SOLINKSKY NEEDS TO SHUT HIS MOUTH

HE IS THE MEN'S VERSION OF SUZY-FAVOR HAMILTON!! WISCONSIN-BRED SNOBBERY. IF IT AIN'T GOING PERFECT, JUST FAKE A FALL!!!

Unregistered whiner wrote:

Knee socks,

totally agree. the compression socks are terrible.

A touching race. Shows what the Olympics are about and all professional running should be treated this way. Have the self-respect to finish.

USA Pride wrote:

...Show me a video of any other world class athlete falling with 800 to go in a race that doesn't mean anything, and then getting up and finishing...

Happy to, if you'll first show me the video of Solinsky falling with 800 to go.

All caps, d-bag comment. you seem to be validating your own snobbiness. Don't be upset that wisconsin has turned out olympians, and that chris actually has a personality unlike your golden boy rupp.

there are legitimate or arguable reasons to pull out of races.. but these ALWAYS involve having a another more race soon that is worth saving for or if the race will actually tire you to such an extent you can't race again for a while i.e Marathon..

Solinksy had 1 race in Europe before Daegu, and this was it... now he goes back to training?? For what??? to get fitter??

There is probably nothing wrong with his fitness, but if he can't learnt to run trouble free in a pack, or put up with some tussle there is no point coming back to World Champs.. and competitor worth their salt will have seen that all they need to do to the Americans is push them round a bit and they will quit.. you don't actually have to beat them.

both? wrote:

Lighten up Francis wrote:

They both realized the race was about to drop them, and they both took an opportunity to drop when they easily could have avoided the situation or continued after the contact.

Take a look at the post-race picture of Rupp. The guy clearly got pretty banged up in the fall. If he was just looking for an excuse to stop running, why would he do that to himself in the process?

After the race u can see rupp limping away after he congratulated mo. Continuing wasn't an option for him that day.

I'm glad Solinsky owned up to erring on not finishing the race. My concern is that if Solinsky did indeed recognize that there was no point to getting back in the race, that implies he made an inventory of pro's and con's and calculated it was not worth it.

What kind of thinking is that? Why should it even be in his mindset? He should be singularly focused on the race at hand, running and competing to the best of his abilities. It's a question of basic competitive instincts, not logical reasoning.

As a former Badger and huge Solinsky fan, I hope that he has gotten the message, and returns with some fire in his belly.

It was an opportunity to become a playground legend. Who will be the spark that ignites the USA team?!

Great race, but the fall is in part 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8AwxlXPK3c&feature=relatedI'll raise you one...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IComcntFffU

Girl FTW wrote:

I'll Raise you both and in the proper context the 1990 Commonwealth Games 5000m Mens Final. Watch closely at the 800m mark.

PS: In Australia back then, there was a saying among the distance runners that "cyclists had balls..." and we could see from the performances at the Tour this year in the Pyrenes and Alps that this is still true today!!

Mani wrote:

lucKY2b wrote:

I'm glad Solinsky owned up to erring on not finishing the race. My concern is that if Solinsky did indeed recognize that there was no point to getting back in the race, that implies he made an inventory of pro's and con's and calculated it was not worth it.

What kind of thinking is that? Why should it even be in his mindset? He should be singularly focused on the race at hand, running and competing to the best of his abilities. It's a question of basic competitive instincts, not logical reasoning.

As a former Badger and huge Solinsky fan, I hope that he has gotten the message, and returns with some fire in his belly.

To be fair he had maybe a second to make a decision, and that's not much time. My guess is that part of his arm.throwing was realizing that he should have jumped back in it but the moment was gone.

Granted he should have been programmed to jump right back in, but it's a lot easier for us to say than do. If this pattern were to continue my tune would certainly change.

I will agree that he may want to button it up now and let the legs do the talking. Its hard to imagine pre taking this route, makes me wonder what he would have done.

FogRunner wrote:

It was an opportunity to become a playground legend. Who will be the spark that ignites the USA team?!

I think rupp medals in the 10k and fires Chris up. The 10k. Has more time to sort people out and let rupp run more clear in the 2nd half. I don't know how many guys out there are ready to close the last 2k of a 10k better than rupp this year. A small handful have a shot, but that means so does rupp.

Is farah doubling?

The point is, not finishing a race should never be an option.

Once you start DNFing then when the going gets tough in a race, you drop out.

Shows no mental toughness to DNF.

I cannot believe how many people are justifying solinsky's DNF! He clearly lacks in the self confidence department - how does a guy weighing in at the low 70kg mark get bumped off a track by a guy weighing (at best) just under 60kgs?

That is absolutely ridiculous, even if he though the win was out of the question, he should've gotten back into the race out of pride - mottram circa 2006? got absolutely flattened in the 1500m, still attempted to get back in the race, was quoted as saying he still thought 'had a chance to get back into it' and even upon realising he didn't - finished the race anyway!

Solinsky would clearly benefit from a buster-esque mullet and a quick lesson from craig in regards to growing a set (as mottram pointed out in his Pre interview, it's an essential part of racing).

Under Ultra wrote:

HE IS THE MEN'S VERSION OF SUZY-FAVOR HAMILTON!! WISCONSIN-BRED SNOBBERY. IF IT AIN'T GOING PERFECT, JUST FAKE A FALL!!!

I know you are trolling, but have you ever met anybody from Wisconsin? It's not exactly Westchester County, NY.

Clear sight wrote:

To be fair he had maybe a second to make a decision, and that's not much time.

But that's my whole point, there should be nothing to decide. Basic instincts should be to get pissed, get back on the track and go...you're in a race damn it! Now if you've been seriously hurt, that's another matter, but even then, I've seen guys get back on the track after a wipe-out and go about 10-20 paces before finally accepting that it ain't happening.

This is not an "easy for you to judge, you weren't there" situation. It's fundamental racing demeanor that transcends ability level. One really has to wonder what the mindset is.

Eh?

Viren fell in the 10k and set the world record, the person that fell with him gave up after a few more laps.

Frank Shorter was the catalyst

At the risk of committing LRC messageboard sacrilege, I'm going to take the middle ground here...

It is cause for concern. I think the guy talking about "basic competitive instincts" or whatever has it right. If he was that close to giving up, what must his mindset have been like at the time? I'm guessing not that great. If he were that driven to compete, run fast, and maybe even win at that point of the race, it seems more likely he would have jumped back on the track immediately, without any logical thought, and continued to compete even more intensely than before. We can't know what he was thinking at the time, but it's quite possible he was thinking negatively before he quit.

On the other hand, he did have to make the decision VERY quickly. Everyone here should know what it's like to be in a race - it's a whirlwind, time takes on different properties, your body and mind are in the eye of a hurricane. It's easy for me to imagine how his decision making, when he was certainly desperately focused on staying in a groove as anyone is going to be near the end of a serious race and suddenly found himself off the track, was compromised. He explicitly stated that it was a mistake, and I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he truly believes that, understands why, and is indeed going to return to the track with more fire than ever.

It was a lame move, to be sure. It's not want you want to see for him. Seasons and even entire careers can be defined by how we react to physical and mental challenges in these important races. I know that the times I didn't dig deep and give my best in races haunted me for a long time and certainly affected my later performances, but they are not obstacles that can't be overcome. As I said, Solinsky has given us plenty of gutsy, balls-out performances over the years, so I'm going to wait before labeling him a quitter.

Maxx CC wrote:

Anyone remember blood doping?

Back when white distance runners were evil and actually capable of cheating. I thought that was just a fairy tale.