Worst Olympic final ..... ever?

200m in Sydney -- yuck.

The drug cheat Greek guy wins the slowest 200m final in decades, with MJ and Mo not even in the event because of a mishap at the Trials.

Fermin Cacho's 1500 meter victory. The "Eleven Stupid Men" episode. What a useless final that was.

Billy the Fish wrote:

Which race was the worst Olympic final you have seen? Perhaps it's a race where someone just ran away with it or one that never lived up to all the pre-race hype.

1988 1500 final

Coe wins Easy for a 3peat at the 1500 but the freaking English federation won't allow him entry after a poor trials run. but by the olympics he is running the fastest times in the world Stupid just stupid !

other then that maybe the 1996 Komen exclusion from the 5k he should have been there period !

Braavo Furgi wrote:

Troll...ie:

You're just a rude stupid dude. I won't bother you any longer

I accept your surrender. I confess that I have gained a grudging respect for you over the course of this discussion. It was clear at the outset that you were overmatched, yet you persisted. Despite my newfound admiration for your grit and determination, I cannot allow your more preposterous claims to go unanswered:

Below is the proof that you do not know your history. The 6 mile has been contested at the National Championships up to 1973.

..... Read below and weap...

I am indeed weeping, but my tears are for the young, impressionable readers of this board who will walk away from your post with a misunderstanding of running history. A cursory reading of your list reveals it to be nothing more than another one of your lies. The names are clearly made-up. John Gutknecht? Gutknecht? Yeah, let's start with the word "Gut" and then add some random consonants. Tracy Smith? Tracy is a woman's name. Right, a woman was running 28 minutes for 6 miles back in 1966. And Frank Shorter? In case you didn't know, Frank Shorter was the 1972 Olympic marathon champion. Shorter was a *marathoner*, not a track runner.

I hope you've learned something from this, Furgi. You may be able to go through most of your life getting by on lies and distortions, but if you push it too far you will eventually get taken to school by one of your intellectual superiors. Consider yourself lucky. I won't be so kind next time.

Yeah... that makes sense wrote:

So now that noone ever runs races that arent measured in meters, i guess noones gonna be getting any mile or two mile records are they trollie? are the records from 1898?

Good question. The mile is an exception. In 1922, President Harding issued an executive order which exempted the mile from the national ban on using English units of measurement in track competition. So, with the exception of the 24-year period from 1898 to 1922, there have been regular one-mile races in the United States.

Trollie,

Thank you as usual for brightening my day. To everyone else, now would be a good time to learn that there are more important things in life than flame wars.

88 1500 was weak, but I think the 2000 5k and 2000 800 were worse. 96 was solid all around, 2000 just sucked except for the 1500 and 10k. Athens was amazing. And yes I realize the Olympics have been around longer than 11 years.

asu guy wrote:

1988 1500 final

Coe wins Easy for a 3peat at the 1500 but the freaking English federation won\'t allow him entry after a poor trials run. but by the olympics he is running the fastest times in the world Stupid just stupid !

Please, don\'t make up things, Coe was not running the fastest times in the world by the Olympics. He wasn\'t even one of the fastest 3 brits over 1500 metres that year, let alone in the world.

He wouldn\'t have made it under the American or Kenyan trial system either.

Sir, you are Stupid just stupid !

Trollie: Why don't you stuff a sock or two in your mouth?

McSockpuppet- Obviously you are Scotch or Irish.

Gutknecht is the German spelling for Goodnight, which is what I say to you you baffon!

Hey man don't make fun of my grandpaw's name! You've got a lot of room to talk McSock.

1964

F: 10,000 meters; S/F: 26/11; D: 27 JUN

1. Peter McArdle 30:11.0 MRm

2. John Gutknecht 30:44.6

3. Oscar Moore 30:47.4

4. Frank Pflaging 31:11.0

5. Dick Weeks 31:40.2

6. Norbert Sander 32:12.2

1963

F: 6 miles; D: 21 JUN

1. Peter McArdle (IRL) 28:29.2

2. Ned Sargent 28:51.0

3. John Macy 28:51.4

4. Leslie Hegedus 29:38.0

5. Jerry Smartt 29:39.0

6. Frank Pflaging 29:45.4

1962

F: 6 miles; D: 22 JUN

1. Bruce Kidd (CAN) 28:23.2 MRy

2. Peter McArdle (IRL) 28:34.8 ARy

3. John Gutknecht 28:39.8

4. Doug Kyle (CAN) 28:44.0

5. Ron Larrieu 29:04.0

6. Ireland Sloan 29:05.2

1961

F: 6 miles; D: 24 JUN

1. John Gutknecht 28:52.6 MRy

2. Peter McArdle (IRL) 29:16.8

3. Nick Kitt 29:49.7

4. Denis Moore (AUS) 30:19.6

5. Gar Williams 30:26.0

6. Bill Peck 30:51.0

waste of oxygen wrote:

Fermin Cacho's 1500 meter victory. The "Eleven Stupid Men" episode. What a useless final that was.

Funny, I saw that as a tactical masterclass that brought the home town hero a famous victory, and was the defining moment of the games.

Gotta agree. Cacho was brilliant, and deserved his win

You, sir, are an artist, composing beautiful works on letsrun. Do keep it up.

Excellent post.

And this thinking can also applied to the qualifying rounds for many Olympic jumping and throwing competitions.

However, the worst finals must be, in a way, every one of the 1980 and 1984 Games, due to the political powerplays of that era.

Or how about the running events in Montreal missing Boit, Yifter, Rono, Bayi, Jipcho ? Great runners and many others missing who were then in their prime.

I don't mean to decry any gold medallist but luck has always played it's part.

oops - just remembered that Ben Jipcho had joined the professionals with Jim Ryun !

But the point remains valid.

F*** you. Anyone who hates on Mills is my enemy.

Trollie McSockpuppet wrote:

The 1964 10,000 meter final, which was won by a no-name, one-hit wonder. Ron Clarke deserved to win that race.