Unfortunately, Robby Andrews is going to get DQd from men's 1500 semi (Update, he's been DQd)

I saw this happening several times in the trials and OGs in both men's and women's mid-d and distance races: people getting boxed in during the last 100 (often through their own poor decision making), and then panic sets in as the finish line approaces.

Sorry but at that point you don't get to cut across people to get outside, or run up on their backs or in the case of Robby force your way through an opening 1/2 person wide. You're screwed but mostly due to your own negligence. The smart guys are starting to position themselves 200 out and in lanes 2 or 3 coming down the stretch to give themselves room to maneuver. At the speeds these guys are closing in during a tight race, nothing good is going to come from thinking you can move up in lane 1.

Men’s 1,500m semi-final

Robby Andrews

“I stayed in when I should have went out and I qualified out. I asked if there was a flag and they said that there wasn’t. I got a little cut up, and I need to get cleaned up. But I’m feeling good.”

On being bumped off the course of the track...

“I would have tripped him if I tried to go outside, and I just stayed inside and he bumped me off of the track. I don’t think it will be any issue.”

On his condition during the race...

“I felt good, I should have stayed outside with 200 to go. I was running wide the whole race, and it’s a stupid mistake. But I felt great and I closed well.”

bullstrike wrote:

You Americans are being extremely biased. Andrews always sprints at the end...and he was in a bad position. He FORCED himself through a tight spot impeding a bit with the other runner. It was his own fault for stepping out.

I like Andrews and know he is good enough to be in the final...but good lord...this appeal crap is crazy this year. He broke the rules...he should be out.

I'm American and completely agree with you. It's unfortunate he was DQ'd but, ultimately, it was his own fault. He didn't run a smart race. That was evident well before he stepped out.

I wouldn't want you on my team......

No way NW beats Centro.

hart crane wrote:

Finals:

1-Asbel

2-Makh

3-Willis

*stipe wrote:

Watched the race live. Watched it again a couple times.

He tried to pass on the inside where he did not have room.

Clear DQ. No valid appeal. This isn't a "spirit of the rule" or "it didn't provide an advantage" situation. He clearly didn't have room and stepped inside. DQ.

Andrews could be a medal threat if he improves his positioning.

Yep that's how I saw it, without my red, white and blue tinted glasses.

He tried to barge through the inside when there was insufficient room (hence the need to barge). He should have gone wider.

I wanted to see him in as well, but I think it was not only a case of him going off the track but then jumping back in to the middle of the lane and impeding the Ethiopian runner. If you watch beyond that initial bump, the Ethiopian is basically forced to almost stop and is out of the race at that point

I think with the combination there was no way they were going to let him back in - unfortunate yes but by his own admission he put himself in a bad position and it didnt work out

At around 220-230m to go, Robby had a break to his outside, looked, but PHILIBERT-THIBOUTOT quickly comes by, trapping Robby through the curve till 90m to go.

3:39 kickers race is a Robby Andrews setup. If he'd been outside at 200m, he'd be pushing Centro, Souleiman, and Kemoi in the last 50m.

2020 baby! Murphy, Centro and Andrews out for blood!

Intergalactic wrote:

I was really excited to see Robby in the final, but I am confident his best days are ahead. With a little more confidence and the tactical shifts that will bring, his kick will bring home some big hardware.

Yeah, his best days are ahead, but the confidence thing is clearly a double-edged sword. TOO MUCH confidence was the problem yesterday.

Robby's been feeling so good this season --after a number of races in which he continued to set himself up way to the rear, and didn't even bother to move up till at or after the bell, and *still* managed to find his way to the front without much trouble-- he's obviously gotten it in his head that he's now so strong he can consistently get away with that kind of racing.

He's wrong.

What he *should've* been thinking is, Yeah, I've gotten away with it up to this point, but this is the freaking Olympic Semi-final, and I haven't raced a field nearly this strong all year, and I NEED to make sure I'm closer to the front before the bell this time.

It looked to me like there was absolutely nothing preventing him from settling in, say, 5th, initially, where there was a beautiful hole for him, rather than 7th behind O'Hare, as he elects.

At 400, Kwemoi realizes it's not a great idea to sit so far behind the leaders in this race, and moves up 5 places. Robby sits there. Now he's 8th.

At 500-700, it slows and bunches up alarmingly. Centro adjust his position to stay out of trouble and keep clear. Robby sits there, while Souleiman and Gregson get nervous and move up.

Now we're at 850, the race is getting ready to explode, and Robby's got NINE guys ahead of him, spread 3 wide, and a lot of them can close pretty damn well themselves. (And now I'm starting to scream at the TV set, since I can see Robby setting himself up for big trouble.)

600 to go, and Gebre swings by Robby. He's about to be left behind the entire field, and leave himself a dozen guys to weave through.

Now, he panics a little and jumps out in front of Gebre, but immediately runs into the wall of 3 guys in front of him, and has to back off.

Now we're at the bell, and Robby's basically DFL, with a tight pack of 10 or 11 really good runners to navigate as they head into the turn. He's in deep doo-doo.

(The head-on shot shows a look of real panic on Robby's face as he realizes he's in serious trouble.)

He'd basically have to swing to freaking Lane 4 to go around anybody, so he waits.

300 to go, he finally gets a little room to move, sees a space to the inside of Thiboutot, and surges into it, but that promptly leads him right into another 3-wide wall. Nowhere to go, again, and Thiboutot re-passes him as he sits there, helpless.

Now, they come off the curve to the home stretch, and Robby swings tight to the inside --because he's got nowhere else to go-- but that puts him right up the back of Gebre --who's done a helluva lot better job of positioning himself than Robby-- and lets Gregson re-pass him too.

