justafan wrote:
Thank god for Rudisha. Finally a track athlete (above 400 meters) who actually competes, pushes the limits, and doesn't tolerate the bullshit games that have been plaguing championship mid-D and Dist racing for too long. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, this Womens 1500- with or without the fall - set a new low for embarrassing competition. How does a fringe sport that loses more fans with each passing year ever hope to regain popularity when it allows the competitors in a championship race to effectively not show up for 75% of the race. The IOC should not award any medals for this race - I'm sure there's some arcane rule about maintaining the integrity of sport and competing in good faith. This was a joke. Who cares is she fell - this wasn't even a race.
This is why I suggested in a thread a couple of days ago that they have a 'B' final in middle distance races for the athletes who just miss out on the 'A' final right before the 'A' and let times between the two finals determine the overall placings, like they do in speed skating and the swimming heats. Probably some fast women who ran poor tactical races in the semis would have gone for it in the 'B' final and clocked 4:01 or 4:02, if not faster. That way, you would be guaranteed to get an honest effort out of the athletes in the 'A' final, as the favorites would know that they would have to go faster than the 'B' winners to win the race.
It would still be a strategic race - not a time trial - as there are multiple women in the 'A' final capable of that time, but they would have to work together to ensure that the pace is on target. Another positive from changing the format would be that it would allow twice as many athletes to qualify for a 'final' which would mean more countries represented and, in turn, more coverage of the sport in countries who otherwise might not broadcast a women's 5000m final, if none of their athletes were qualified.
Of course, this being letsrun, I was told to get lost for even considering that the status quo, while usually entertaining, might not be optimal for showcasing our sport at the Olympics. Whatever. I think that changing the sport would be the best thing for distance running. As you said, the crowd went wild for Rudisha, as they do for any GREAT performance. We're not selling the incredible athletic prowess of distance runners by having women running 75+ second laps in an Olympic final. It seems such a waste that athletes are spending their whole lives peaking for these races, in front of the entire World, but not running world-class times at the one time that casual sports fans are watching and could possibly be hooked on the sport.