Sydney McLaughlin to double in DL Final - an event she's not eligible for - Update: DL will not let her run

High hopes wrote:

Sorry, you can't want the DL to be meaningful and then just let someone into the final who hasn't competed in it all year. Any other meet I'd be fine with it, but the DL final is currently the closest thing we have to a regular season championship. They've already pushed the eligibility rules to the edge of what is acceptable with this global wild card thing, and it's a bare minimum requirement - compete in a single meet during the year. And tbh, SML simply isn't worth tearing up the rule book for. She's a big name but she's still only a hurdler, it's not like she's the top dog in the 100m or has the force of personality of someone like Bolt. It would be good to see her compete, but she isn't going to carry this sport, at least not outside of the US.

Famous within the sport wrote:

High hopes wrote:

Sorry, you can't want the DL to be meaningful and then just let someone into the final who hasn't competed in it all year. Any other meet I'd be fine with it, but the DL final is currently the closest thing we have to a regular season championship. They've already pushed the eligibility rules to the edge of what is acceptable with this global wild card thing, and it's a bare minimum requirement - compete in a single meet during the year. And tbh, SML simply isn't worth tearing up the rule book for. She's a big name but she's still only a hurdler, it's not like she's the top dog in the 100m or has the force of personality of someone like Bolt. It would be good to see her compete, but she isn't going to carry this sport, at least not outside of the US.

No one is going to carry the sport alone unless you're Bolt

Sydney is the closest thing to box office we have in the sport

The fact she's been able to turn the 400h into a must see/marquee event is proof of this

Any time she competes you expect to see something special

xcfan2233 wrote:

Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:

I get what you are saying but the difference is pretty clear.

With Jakob, Mu etc last year you were adding a stipulation allowing someone to compete. It went from blank paper to "so and so can run if..."

In this case you actually have a rule that would have clearly needed to be circumvented. To double down on it, she runs in a laned event which means someone who technically had qualified under the rules would be excluded. In the 800m and up an extra body doesn't exclude anyone who rightfully qualified.

It think what this boils down to, is that this is a very bizarre situation right? To think that you have one of your sports biggest stars that has not competed in one of your sports premier series of events for an entire season (with no real justification other than choice) is unprecedented. I have been in and following track for a long time now and never seen this before - the thought that a Greta Szabo, or an El G, or Marie-Jose Perec would not run a single top meet on the circuit was absurd. They needed to for their livelihoods.

In a way you can't blame the OC for not having the foresight to predict this scenario and hence having some sort of rule in place that adds legitimacy to their "series".

Good point re the DL and Flotrack though - I'll make sure to pour one out next Saturday.

I don't think the difference is clear at all. Neither Jakob or Mu were eligible to compete last year so they went and added a made up Global Wild Card to allow them in. They could have easily done the same thing this year and said some BS like Olympic Champions are eligible for Global wild cards, its really no different than the stipulations they invented last year.

But Im guessing this all came together last minute and now its too late to change it. And good point on the laned event, somebody getting bumped was probably not happy about this arrangement

High hopes wrote:

Sorry, you can't want the DL to be meaningful and then just let someone into the final who hasn't competed in it all year. Any other meet I'd be fine with it, but the DL final is currently the closest thing we have to a regular season championship. They've already pushed the eligibility rules to the edge of what is acceptable with this global wild card thing, and it's a bare minimum requirement - compete in a single meet during the year. And tbh, SML simply isn't worth tearing up the rule book for. She's a big name but she's still only a hurdler, it's not like she's the top dog in the 100m or has the force of personality of someone like Bolt. It would be good to see her compete, but she isn't going to carry this sport, at least not outside of the US.

minuteman74 wrote:

The individual sports that make their people filthy rich - which is basically Tennis and gold -have between 1 and five disciplines, within which there are about 140 serious pro players- not 30-40 odd events with potential casts of thousands. Boxing has more, but very few boxers, relatively, are rich. And even then, every tennis and gold event lasts days - 4 for golf, minimum 7 for tennis.

The other thing - the filthy rich golfers and tennis pros turn up most every week on the circuit, maybe every second week if they can afford it - they certainly get to hide for months at a time.

Outside her simp base n the US, Sydney isn't a star, she's a niche curiosity. mondo's a star despite his niche event- because he turns up. Jakub is a star - because he turns up. The only 'pros' who resolutely don't turn up are Syd and Mu.

Kersee's crew.

Wonder why.

euro barge wrote:

minuteman74 wrote:

The individual sports that make their people filthy rich - which is basically Tennis and gold -have between 1 and five disciplines, within which there are about 140 serious pro players- not 30-40 odd events with potential casts of thousands. Boxing has more, but very few boxers, relatively, are rich. And even then, every tennis and gold event lasts days - 4 for golf, minimum 7 for tennis.

The other thing - the filthy rich golfers and tennis pros turn up most every week on the circuit, maybe every second week if they can afford it - they certainly get to hide for months at a time.

Outside her simp base n the US, Sydney isn't a star, she's a niche curiosity. mondo's a star despite his niche event- because he turns up. Jakub is a star - because he turns up. The only 'pros' who resolutely don't turn up are Syd and Mu.

Kersee's crew.

Wonder why.

I'd go as far as to say SML is pretty widely despised among at least a large section of European fans. I'm sure part of that is jealousy but there are also her shady connections and her Virenesque ways of showing up at the minimum number of meets and claiming all the laurels. She is widely viewed as an "obvious doper" over there.