birdbeard wrote:
I assumed he was thinking of Edris as well, although that was WCs and not Olympics, and like you said, he repeated in 2019.
Based on what I have read about Edris, it seems like he is just insanely talented but not very durable. Rounded into form in time two times in a row, and it would be great to see what he could do with some uninterrupted training, but we’ll probably never know and he’ll just be a fun LR trivia Q someday. I agree Jeilan was the bigger upset in hindsight.
I will reiterate that none of these track Gold medalists are FLUKES, certainly including Peter Rono.
As far as Ibrahim Jeilan is concerned, one should remember that he ran 13:06 in 2006 a few days after he officially turned 17. Was he 17? Maybe not BUT he was a stud and Mo Farah was a nobody who was not decorated on the world stage at all at the time with a 6th place in a WC 5000m being his highest finish at a WC or Olympics. As for Jeilan he had won a World Junior Cross Country gold and an Under 20 gold at 10000m. It is true that Farah was coming off a summer with a 12:53 and 26:46 but Jeilan was no joke which he proved by getting silver at the 2013’WC 10000m, losing to Farah by .52 second.