Who ran the dumbest race ever for a contender in an Olympic middle-distance final?

Steve Scott in LA. He was so fast over the last 400-500m of a mile back then. Taking the lead and pulling the plow so early was really a mistake. Still a mistery to me too. He never ran like that before or after that race. Too bad.

-The Killer

Dumbest race was Dave Bedford's surges in the first half of the Olympic 10000m 1972.

Dumbest runner, Steve Scott.

It's all relative. Remember that Steve Scott was going for the WIN, and the race was starting to develop into a sit-and-kick affair. If that had happened, he knew that he was NOT going to out-kick Coe to the finish line.

Johnny Gray in '84?

In his bio, Scott is painfully aware of his folly. It wasnty just his home country, but his HOME TOWN Olympics, and he gave in to nerves. At least he made the Olympic final *cough* Steve Holman*cough*....

Possibly so wrote:

It's all relative. Remember that Steve Scott was going for the WIN, and the race was starting to develop into a sit-and-kick affair. If that had happened, he knew that he was NOT going to out-kick Coe to the finish line.

I thought it was quick from the get go. ??? Yeah, I gotta go with Scott too. Poor guy just blew it. What was shocking for me was - he and his coach PLANNED this, or am I remembering the book wrong?

Nobody mentioned Webbs 100m sprint yet. :)

Skuj wrote:

I thought it was quick from the get go. ???

No, it wasn't quick until Scott started pushing the pace. The first lap was actually fairly slow. Definitely NOT a 42.98! ;-)

Possibly so wrote:

Skuj wrote:

I thought it was quick from the get go. ???

No, it wasn't quick until Scott started pushing the pace. The first lap was actually fairly slow. Definitely NOT a 42.98! ;-)

O-O

XXX

Wasn't it 58ish though? In 84, I think that was considered "quick" in an Oly Final.

Skuj wrote:

Nobody mentioned Webbs 100m sprint yet. :)

Ooops...OLY Final....got it!

Mountain Mazungot wrote:

In his bio, Scott is painfully aware of his folly. It wasnty just his home country, but his HOME TOWN Olympics, and he gave in to nerves. At least he made the Olympic final *cough* Steve Holman*cough*....

I read his bio too. He didn't "give in to nerves". He had a plan for long before the race and he exectuted it. He just didn't have the gas when it came down to it.

yeah, oly final but still for a wc final, that was pretty dumbi don't know if i would call webb a contender either

Skuj wrote:

Skuj wrote:

Nobody mentioned Webbs 100m sprint yet. :)

Ooops...OLY Final....got it!

If 5,000 meters can be considered a middle-distance race, I'm still mystified by Bekele's apparent strategy against El G in 2004. Even if he really believed that he could outkick the best 1500-meter runner in the world, it's hard to believe that it was the optimal strategy under those conditions.

Avocado's Number wrote:

If 5,000 meters can be considered a middle-distance race, I'm still mystified by Bekele's apparent strategy against El G in 2004. Even if he really believed that he could outkick the best 1500-meter runner in the world, it's hard to believe that it was the optimal strategy under those conditions.

Yeah, that one surprised me. Lap after lap I was realizing more and more that they were GIVING the Gold to El G. I couldn't stop laughing, even with 300m to go. "Watch this..." I think, possibly, Bekele was simply tired that day.

Avocado's Number wrote:

If 5,000 meters can be considered a middle-distance race, I'm still mystified by Bekele's apparent strategy against El G in 2004. Even if he really believed that he could outkick the best 1500-meter runner in the world, it's hard to believe that it was the optimal strategy under those conditions.

Agree - don't know what KB was thinking.

thinking the same thing. its easy when you're a 1500 guy with a distance background going into a championship 5k. usually they don't take out, which gives you a shot. they tried the last 1000 to break the faster guys, too no avail.

Bekele was complacent, was still in 10k mode. its always hard to just up the ante like that, when you're so used to slower paces. makes you respect Pre, Bedford, and Viren alot more. those guys were racers not speedsters.

I always think that if you put Moorcroft, Viren, and Bedford up against Bekele, Haile, and a sub 12:50 Kenyan today, that Moorcroft, Viren, and Bedford would be right there with them until the end.

I think Abeylegesse's run in the 2004 Olympic 5000m was pretty crazy. In the June of 2004 she had ran a WR 14:24 beating Dibaba by 6 seconds, but in the Olympic final she ran a mad third kilometre and blew up eventually fading to finish 12th.

Morceli in '92 because he was undoubtedly the best runner in the field and allowed the race to go the only way he could have lost. Scott in '84 wasn't in top form and wasn't going to win no matter what he did. Coghlan might have gotten a medal in '76 if he ran differently but probably not the win. Morceli gave away the gold. He's lucky that El G fell in '96.

Skuj wrote:

Wasn't it 58ish though? In 84, I think that was considered "quick" in an Oly Final.

Now you're talking about two entirely different animals. There is a big difference between a race that is perceived to be "quick from the get go" (as you said earlier) and another race that is labeled as quick for an Olympics Final.

Even back in '84, running the first lap of a 1500m in the equivalent of a 59-second quarter-mile could not be considered "quick," especially when you have a pair of 3:47 mile PRs in the field.

The bottom line is that it was developing into a comfortably slow and tactical race until Scott charged to the front.

yup wrote:

Bekele was complacent, was still in 10k mode. its always hard to just up the ante like that, when you're so used to slower paces. makes you respect Pre, Bedford, and Viren alot more. those guys were racers not speedsters.

I always think that if you put Moorcroft, Viren, and Bedford up against Bekele, Haile, and a sub 12:50 Kenyan today, that Moorcroft, Viren, and Bedford would be right there with them until the end.

Bekele isn't a racer? I suppose he time-trialed all those world x-c champs with pacers? I suppose he time-trialed the 10k in the WC's? Your labeling someone a speedster and not a racer because he got outkicked in a 5k by the greatest 1500m runner of all time?