i think this is the people who watch all the WR chasing at the front of DL packs -- ignoring the weird or usual suspect selection choices for the filler each meet -- acting like the whole thing is some merit competition run by strict rules to produce the best. the final has never been like some super world championship/oly final with all and only the best. in theory there are rules like it should be, kind of like the alpine skiing circuit championships taking the top 30. but unlike skiing, a bunch of folks who are long past their national and world meets bail. so it never ends up the best in practice. and the normal meets are a hodgepodge of serious and less-so that are skewed by a regular cast and random locals. and so you have an excellent front few pushed by a pacer, and then a mixed salad.
and the final usually ends up more a mixed salad of who accepts than a world final redux. so, so what if they hand out a wild card around the rules, to someone we know is fast, perhaps the best. it's more a show than a world final done strictly by rules. that world final is over.