letsrunaccount#3 wrote:
Sorry can someone explain how they decide the team and why it's not the top 3 in the Trials? I understand that he hasn't gotten the standard yet, but why is that relevant here?
A few years ago there was a swimmer from equatorial guinea who (I'm exaggerating a little) almost drowned at the Olympics, he was in like a 2 minute race and swam 3 minutes if I recall correctly.
To make sure something like this doesn't happen, athletes must have the olympic standard time (3:35) or be in the top 40?? (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that) in the world rankings. This means that smaller countries can't send three runners if they don't have three runners who are Olympic-caliber.
Because the US (usually) has at least 3 people under the olympic standard, we have a Trials meet where you must finish in the top three to qualify for the olympics. However, this sometimes creates the interesting dynamic we have now, where somebody in the top 3 doesn't have the standard and is thus on the bubble and has to rely on world rankings to get in (and from what I'm hearing, Hocker's world ranking should be high enough that he will qualify this way).
However, if the athlete who finishes in the top 3 doesn't qualify on world ranking or have the standard, their spot goes to the next guy on the list who does qualify on world ranking / have the olympic standard. In this case, that person is Engels, and that's the situation that they're in here.