EIGHTH place now, 100 to go. Robby's FULL of run, as guys around him are tying up. If he's got room to get outside, he'll comfortably cruise to an easy 4th place.

If he waits another couple seconds, he'll *probably* find room to squeeze outside of Gebre, as O'Hare fades and a little space opens up.

Instead, he panics (understandably, at this point), and makes a desperate move to surge inside of Gebre, where there really isn't any room.

It's a valiant attempt, but he isn't quite skinny enough and slick enough to make it work. (Nick Willis *might* have gotten away with it.)

Robby looked SO strong in the stretch that you can't help but think he might've been a factor in the final. (No, I don't think he would've medaled, but he definitely might've been in the mix, and gained a whole lot of international respect.)

He's had a great season, but he really blew a gigantic opportunity here.

One or two tiny common-sense adjustments is all it would've taken, and he had SO MANY chances to make them.

A tough pill to swallow.

Robby needs to go get himself in some fast races in Europe now, and show everybody 1) just how fit he is, and 2) that he's capable of closing hard off a

serious pace, not just a jog-fest, and beating some studs in the process.

(I don't think he'll be able to do that if he spots them 15 meters and 10 guys to weave around at the bell.)

Let's see it, Robby. Go to Europe, and show us a 3:32 (which I think he's probably capable of right now).

Then come back next year with even more confidence, more respect, more experience, and --FINALLY-- the understanding that against top competition, you DO need to be a little more conscientious and smart about mid-race positioning.

Then the Big Boys will take you seriously next year for the first time.

I'd love to see that.

I agree with others. He had stupid tactics that race, and then made a stupid move when he didn't have space down the backstretch. Watching the head on video I can't even tell that the other runner really touched him. His feet stay in the same straight line in the middle of the lane, so he didn't even move over. There just wasn't space to pass on the inside.

Andrews will definitely need to learn some other tactics than sit and the back and try to kick the last lap to be more competitive at the international level.

Whether it was a wise tactic or not, the fact is he passed the Ethiopian on the inside, before being fouled by the Ethiopian. The tactic actually succeeded.

The real problem is the roulette-style appeals process where a runner like Bustos takes seven steps on the infield and gets advanced to the final despite placing dead effin' last. There's no rhyme or reason to the appeals process, which in this Olympics has looked more like World Wrestling Federation rules than any kind of consistent rules-based adjudication process.

I am surprised that there is not more blowback from supposedly knowledgeable observers, because Andrews has been royally screwed in this instance. Really kills interest when sport becomes some politically-based spectacle, and you have undeserving runners being placed into Finals, and deserving runners who succeeded being disqualified by some kind of hocus-pocus whose-cock-got-sucked rules interpretation.

I'm just imagining this thread if Robbie Andrews finished 6th and it was the Ugandan (or anyone else) making the pass and stepping inside the track.

Hilarious stuff. It was a fairly clear cut DQ.

I think it is also something to consider, would his appeal have been approved and he be in the final had other issues not occurred for the US team earlier int he day and days in advance. The USA women's 4x100 team just ran a solo race to make the final (which was the right move), could the officials have been worried if they pushed another american into a final that they would be accused of favoring the americans. Would this have been as much of a debate had Robby been Kenyan...would the girls 4x100 team have gotten to re-run the race had they been China...

I'd hope the answer is yes but, I can see how people from other nations may start to believe there is a bais when it just seems like Americans keep getting extra chances.

Adam ksczot did a similar thing in the 800m final in 2015, why he wasn't also disqualified boggles me.

I think he would be the first to admit he should have had better positioning. He took a risk at the end and it did not work out. It's unfortunate but he can learn from it. I hope he can contend in some big races soon.

Tough break for Robby Andrews but I love his attitude.

Looking forward to seeing improvement in the future.

I love that the US keeps churning out good 1500m runners.

Next, Clayton Murphy will run 3:28 in a couple of years.

Excellent post and great analysis of his race. Let me clarify that the reason why I mentioned confidence was because of something Andrews said in an interview after the trials. He said something to the effect, commenting on his tactics of racing from the rear, that he was hoping to have more confidence in the future in his ability to hang with the leaders. I remember him implying that his strategy of hanging way in the back and out kicking everyone was due to his reluctance to get out of his comfort zone and race closer to the front, opting instead to stay comfortable in the back and hope and pray that his kick will be enough to win/place well in the last 250.

Perhaps I misinterpreted him or read too much into what he was saying, but that was definitely something I took away from his comments in a post-trials interview.

That said, I totally agree with what you're saying about his tactics and whether it's too much confidence or a lack thereof, I think he will do big things if he can find a middle ground and not leave soooo much work for the end.

Reminds me of me when I ran XC. I never liked going out hard, and there were several races where I started off so slow that I never even got myself in the race. At the state meet, I made a commitment to go out harder, and while I still didn't go out with the leaders, I went out with a chase pack for the first mile (instead of being buried by a bunch of runners way below my level as I had done several times that season) and taking it out just a little harder allowed me to regain contact with the leaders and I had my best race of the season. Andrews doesn't need to become Rudisha circa 2012, but if he can find a middle ground and stay closer to the front on a more regular basis, I think he will take it to the next level.

It's ridiculous how people keep referring to his 'dumb tactic', when the tactic is the one thing that functioned properly.

The risk worked out. The appeals process failed him, as well as failing the finals of the men's 1500m, because that race should have the best runners in the field, not some bedraggled ass runner with a sad story.

Vurleen Manlei wrote:

Whether it was a wise tactic or not, the fact is he passed the Ethiopian on the inside, before being fouled by the Ethiopian. The tactic actually succeeded.

I'm not convinced he was fouled. He made a dumb choice to try to make it through a gap that was too small. The Ethiopian didn't move closer to the rail, and I didn't see a shove in that video.