Women's Olympic Trials live thread

your point shows how little you know about running. i am not picking an american to medal but making the team was the point of todays race. again, what is the latest medal count for your radcliffe?

Even Magda said in her post race interview that she was surprised and confused by Deena's strategy.

No Way Jose wrote:

My point is that Deana is supposed to be the best marathoner we have and yet she sat in the pack running 6 minute miles for more than half of this race. Yeah, she won...but in my humble opinion, it was a fairly unimpressive win. Oh, and I know it's Paula not Paul.

OK Wizz Kid, just what was the object of todays race?

tommyd wrote:

the leader is totally not going to qualify...

Like totally....

A HUGE congrats to Magdelena Lewy-Boulet on an amazing race. She is a true competitor, class-act, and the real deal--what an inspiration!!

Paula not Paul

Deena not Deana

You are too stupid to spell names properly so your input counts for very little.

I suspect that both O'Neill and Dryer pulled out of the marathon when they realized they no longer had a shot at 3rd place. Dryer pulled out between miles 18-19 and O'Neill between miles 21-22. Dryer has already stated she would compete in the 10K at the Olympic track trials if she didn't make the Olympic Team in the marathon. O'Neill probably felt likewise. By stopping after 18-21 miles, both can resume training for the 10K much sooner. And both made the Olympics in the 10K in 2004.

However this year it will be much harder for them to repeat as Olympians in the 10K as the field is stronger than in 2004 with Goucher, Rhines and McGregor perhaps being the 3 favorites at this point. There is also Amy Rudolph and Sara Slattery to contend with.

I hate to piss on the party but when was the last time that Deena gave a perfomance that would indicate putting her name on the shortlist for a medal at the Beijing Olympics?

I guess her 2:19 London marathon in 2006 and her USA national XC championships race in 2007. They were solid efforts. For more than a year now there's been no performace which has convinced me. Today was a great race to follow, sub-2:30 and first place in front of some B-list runners with great human interest stories, but it doesn't scream out medal to me. Kara Goucher could probably have qualified just by going for a long run.

Let's be real: who else is going to be at the Olympics? There are going to be some tough women there - I can think of several off the top of my head that are much more likely to medal than Deena: (1) Noguchi - this woman knows how to peak and is in super condition; (2) Radcliffe - while is likely to suffer in the heat, you can't argue against 2:15 and also her NYC marathon last year shows she is still as tough as; (3) Ndereba - this is another woman who knows how to run championship races - her record is phenomenal - two golds and two silvers in the last four majors just is in a different league than Deena; (4) Zhou is pretty useful, can run well both in the heat (Osaka) and also is pretty fast (London 2007) and will have home crowd advantage; (5) Wami / Adere any other Ethiopian - they are speedy ladies and although produce a few ropey performances from time to time, in the last couple of years they've been more convincing than Deena - I'm thinking Chicago 2006 and Berlin/NYC 2007; (6) Any other Kenyan - perhaps Masai; (7) Reiko Tosa - a good championship performer - doesn't know what pain threshold means - Osaka 2007; (8) Dita Tomescu of bun-hugger fame - perhaps past her peak but I favour her over Deena if she can get back to her Chicago 2006 shape and not screw up her pacing; and (9) Russian no-names are pissing out sub 2:30 performances monthly.

Let's be real - today's performance was fun to watch but mediocre. To put it in perspective - it was equivalent or perhaps slightly inferior to the performances of no-name Hayley Haining and Liz Yelling in London last week - remember the two girls who pissed you all off because the coverage was on them rather than on Ryan Hall? No-one is saying Yelling and Haining will medal - Haining isn't even at the Olympics because Marauchi and Radcliffe are pre-selected.

Deena's one lifeline is if it is boiling hot and Radcliffe/Tomescu Dita/a.n.other take it out hard and then a lot of folk collapse and Deena sits off the pace then picks up the carnage. I don't see history repeating itself.

You heard it here first - no medals for Deena. Well done for Athens in 2004 - it was her finest moment - a gamble which paid off.

