Why did El G fall in Atlanta?

Morceli hits his own leg with his foot, which causes the foot to bounce out a ways. I'm guessing he was just getting tired and brought the foot up too close to his leg and then stumbled over his own legs. I've done it before and I'm sure not even pro runners are immune to being human.

Watching that clip at the very end, when they pan in from the side view...

It is amazing how mechanical El G's stride really is. It is almost like he is a puppet or something.

Thanks for the vid, I had not seen it that close prior.

Great video, it certainly wasn't intentional. You see Morceli's legs clip each other and then his right leg go out a little right into the path of El G.

I always thought Morceli would've won even without the fall, but seeing how relaxed El G looked and how quickly he moved on that home stretch, he looks like he would've given Morceli a run for his money.

In 1996 though Morceli was considered the best 1500 man ever (by many) and wanted this win desperately after his own disappointment in Barcelona and El G wasn't yet the legend he is now.

when el g moves up into second at the beginning of the homestretch, he gets right up on morceli's ass, on the right side. he got too close to him, which caused him to fall less than 100m later. bad decision. so, even if he could have physically beaten morceli, he didn't deserve to, as the gold medal usuallly goes to the fastest and/or smartest racer (depending on the pace).

sj quik wrote:

when el g moves up into second at the beginning of the homestretch, he gets right up on morceli's ass, on the right side. he got too close to him, which caused him to fall less than 100m later. bad decision. so, even if he could have physically beaten morceli, he didn't deserve to, as the gold medal usuallly goes to the fastest and/or smartest racer (depending on the pace).

No it wasn't El G's fault and he wasn't too close. They didn't even touch. It wasn't until Morceli's right leg kicks out so far to the right that problems start happening. It's clear from the video that El G was not the cause of Morceli's foot kicking out. So it was either Cacho or Morceli himself.

ElG was running right up Morceli's ass, so yeah it is his own fault. Morceli's foot does go out a little bit but it is slight. ElG was actually accerlating while behind Morceli, probably expecting Morceli to accelarate as much too. It was just boneheaded of ELG really. if you have to place blame, it's ElG for not watching himself. You can't trip someone from behind when you can't even see them. Great recovery from Cacho though.

it was morceli himself. watch the video in slow motion and you can see morceli's right foot catch his own left calf as he starts bringing his foot forward. he loses his balance and has to stick his right foot out to catch himself.

rockville management wrote:

Morceli's foot does go out a little bit but it is slight.

Are you smoking crack?

I can sell you some good stuff.

El G did nothing wrong. have any of you people ever raced in a real race? People are all over each other, throwing elbows and the like. It is part of the sport.

Slight? He flat out steps right on top of El G, it is far from slight.

Watch the video again.

hansen wrote:

it was morceli himself. watch the video in slow motion and you can see morceli's right foot catch his own left calf as he starts bringing his foot forward. he loses his balance and has to stick his right foot out to catch himself.

Yes, exactly. Only question is whether El G nudged Morceli's leg as it came through, causing him to brush the calf. Doesn't look like it though.

umm how the hell do you step on someone when you are in front of them??? and furthermore, you watch the damn video again, it's ElG that steps on MOrceli!!!!

El G watched too many Joe Falcon tapes

El G stepped on Morceli's heel. NBC's tape from the '96 olympics shows it clearly. That is what caused him to fall. Morceli's foot kicked out because his heal was stepped on, but what actually caused El G to fall was himself stepping on Morceli's heel.

Yeah, El G stepped on Morceli's heel or calf. Morceli's legs hit each other and he may have stuck his right foot out a little but it was nobody's fault, things like this do happen. It stinks it happened in such a big race but you can't assign blame to anyone in this case. El G went on a tear after this race so the motivation from it probably inspired him. There was a ton of pushing in the first half of this race as well. A fall is more likely to happen off a slow pace like this one than if they were running hard from the gun.

ElG clearly steps on Morceli's heel. Do you guys watch the slow motion side shot and listen to the Announcers?

I forgot Bile made the final that year. Kind of neat seeing a guy who raced Coe also race El G. People talk as if they are from vastly different eras when they speak of hypothetical races between the two.

rockville management wrote:

Morceli's foot does go out a little bit but it is slight.

Sorry this part is just plain wrong. I just watched this thing about 30 times. Morceli's foot goes WAY out. A couple of feet out into the middle of El G's stride. And no matter how many times I look at it, I don't see El G's foot hitting Morceli or even touching him.

you see Morceli's foot go WAY out but you don't see El G step on Morceli's heel? Are you watching the slow mo replay? It's pretty clear.

I thought at the time that Morceli tripped El G. I was amazed that no complaint was lodge - I haven't watched it for years though.

ambassador orange wrote:

you see Morceli's foot go WAY out but you don't see El G step on Morceli's heel? Are you watching the slow mo replay? It's pretty clear.

In discussing this, you must make it clear whether you are referring to A) Speculation on whether El G hit Morceli's foot on Morceli’s back stride, thus causing Morceli’s foot to hit his calf, or are you referring to B) the undisputable fact that El G stepped on Morceli's calf/leg/foot causing El G to fall. These are two separate events and posters are not making it clear which one they are talking about.

People talk about how El G would have won if he hadn't tripped, but I think Cacho would have had a great chance as well. The trip did not just take El G out, but it royally f*cked up the momentum of everyone behind him. Morceli looked back, saw this, and rapidly accelerated so that by the time the other runners got their feet back under them, he was 10 meters ahead and building momentum.