Olympic 1500m Potential Finalists

A few guys are going to crawl out of the woodwork, as they do at every OG. Ethiopians generally don't seem to make too much of an impact below 3k. Above 3k, that's another story of course. I suspect if track were as popular in the US and Europe as it is in East Africa and part of N. Africa, Europeans would dominate the 800 and 1500 by as large, if not larger, numbers of top competitors as the Africans do in the 5k and 10k.

Good talley.

There will be more qualifyers and they certainly will go 3 rounds.

Remember last year they ran the first round to eliminate 2 or 3 people before having a semis and then a final.

That list of Kenyans is what makes the "A" standard difficult for the rest of the World.

I think this also shows that the 1500 is more of a scientific event. Scientific in the aspect that a more sceintific approach must be taken to reach such fast times, as the "A" Standard. An African can't just crawl out of his hut and bust out a 3:34 as much as he can enter a 10,000m race and run 28-minutes.

I haven't put together the 800m list, but perhaps that will have even fewer "A" Standard Kenyans.

Here are the 800m runners with "A" Standards-

3 Kenyans: Bungei, Mutua, Kimutai, Koech, Wachira, Rotich, Yiampoy, Chirchir, Kemboi, Kimwetich, Rotich, Kamel, Lelei, Kipchirchir, Kabara, Lagat (16)

3 South Africans- Mulaudzi, Sepeng, Davidson, Botha (4)

1 Dane: Kipketer (1)

2 Russians: Borazkovskiy, Bogdanov (2)

3 Frenchmen: Baala, Lacasse, Aissat, Lomba, Chouki (5)

1 Dutchman: Som (1)

2 Swiss: Bucher, Dirche (2)

3 Americans: Krummenacker, Robinson, Woodward, Peterson (4)

3 Spaniards: Reina, Olmedo, Higuero (3)

1 Algierian: Said-Guerni (1)

2 Belgians: Jansen, Omey (2)

1 Italian: Longo (1)

2 Canadians: Tadili, Reed (2)

1 Senegalese: Wagne (1)

3 Moroccans: Laalou, Tighazouine, Chehibi (3)

2 Brits: McIlroy, Speaight (2)

1 Brazilian: dos Santos (1)

1 German: Herms (1)

1 Ukrainian: Heshko (1)

2 Burundians: Hatungimana, Nduwimana (2)

1 Portuguese: Silva (1)

1 Ethiopian: Alemu (1)

1 Aussie: McCarthy (1)

1 Tanzanian: Mwera (1)

That's 42 potential entrants so far. Looks like they might need to tighten up this standard. 1:46.00 is a little soft on the World scale, in my opinion. Perhaps 1:45.4 or so. Anyhow, once again, Kenya is King.

Interesting stat on how many guys have "A" qualifiers in both the 800 and 1500: Silva, Lagat, Krummenacker, Heshko, etc. Not many.

How many years has Laban Rotich been running at a high leval. It seems like forever, espically for a guy who weighs only like 95 lbs.

Laban Rotich is insane, he's been around for a long time, that's insane, it's pretty cool. He's 35 years old and has been world class since atleast 1995, ala El G and Geb, Tergat and stuff, not a Kenyan who shows up for a few years at the top and then gets slower

http://tilastopaja.com/db/atm.asp?ID=25634

go to that site and type in william tanui, he's old and fast, although slowing

Add two NZers to that list: Nick Willis and Adrian Blincoe!

Cant go forgetting those two fellas!

For 800m runners, Dirche is Swedish not sviss as stated in the post above.

Whatever happened to Andre Bucher(sp)?

"An African can't just crawl out of his hut and bust out a 3:34 as much as he can enter a 10,000m race and run 28-minutes. "

Africans typically wouldn't crawl when leaving home. Also, the ones that run 28 minutes do so as the result of training, not "natural" talent.

Remember....there will be more entrants because of countries that meet the 'B' standard (which means they can only send one athlete)