Simpson wins 1500m - Uceny falls!

Agreed... wrote:

I'd take it further. As soon as Uceny fell, the whole field should have stopped and waited for her to get up and catch her breath before proceeding. This was poor sportsmanship indeed.

Huh? Seriously? WTF?

Webber wrote:

She ran a good race though. I think if the race were 50meters longer, she might have won. She had some good acceleration in the last 50-73 meters.

You think so? The last ten meters or so, it seemed to me the distance separating Simpson from England remained constant, suggesting they were both going at an equal rate, i.e., at capacity. Of course, it could also be Simpson stopped accelerating, and as you said, England might've caught her given a bit more distance. Hard to say.

Both ran legit, smart races. This will be very interesting for the Olympic games. I know we've grabbed a couple of bronzes in the 10,000, but have we ever medaled on the women's side in the 1500?

burritos in bed wrote:

[quote]TKTKTK wrote:

You may hate to view the world from my eyes. I respect that. In my world, though, I don't celebrate a victory like that when I know my countryman, a pre-race favorite, was taken to the ground with 550 to go. In my world consolation is not embarrassing, and it springs neither from condescension nor disningenuousness.

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I doubt you ever were in a position to celebrzte an international victory of any kind.

Go back to the convent.

Brianruns10 wrote:I know we've grabbed a couple of bronzes in the 10,000, but have we ever medaled on the women's side in the 1500?

The US has never medaled at the Olympics in the women's 1500 and hasn't had a medal in the men's 1500 since Jim Ryun in 1968. Pretty sad.

Webber wrote:

Brianruns10 wrote:

What was up with England (the runner)? The closeup on her after the race, she seemed like she thought she'd won, then looked mildly disappointed when someone told her she got second. But how could she NOT know she didn't win, given Simpsons was right in front of her?

She ran a good race though. I think if the race were 50meters longer, she might have won. She had some good acceleration in the last 50-73 meters.

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Didn't make up a yard when they were both kicking. The Brit was a good second. All she earned.

But perhaps the Brit is good at the 200 m event?

Dingler wrote:

Uceny was fit no doubt and who knows what would have happened, but in tactically slow races, knowing what position to be in to avoid a fall is a major part of the race. Uceny got boxed in and had nowhere to go when the woman in front of her fell. Barringer ran on the outside for most of the race and was in perfect position coming off the final bend.

I am happy for Simpson. She ran a good race and definitely deserved to win.

But those who said Uceny ran a bad race must be blind. She ran outside for an extended period of time. Simpson was actually boxed in more so in early part of the race. Uceny was going to almost lane 3 during the 3rd lap to reposition herself.

It is pure bad luck, when the accident happened, she was right behind the gal who fell and so she was wiped out.

No doubt if she was not tripped, she would have a chance to outkick Simpson.

Just watched the race...and I cried at the end. I couldn't believe it. Yea, a 24-year-old man just cried watching Jenny Simpson win the gold.

Yeah, pretty much sums it up but also about what someone said about the women's 1500m medals. No American Woman has ever won in the finals, however Mary Decker could've had a chance had she been competing in that and not the 3k (which she DNFed in) and obviously now we've got our team for 2012: Simpson, Uceny, and Rowbury. Did anyone even see Rowbury in the finals? Maybe something happened in the semis, i didn't watch it. If Kenya or ethopia boycott the 2012 olympic games or something then we've got long distance in the bag:

1500m - Uceny, Simpson, Rowbury

5000m - Fleshman, Huddle, ?Flanagan?, ?Hastings?, Rhines

10000m - Rhines, Begley, Koll, ?Flanagan?, ?Hastings?

Marathon - Davila, Goucher, Kastor, ?Flanagan?, ?Hastings?

Reason why I put question marks around Flanagan and Hastings is because they have a good chance in all, and they never made it clear what event(s) they were going to do. Obviously Goucher and Davila are sticking with the marathon, while Fleshman and Huddle say the 5k is their favorite. Rhines could do both 5 and 10k, while begley and koll have a chance in the 10k. Of course we are not running sub 30 for 10k or sub 2:20 for the marathon, but we can still be competetive in 2012 if we stay healthy and keep training. GO USA! GO BARRINGER SIMPSON!

Mr. 11:53 3k runner wrote:

Did anyone even see Rowbury in the finals? Maybe something happened in the semis, i didn't watch it.

Rowbury didn't make the final. She's getting over injury and apparently didn't have the fitness she's had in the past.

I think it's good to mention Rowbury in this thread though, because her bronze in Berlin first showed the level the current group of American women are at in the 1500.

Webber wrote:

Brianruns10 wrote:

What was up with England (the runner)? The closeup on her after the race, she seemed like she thought she'd won, then looked mildly disappointed when someone told her she got second. But how could she NOT know she didn't win, given Simpsons was right in front of her?

She ran a good race though. I think if the race were 50meters longer, she might have won. She had some good acceleration in the last 50-73 meters.

Nah. It didn't seem like she was gaining on JB at the end. I will say England ran an odd tactical last lap, though, with the move she made 150 to 50 to go it seemed like she could have made that move earlier, got to the front and held on.

What he said. 1000%!!!!!

odelltrclan wrote:

Simpson just won the world title. You expect her not to celebrate? Are you kidding? The highlight of a very good career to date. It is too bad for Uceny. She likely wins that race if she does not go down, but she did and that is that. Let Simpson celebrate. She won and should not be expected to mope around because of someone else's misfortune. If it were the other way around I would have expected Uceny to celebrate to her heart's content. That is life in track!

Simpson didn't run a very good tactical race, unless her "tactics" were to be everywhere and nowhere throughout the early stages, and then have to make up ground hard in the last 200. That said, she was plenty strong enough to pull it off. That's what I noticed in the semis: she looked stronger than anyone else, able to hit another gear entirely.

2020 hindsight says that her injury and recovery allowed her to peak precisely at the right time. Kudos to Henner-Benson for setting Jenny up right.

Brianruns10 wrote:

What was up with England (the runner)? The closeup on her after the race, she seemed like she thought she'd won, then looked mildly disappointed when someone told her she got second. But how could she NOT know she didn't win, given Simpsons was right in front of her?

WTF are you blathering on about? She was delighted with second place. It's her first ever major championship.

Uceny is too smart to have said something, but I recall seeing both Uceny and Anna Willard, both in great shape, and having both run sub 2:00 800 meter, perhaps in 2009, and were both dropped by Africans who just happened to cut them off. These races are are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the winners, which, for some of the African runners, provides support for extended families, husbands, and even whole villages. Both Uceny and Willard can kick with the Africans. You don't see a second tier African runner sacrificing her race to take out a second tier American.

It isn't patty cake, and the Americans need to work as a team to protect their stars. I recall watching Ejegu (who has the most amazingly relaxed look as she runs near Defar) cover Defar's back in races. Watch the Qatar 3000 meters from 2010. Every move Defar makes, Ejigu (sp?) moves just to Defar's outside shoulder. I'm a great fan of both Defar and Ejigu, and the Kenyans, but if our runners feel its worth putting in the years of pain, training, forsaking many normal family activities, they need more than conditioning or speed. They need to plan. Middle distance running is now a team sport, like cycling. It didn't used to be. Sure Uceny and Simpson are competitors, but they need to learn to block. If they don't get to the last 200 meters they won't have the chance to kick. Good to see Simpson's kick is back, but Uceny was looking unbeatable, which is probably what the Africans thought too! If you can't beat someone, sacrifice a pawn, or even a rook or castle to eliminate the queen.