Lake Biwa, Dubai prove the Olympic marathon is pointless

They are irrelevant so far wrote:

Japan has had a bunch of crazy fast races in recent years, putting huge numbers of people under 2:10 for marathon and under 62 for half marathon. But they are irrelevant at world marathon majors, world championships, and olympics. Why is this? The U.S. has had multiple top 10 world marathon major performers the past several years. Japan doesn't seem to have many more considering the massive depth they seem to have.

Ummm, the "world" marathon "majors" are a U.S. run organizations that favors U.S. based races. That is why half of the "majors" are U.S. races, which, of course, U.S. runners focus on, while non-U.S. runners focus on more competitive and lucrative marathon events.

steve. the. addict... wrote:

No one cares or remembers who won lake biwa or Dubai marathon. Olympic Champs are remembered forever as legends.

Who won the marathon at the 2012 Olympic?

Ok, I know it's Kipsang, but my point is that no one cares about who wins the Olympic marathon either aside from some hardcore runners here, or the winner is as high-profile as Kipchoge,

major pains wrote:

They are irrelevant so far wrote:

Japan has had a bunch of crazy fast races in recent years, putting huge numbers of people under 2:10 for marathon and under 62 for half marathon. But they are irrelevant at world marathon majors, world championships, and olympics. Why is this? The U.S. has had multiple top 10 world marathon major performers the past several years. Japan doesn't seem to have many more considering the massive depth they seem to have.

Ummm, the "world" marathon "majors" are a U.S. run organizations that favors U.S. based races. That is why half of the "majors" are U.S. races, which, of course, U.S. runners focus on, while non-U.S. runners focus on more competitive and lucrative marathon events.

Not to mention that Osako beat Rupp to his Bronze in Chicago with a 2:05 and Kawauchi even won the Boston marathon.

fhfchhhg wrote:

How much does an Olympic medal mean when the best athletes aren't there.

Unless you are really obsessive about track lists and statistics, I'll bet you don't know who had the fastest 1500 times in 1984 without looking. But you probably do know that Peter Rono won the gold medal at the Olympics that years.

HRE wrote:

fhfchhhg wrote:

How much does an Olympic medal mean when the best athletes aren't there.

Unless you are really obsessive about track lists and statistics, I'll bet you don't know who had the fastest 1500 times in 1984 without looking. But you probably do know that Peter Rono won the gold medal at the Olympics that years.

I take your point HRE but of course it was 1988.

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

There's a good chance the world's best marathon runner competes in the Olympic marathon, but it's pretty crazy that Japan has a small town running faster than nearly every American ever has.

Limiting countries to three competitors is a joke. The Olympic Marathon should use a time-based qualifier. A time based on the fastest time run in the world during the previous 12 months. Countries that don't have enough qualifiers give their spots to faster runners elsewhere.

Olympics are a competition between nations, not just individuals. Until Wanjiru in Beijing in 2008, how often did any Kenyan medal in the Olympic marathon? Not very often. Why? I'm not sure it was because Kenya was limited to only 3 runners. I think it was more financial incentive to earn money on the roads rather than Olympic glory. Maybe I'm wrong.

George213 wrote:

steve. the. addict... wrote:

No one cares or remembers who won lake biwa or Dubai marathon. Olympic Champs are remembered forever as legends.

Who won the marathon at the 2012 Olympic?

Ok, I know it's Kipsang, but my point is that no one cares about who wins the Olympic marathon either aside from some hardcore runners here, or the winner is as high-profile as Kipchoge,

Stephen Kiprotich won the Gold. Kipsang led most of the race before getting the Bronze.

George213 wrote:

major pains wrote:

Ummm, the "world" marathon "majors" are a U.S. run organizations that favors U.S. based races. That is why half of the "majors" are U.S. races, which, of course, U.S. runners focus on, while non-U.S. runners focus on more competitive and lucrative marathon events.

Not to mention that Osako beat Rupp to his Bronze in Chicago with a 2:05 and Kawauchi even won the Boston marathon.

Americans rarely win the American "Major" Marathons. But finishing in the top 10 over the last few years in those races was the rah-rah banner that the poster "They are irrelevant so far" waved.

Well, it started off as a good point. Thanks.

If you want to make the Olympic marathon more relevant ban the East Africans.

oldmanbythesea wrote:

A Japanese male marathoner will be on the podium in Sapporo.

I would take that bet. Don't see it happening, even in front of the home crowd (or no crowd actually).

it would be more likely about 80 japanese,and 30 kenyans.There are more good japanese marathoners than kenyans,and japan has more depth.

The Olympic marathon is truly the only event (well, maybe the racewalk road races, too) that can accommodate as many athletes as it wants. If the field is 400-500, where the top 100 are based on qualifying times, plus every country can have 2-3 entries if they want, what harm is that? Times would range from 2-4 hours for everyone to complete. This is not a problem for even small-town marathons to handle this volume. The symbolism of having a country's best athlete in the competition is especially profound for smaller, non-powerhouse countries, even if they have no chance of medalling. It also gives unknowns a chance for a breakthrough on the world stage. Think Santana performing at Woodstock for comparison.

jeff tallon wrote:

it would be more likely about 80 japanese,and 30 kenyans.There are more good japanese marathoners than kenyans,and japan has more depth.

Nothing like this will ever happen. Kenya and Ethiopia can't afford to send 20-30 runners to the Olympics. Japan might be able to afford to send that many, never anything close to 80. But I doubt any country's Olympic committee would be interested in sending even 10. Why would they? The idea at the Olympics is to get a medal so why would you send people who were beaten by 10 to 30 of their countrymen?

And I think even people who want to see this kind of mass, fast, field at the Olympics because they're hoping for a Lake Biwa type race but even faster will be disappointed. It will be too hot for those kinds of times to happen. at the Olympics. In truth, I don't believe there's much interest in a marathon with the world's fastest 100 or so marathoners racing each other. aside from a segment of posters here. If there was, someone would have done it by now. Such a race would not need to happen in the Olympics. But I think most sports fans won't be at all impressed by how fast someone runs if he finishes outside the top 10.

Japan won't need to send them to the next Olympics. They are already there.

Tom Cochrane. wrote:

Japan won't need to send them to the next Olympics. They are already there.

I was talking about the Olympics in general, not this year's specifically. Even this year there would be some costs, most Japanese don't live in Sapporo, there would be the costs of feeding and housing them. Sure, it would be a minor expense this time but why would incur it to send guys who don't figure to crack the top twenty?

HRE wrote:

[quote]jeff tallon wrote:

In truth, I don't believe there's much interest in a marathon with the world's fastest 100 or so marathoners racing each other.

Then what's the point in any competition, anywhere, ever, in any sport?

Reality check.

When a city wins the bid to host the Olympic Games, they sign a contract to provide "X" amount of housing for athletes and their support (team officials). Let's say that number is 10,000. Then the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allocates the quota for each of the sports. Then it's the responsibility of each of the sports to establish standards that will not exceed the quota. For athletics, the IOC quota must be divided among all of the track & field, and road events.

Here's the quota for each sport:

https://architectureofthegames.net/2020-tokyo/tokyo-2020-athlete-quotas-and-events-in-numbers/

Lake Biwa headlines should have read, "40 Japanese runners break 2:13! Winner runs 2:06!"

Instead, we go with the pillow shoes and the fake times.