I remember 4 years ago when Anna Pierce was disappointed with her steeple performance at the Olympics she said she never again wanted to look up and see them sprinting and be completely out of the race.
So she switched events and now she is off the team.
Looks like a huge mistake for her.
Foresight could have told you that one also
I'm just surprised she didn't try to get the standard in both so she wouldn't be left off of the team completely like she is now.
It is curious... the US steeple comp is really weak
aHa ha wrote:
It is curious... the US steeple comp is really weak
Curious indeed.
she was ranked #2 in the world in the 800 a few years ago, no?
maybe those days are permanently behind her, but at her prime she was much better on the world stage in the 8/15 than she was was (and probably ever could be) in the steeple.
if she had done the steeple yeah she probably would've made the US team but she would've had basically no shot at doing anything great. if she had made the team in the 15 and rounded into shape well, the sky would have been the limit.
Not as big a mistake as Jenny. She could have won the OG
Yes he can wrote:
Not as big a mistake as Jenny. She could have won the OG
Didn't Jenny Simpson win the 1500m world championship last year? Not the same as Olympic gold, perhaps, but not too shabby.
Neither Pierce, nor Simpson has run the times she used to and so neither would be as good at steeple as in the past, but Simpson has WC gold and an Olympic berth, so it does not matter. You do have to wonder whether they should just go back to whatever worked in their best years. The Olympic 1500m field is not nearly as weak this year as World's ended up being with Uceny and Jamal falling. This year sub 4 ability is required to win, probably even if the pace is very slow.
QTPi wrote:
she was ranked #2 in the world in the 800 a few years ago, no?
maybe those days are permanently behind her, but at her prime she was much better on the world stage in the 8/15 than she was was (and probably ever could be) in the steeple.
if she had done the steeple yeah she probably would've made the US team but she would've had basically no shot at doing anything great. if she had made the team in the 15 and rounded into shape well, the sky would have been the limit.
Jenny and Anna probably would have qualified for steeple. Jenny's best time is 9:12 and I believe Emma ran 9:32 for 1st. So even if Jenny ran 20 seconds slower she still would have qualified. I'm guessing Ann Pierce could have hung in there too.
Frankly I don't think Anna Pierce could make podium or even top 5 in ANY Olympic event but atleast she could have gone to her second Olympics. And I'm assuming last.
It's pretty clear Pierce just doesn't like the steeple. I can see something not liking it.
Observerator wrote:
It's pretty clear Pierce just doesn't like the steeple. I can see something not liking it.
I suspect she is not feeling much love for 1500 at the moment.
[quote]QTPi wrote:
she was ranked #2 in the world in the 800 a few years ago, no?
maybe those days are permanently behind her, but at her prime she was much better on the world stage in the 8/15 than she was was (and probably ever could be) in the steeple.[quote]She was still running the steeple in that year though or at least was coming off years of when she had. I was always afraid that year that she was running 800s and 1500s as a means of developing speed for the steeple and found out she was successful in those events. Then I bet the idea crept into her and her coaches' heads, "If we can do this well in these events off of steeple training imagine how well we'll do when we focus on them."
Change the training that made you successful and then you end up where she is now.
Anna is likely to see her stipend reduced for her failure to make the team and if she had made the team that would have been protected.
I have long said that her problem is training with Morgan Uceny. In the beginning it helped her to get pushed but when Morgan passed her then she couldn't handle things mentally and began to lose her confidence. I have said this a few times and received retorts of how lame that is but as coach for 30 years I can assure you at whatever level that this happens it leaves the formerly more successful athlete struggling with their confidence and racing slower and eventually developing serious doubts in their confidence.