I must admit, I agree with Jose to some extent. The pace of the pack was driving me insane today. Deena finished strong but I was a bit shocked that she let Magda get 2 minutes on her.

?!?! wrote:

I must admit, I agree with Jose to some extent. The pace of the pack was driving me insane today. Deena finished strong but I was a bit shocked that she let Magda get 2 minutes on her.

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Maybe she was remembering what happened to Blake Russell in 2004 trials? Either way, she put the hammer down, cut the lead down to 40 seconds before 21 miles, and pulled away before the 23 mile mark. The point of the trials is just to finish in the top 3, and then do your best in the Olympics

Deena was just running hard enough to win. With the Trials being held in April she did not need to run a 2:21 and destroy the field to validate her fitness. She was just cruising and will recover from this a lot more quickly. This was a long run a la Kara Goucher for her. A 2:29 accomplished just as much as a 2:21 for Deena today, and she will bounce back much sooner.

Flyer runner wrote:

Ann Alyanak ran with the RUNOHIO/Second Sole club that won the USATF Club Cross Country Championships last December is Cincinnati. She finished third on the team behind teammates Leigh Daniels and Tara Storage.

I think she is getting Brooks stuff. But I do not know if she is getting any money.

that is her "club", as far as I know, no $$ and she is a coach at U of D. She isn't a full-time runner.

I'm not so sure this Trials course qualifies as a fast one. Yeah, there's only one small hill, but all those hairpin tunes meant people had to slow down and then get revved up again.

Going back to the handicapping of the Olympic marathon above...I don't find too much to disagree with, except that Constantina Tomescu-Dita is pretty much over. She's done.

sorelegs wrote:

I hate to piss on the party but when was the last time that Deena gave a perfomance that would indicate putting her name on the shortlist for a medal at the Beijing Olympics?

Athens 2004 for one. The fact that she's a defending medalist and #1 American puts her on the short list.

No Way Jose wrote:

My point is that Deana is supposed to be the best marathoner we have and yet she sat in the pack running 6 minute miles for more than half of this race. Yeah, she won...but in my humble opinion, it was a fairly unimpressive win. Oh, and I know it's Paula not Paul.

your point shows that you are not too bright.

I hate to have to tell it to you in black and white, but being number 1 American does not put her on the short list. (Think about all those Olympic marathons where there have been no US women to be seen.)

Defending medallist is a bit more interesting - there will be a few eyes on her I suppose. But my point was more that Deena was a great runner from until 2006, who has disappointed a bit in the last two years. It was a great medal to watch - but her tactics were sort of fortunate on the day.

I'm just really surprised people saw today's race and are now saying she might medal. Today's race indicates nothing. It was a million miles away from Hall's trials race, which does indicate someone on the medal short-list.

You're right. Constantina is done. I'm sort of in denial about it because she is one of my sentimental favourites. To have so much talent and screw up so many races! It makes me die.

If Magda hadn't faded on the second half but run a negative split instead, Deena would not have caught her. So it's wrong to say that Deena had the race under control. She also said in the post-race interview that she was starting to panic.

That said, she was obviously always going to make the team which was her back-up goal.

I'm super-impressed by Magda today. That was just courageous as hell what she did. If you take Deena out of the equation she kept widening her lead even as she faded. Her margin in the end was 2:21 to Russell who was dropping the hammer to fight off the pursuers.

I was expecting Magda to make the team, but to do it in such style is fantastic. Respect!

What pissed me off about Deena's race today was that she was talking in interviews about how she was all about the win, and would do whatever it took to win, etc., yet there she was running over half the race at 2:35 pace, while the 'win' that was so important to her was two minutes up the road!

I understand the strategic importance of running as slow as possible to win, but if that is what she intended to do, then she should say so. Tucking in for over half the race before running Magda down at the end was a far cry from the dramatic rhetoric she was spouting the day before.

What Deena did today was kind of a dick move. Magda ran like a champion, and she deserves a lot more respect on the day than Deena in my opinion.

Respect to Tera Moody as well...she had an incredible race, and what a finish!

Cheers