He's the Rodney Dangerfield of distance running. Within the past week, I've read the Jos ponder if he is still relevant (I'll concede that you gave him props for his fastest season opener for 5000m) and implied in a certain thread that if Tegenkamp can almost medal once, many current American distance runners could have a shot.
So much focus with Matt has been that he hasn't done anything outstanding the last couple years, which is true. However, he's been battling constant injuries. Perhaps he also lost some of the fire in his training after his successes in 2007 and 2008. However, I think people often overlook how good he was at that point. His 8:07 and 13:04 was the first sign that we were finally going to get an American born athlete under 13 again. And perhaps more importantly, he could close WELL. If he'd just leaned his big ginger head a little in 2007, he'd have a bronze medal.
I hope he still has the fire and the motivation to get back to where he was. He's not too old and I think his finish makes him a better chance at a medal than anyone distance runner we have, save Lagat, if the fitness is there.