El Bakkali: is this a cultural thing?

I'm not gonna fault him for it because it was a genuine reaction and he was a good sport in congratulating Beamish. I wasn't it expecting it though. I suppose he had a gold or bust mentality and that's why he was so torn up.

I’m sorry I prefer when the athletes actually care. He looked like he had that going to the final barrier. Didn’t go over super smooth and looked like he thought he had it with 20m to go. When Beamish passed him, you could see in his face that he put in that extra 2%.

It was a weird race though. He sat so far back just kind of watching Germa for like 2k. Like he wasn’t really worried about the rest of the field.

Apparently, you've never been in a position that's anywhere close to winning a championship or a big race because you'd otherwise know the what the emotional experience is like - win or lose. In fact, I'm not sure you've ever actually watched a championship of any kind before, because tears are quite common.

I remember El G saying that he felt obligated to his country to win Gold. Not sure if there is a bit of extra pressure there to perform for the honor of the country, but I think it's a big stretch to call his tears "bad sportsmanship." He congratulated Beamish warmly within a minute of the finish. He was understandably upset with himself for underestimating his competition and not sprinting to the finish.

I was kind of blown away that El B and Girma were leaving it so late in a slow race when surely they were aware of Beamish's kick- he has enough highlight reel 1500/mile wins at the last minute that I was fully expecting him to win with 200m to go.

No problem with crying, but he did was a bit more exaggerated than what you typically see. and then the punching self in the head.

It's interesting how people show emotion differently. Some people rage. Some people cry. Some people withdraw. I don't judge harshly. I'm not the best loser myself. It's something I'm conscientious about trying to improve in myself. I'm honestly impressed with the sportsmanship that most are able to show.

Live on your Islands and Your Dream/Nightmare of years and years of domination...

Pfffffft, stop.

He is normal person that show his emotions and he showed thing like this a lot in the past like the year where he failed to get the WR of 2000m SC.

But the guy that speak about "Culture" is quite insolent ... not surprising he get banned a lot of times.

El B. and his coach were not cautious this time.

Even last year, El B used Tindouft to get a fast pace.

But I think this year he was confronted to the egoism of the young El Yazidi who was thinking big.

A champion with 2 Olympic gold medals and 5 World Championship medals.

You don't get to that level without putting your absolute everything into it.

What are you talking about? Dramatic crying and flopping about on the ground is not normal- hence the question regarding Moroccan or French or football culture. Are you that grumpy Passant guy?

It’s waaaaaaay overly dramatic.

I’m embarrassed for OP

After rewatching the race, I think some of his frustration was that he felt he eased up thinking he had won the race and was caught off guard by Geordie. When Geordie pulled close to him it looks like he had another gear but it was too late.

His kicking himself because he didn't give 100% last 100 meters, it looked like he slowed down and started to coast. I agree with you, not necessary. I'm glad Beamish won.

100% agree, I'll just add something from the LR article: He was chasing an unprecedented 5 golds in 5 years, and 5 golds would tie him for the most in steeple history. The 5 golds in 5 years was only possible because of Covid, so may not happen again, and I'm sure after 4 golds, he wants to be the GOAT of the event. And he was inches away from succeeding.

But he congratulated Beamish, even while he was still crying, and by the time they were taking pictures in the water pit, he looked very happy. I think the true test of sportsmanship is whether you hold to it when it's the hardest, and for maintaining it as someone who hasn't lost in 5 years, and is crying on TV and in a stadium in front of tens of thousands, I respect him a lot for it.

Wait, why wasn't El Bakkali DQed for El Bowing Michalski in the backstretch?