No O'Keeffe in marathon?

It comes from the top. Pascal should never be in the position he’s in

Fiona did not earn the right to go to the starting line unable to run.

I agree with this. What's unsaid here is the athlete bonuses are typically shared with coaches. That gives them a ridiculous incentive to not have the health of the athlete in mind. Still, I think USATF should be able to say, "you're not in condition to run." I mean there was a player who won the NBA Finals MVP who didn't play in the first game of basketball.

And no talk about how great of a race Dakota Lindwurm, who shares the same sponsor, ran. It just doesn't make sense on so many levels.

This makes it even worse! Jess Mcclain was in Paris ready to run! What a terrible look for O'keeffe.

I was watching the race at KM 1 in Paris and noticed O'Keeffe, who was already a full minute behind in last place. She was clearly hobbling. Here's a video:

It was disappointing to later learn that she could have given up her place to let McClain run--as Lemma did for Tola, who won yesterday. If she wanted to run on an Olympic course for only a couple of miles at an easy pace, she could have easily done so at the side like many spectators did (as seen in the video above), while cheering on her teammates.

It was unfortunate O'Keeffe was injured, but it was also a missed opportunity for McClain--who obviously would have been more competitive--and the United States.

If Fiona had given up her spot to Jess and provided a statement such as “I’m forfeiting my spot to give team USA the best chance at medaling etc etc…” it would’ve IMO given Fiona better opportunities to negotiate her contract and the optics would be more positive towards her coach, sponsor and USATF.

With that said, they need to do away with these asinine bonuses with starting the race. The sport also needs a viable league and collective bargaining agreement where salaries are paid out regardless of injury and injuries are knowledge to the public. Much like actual professional sports; the NBA, NFL, Premier League etc…

Would the sub even really have a chance at all? O'Keeffe earned the spot. Get top 3 if you want to race at the Olympics /shrug.

Does anyone know how far she actually made it before she abandoned the fiasco??

I’m guessing 1km.

She made it past 1 km (where I was standing), but dropped sometime before 5 km.

Runs fast, must be doping

Runs slow, oh he must be clean.

Not saying your point is wrong but this is the general view of most on this website. Doping isn't the be all end all. Aging, stress from kiptum, pain or just a bad day. Doping doesn't make a hobby jogger superhuman and it's not the only factor at play.

USATF or the USA 🇺🇸 government paid for her trip/gear/housing/blah blah. She’s not there in Paris wearing anything from PUMA but her cheater shoes. She represents the USA not just a shoe manufacturer.

Negative comments yes, because this issue wasn’t addressed and was handled inappropriately on many levels.

The issue is now; this just might be a career ending experience of a lifetime.

I don't respect O'Keeffe's decision but I'll hold off on criticizing her too harshly— she obviously has a lot of financial and emotional reasons to start that race. That said, injured athletes drop out and give their spots to alternates all the time. That's life.

I'm a lot more upset at the structural decisions in this sport that make this a valid move. USATF needs to work with sponsors to figure out how athletes can get a share of their OLY bonuses if they get injured between trials and the games. If USATF knew that O'Keeffe was too hurt to run, don't they have any power to pull her? Terrible situation all around.

I do not fault O'Keeffe from starting the race, but that had to be embarrassing running that slow in front of all those people even for a few miles. Hopefully she will recover soon.

She replied to an Instagram comment about how she should have dropped out "if I could time travel and know exactly how I was going to feel this morning I would have." Seems a little suspicious since she was limping from the start, no?

....

Very unfortunate as I thought she could easily been rop 10. If alternate was in Paris, I agree O'Keefe should have relinquished her spot.

Bull! No one wakes up on race morning and says, “Oh noes! I suddenly got injured while sleeping last night!”.

Especially when the alternate was flown in and ready to race. O’Keefe to take a break from social media for mental health reasons in 3…2…

Based on the Instagram post it appears she withheld info from the team and decided to run. As runners we tend to be optimistic She probably convinced herself she could figure it all out in the race and tough it out. Didn't pan out. Would not be surprised if her contract stipulated she physically had to step onto the start line to fulfill her contractual obligations(and actually get the money due).

Either way, she screwed the American fans and the alternate.

The least Fiona could do is handle this with grace, instead she’s fighting with people in the comments. By all accounts she knew exactly what was going on with her body days before the drop deadline! This all feels very dishonest.