandfieldphoto.com/DisplayJpg.php?051009_1443_0280_RLM&next=1&PHPSESSID=8f12dde56b593d677b7b8100b10d1932

Team America: World Referee wrote:

[quote]BIG BOX wrote:

Just imagine if Korir had jogged a 2:21 beside a Kenyan woman (let's just pretend Ndereba), looking back and giving information on other competitors' whereabouts, and towing her to a *five second* victory over Kastor. Do you think that anyone here would defend them? NO. In act, there would be a massive b****fest demanding that Kastor be awarded the win, and we ALL know that.

Remember n Athens when Gezahegne Abera ran for about 30 seconds with an Ethiopian flag beside the course, cheering for Elfenesh Alemu? I do. Some of the same names supporting today's farce were calling for Alemu's disqualification back then. How soon they forget.

He did a lot more than that he went on the course and ran behind Alemu and helped her to pass Paula, he was not a valid entrant in the race and therefore it was a contravention of IAAF rules.

Wow, she's fit.

http://trackandfieldphoto.com/DisplayPreviousJpg.php?051009_1411_3915_RLM&PHPSESSID=8f12dde56b593d677b7b8100b10d1932

Look at those arms. Crazy.

I'm converted! I think all this men-pacing women is fine. Hell, I'm going to pace my 11y old in the school district cross country race next weekend.

oldguy wrote:

On the scene wrote:

The only words that Clint shared with Deena was whether or not a MALE was getting close so that she would be more careful of not getting clipped.

Yeah, right. I'm sure that's what Clint was telling Deena after he looked back at Dita with a mile to go: "Deena, there are no MALES within 150 meters of you, so don't worry about getting your heels clipped by MALES."

This is your typical jack ass. He has no idea what happened but yet he has a strong opinion on the situation. Dita had no complaints. We know this for a fact. Do you think that maybe she would have been a little upset? Oh that's right, that wouldn't fit into your huge conspiracy theory.

i don't like it either when i write something stupid and someone points out how stupid it was.

on the fence wrote:

I still would like to see footage...

Then look at it..

Does anyone know of Clint's & Deena's exact hometowns? I'm calling the police to have them arrested and need the info. Seriously.

Not to comment on whether Verran's help was unsportsmanlke or not, here's another story, told by a friend of mine who ran the Berlin Marathon with the group of the woman who finished second (a Kenyan), all through the race.

Apparently, a male Kenyan runner was "coaching" her all the way through, hollering and shouting at her, pacing intervals (getting her to pick up the pace for a while), etc. Finally, when another male runner seemed to be in her way for a few steps, the dude grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him down to the floor. Ouch. Now there's some support for you.

Another fellow ran beside the group of Tegla Laroupe in the year when she broke the world record. He says she was surrounded by bodyguards who would elbow and chase away male runner who would approach the group.

These guys take their missions to "make sure" the woman they're escorting makes it to the finish line successfully, pretty seriously, often times too seriously.

Looks like, at one point, clint let deena know that constantina was gaining...although, as others have said, some random fan could tell her the same thing. With how bad she was hurting, I don't know whether she would have had the presence of mind to keep checking behind her...constantina may have been able to bridge the gap if deena hadn't been running scared after clint APPEARED to have told her about constantina...

but overall it looks like nothing much happened...

I haven't read the entire thread, so pardon me if this has already been posted. I don't understand how some are saying that no rule was broken. It's my understanding that the LaSalle Banks Chicago Marathon is a USATF sanctioned event and all USATF Rules apply. From the 2005 USATF Rules of Competition:

------------

Rule 144

2. During the progress of an event a competitior who has received any assistance whatsoever from any other person may be disqualified by the Referee. "Assistance" is the conveying of advice, information or direct help to an athlete by any means, including technical device. It does not mean participation of an officially designated pacesetter in the race.

------------

So, pacesetting isn't a problem. Seems that Clint went beyond setting the pace by "the conveying of advice, information or direct help".

I love Deena. But people do crazy stuff in the last few miles. Dita should protest, if she hasn't already.

You can download the USATF Rules here:

There is one fact that seems to commonly be left out, Dita had the exact same information and assistance as Deena. In the last three miles of the race after there was a gap built up, Deena had Clint alongside and Dita and Landers. Neither escort broke the wind for either runner during that stretch from what could be seen on tape or from what those on-site have said. It appears that in the area of 1-mile to go the support for both was reduced. Clint stepped 1-2 steps behind Deena, and Landers bridged the gap and caught Deena, passing her and beating her to the line. This could have been an aid to Dita actually because she could have used the acceleration of Landers to catch Deena knowing he had the strength and speed to catch her. During the last mile, Clint was also yelling in support of Landers, most of his looking around was to find his teammate who did his job for 25+ miles and then ran for a PR since it was there.

Neither had an advantage and Dita could have gained the bigger advantage in reality. She could have jumped on Landers' push over the last mile, had him break the wind for her, and caught Deena for the win.

I think one thing that must be remembered is that Dita has not stated any issues with any of this. The game was played fair on both sides. Although we may not all support the idea of escorts, pacers, and the like, on this day the race was run mixed, with escorts, and all were given equal support and treatment.

I thought the announcers said at one point late in the race that while deena had clint, dita was all alone...

adsfjdfd wrote:

Wow, she's fit.

http://trackandfieldphoto.com/DisplayPreviousJpg.php?051009_1411_3915_RLM&PHPSESSID=8f12dde56b593d677b7b8100b10d1932

Look at those arms. Crazy.

Who cares about Deena, that guy's HOT!

mmmmmm....

Um, yeah, that would be the other picture with the guy in it, you know, not the one with just Deena.

Deena actually looks a little like David Spade.

The last mile Dita was alone but should not have been before that. Chad was with her through 20, and then she was with Deena for a bit, and had Landers when she fell off Deena (similar to when Wejo and Hansons were involved in the Paula record). I am not sure exactly when that comment was made during the race but do somewhat remember what you are saying and thinking to myself that he was there with her, or at least was supposed to be. I think one issue was that you could not see her and Landers in the coverage very well, and for a time you could not see them at all. Once they broke to the overhead shots in the last mile you could see Clint just behind Deena and James along the fence moving from Dita up past Deena. One thing I think would have been interesting was if it was not close at the 20 mile mark. If Dita had been a few minutes back at 20 miles, Chad would have pulled off and no one would have come to get her even if she was closing at that time.

The more I think about it, I really like the marathons that have the women start 20-30 minutes ahead of the men and take all this out of the equation.