Update on Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman Dropping Out of Olympic Marathon

Rather than bust on Hall and Abdi (disappointed yes, but who is anyone to question thier motivation or level of injury), I was thrilled to see Meb do so well.

Meb's the Man!

"calling someone crazy and stupid for certain religious beliefs makes YOU look crazy and stupid."

So, let me get this straight. If I call someone who likes to play in heavy traffic crazy and stupid, this automatically makes me look crazy and stupid, and to the exact same degree?

This is a fine example of false equivocation. Some ideas are simply more deserving of criticism than others, even if it may seem mean to rip on these ideas and those who hold them. It is inarguable that believing in things for which there exists no evidence (and lots of counter-evidence) is far crazier and dumber than calling those ideas into question, however harshly. So while it's noble of you to give Mr. Hall the right to his beliefs (which distancing yourself from same), your comment above is senseless beyond measure.

another banned poster wrote:

tractormom wrote:

I was taught that Sunday is the 7th day---

Eric Liddell (of Chariots of Fire fame) DNS'd the 100 because it was on a Sunday.

Walter (of The Big Lebowski fame) didn't ****** roll on Shabbos.

Jonathan Edwards famously refused to compete on a Sunday until he saw the schedule for the 1993 World Championships and conveniently decided that God had given him a gift for a reason.

He won.

However, he has since seen the light and renounced his faith.

Hall's preaching is not atypical for the bible thumping christian athlete. God is responsible for their natural talent, but he had nothign to do with the hamstring...that was just "fate" or "bad luck". God is responsible for good performaces, "I want to thank jesus my savior (bless myself 3 times) for this victory today" Jesus is never mentioned when they DNF or come in DFL.

When was the last time you saw an athlete flat on the track with a bent hurdle up his ass blessing himself and thanking yaweh? never. But you can't watch a damn race these days without some overt finishline god worshipping celebration.

I thought Meb was going to poke a hole in his forehead he blessed himself so often after the marathon. And the Ethiopian chick who flashed her tits to the whole world in her mad scramble to get that holy picture out of her bra after the 10,000 was comedy at its absolute best!...THANK YOU JESUS FOR SITTING BETWEEN MY SWEATY JUGS FOR 25 LAPS! YOU GAVE ME STRENGTH!!!

Shoebacca, you nailed it. Take the 4th, 5th or 6th place people from the Trials in these cases.

Desi had been injured for sometime and should not have gone to London. Yea, they say they worked hard, well so did I back in day.

Same with Hall and Abdi, I blame the USOC or USTFF or whomever. I don't live too far from the Hansons Track Club (home for Desi) so the next time I see one of the Hansons from Desi's track club, I will ask bluntly about who comes first, your runner or your country?

Sounds like the USA need to have some strict and firm rules in place. There should be a window of go or no go and then the alternates should be able enough to at run and finish the race. I don't think a 2:14 or 2:15 male marathoner would not get too far out of shape and be ready in the case of need.

.

Oh please. You'd put yourself before your country every single time. Handons are no different.

Serious For Once wrote:

DHB wrote:

The disdain for Hall's faith is both ugly and intolerant.

My problem isn't with Hall's religion, it's with his arrogant and crazy notion that God is his coach and speaks to him. I despise these holy rollers that think they are chosen by God and are therefore better than others. I also loved the pre-race interview when Hall described himself as "amazing." Hall may have the fastest American time in history, but he's certainly not the best American marathoner. That would be Meb.

First of all Meb isn't in the top three of American marathoners of all time. 2nd Meb promoting his book in interviews is just as bad as anything Hall did. Third Meb's book is very preachy and religious and he's NOT humble. He's always telling us how great he is.

Meb's times are simply mediocre.

Lastly. Hall's religion affects you How???? God's his "coach". So what?

ranbarts2 wrote:

Same with Hall and Abdi, I blame the USOC or USTFF or whomever. I don't live too far from the Hansons Track Club (home for Desi) so the next time I see one of the Hansons from Desi's track club, I will ask bluntly about who comes first, your runner or your country?

Cool. What's that going to accomplish?

Days shabobooboo wrote:

Serious For Once wrote:

My problem isn't with Hall's religion, it's with his arrogant and crazy notion that God is his coach and speaks to him. I despise these holy rollers that think they are chosen by God and are therefore better than others. I also loved the pre-race interview when Hall described himself as "amazing." Hall may have the fastest American time in history, but he's certainly not the best American marathoner. That would be Meb.

First of all Meb isn't in the top three of American marathoners of all time. 2nd Meb promoting his book in interviews is just as bad as anything Hall did. Third Meb's book is very preachy and religious and he's NOT humble. He's always telling us how great he is.

Meb's times are simply mediocre.

Lastly. Hall's religion affects you How???? God's his "coach". So what?

Times are secondary to championships and major wins.

Shorter is by far the best US marathoner ever.

Even though Meb has never run the fast one his 04 and 08 Oly finishes, 09 NYC win, and Trials win this year vault him near the top. With all the Boston and NYC wins Rodgers gets the nod. Maybe Salazar, but bet that AlSal would give up a couple of those NYC/Boston wins for an Olympic medal.

Agnostic Arthur wrote:

And the Ethiopian chick who flashed her tits to the whole world in her mad scramble to get that holy picture out of her bra after the 10,000 was comedy at its absolute best!...THANK YOU JESUS FOR SITTING BETWEEN MY SWEATY JUGS FOR 25 LAPS! YOU GAVE ME STRENGTH!!!

I'm genuinely sorry I missed that. Not that Ethiopian Jesus-freak ti\ts are something I'd go for, but the comedy part sounds kinda worth it.

Days shabobooboo wrote:

Lastly. Hall's religion affects you How???? God's his "coach". So what?

Rush Limbaugh's braindead rantings don't affect me either, but I reserve the right to call them for what they are. As should anyone. Same with Hall's ditto.

Why did you even reply to this thread if we're not supposed to comment on something that doesn't affect us?

Yes, Hall talks plenty about God in probably every interview he ever gives. BUT... the one thing I don't hear from him is criticism of those who don't believe as he does (he seems to have a level of restraint in that regard that some others on this board don't share). Until he starts doing that, he can speak about his faith in God and the role it has in his running as much as he wants. It's his life and he can live it as he sees fit. If I'm not in the mood to hear it, I can simply turn off the channel. Hall doesn't have a history of weaseling out of things, so I'll trust him when he says his hamstring was too injured to continue.

While we are bagging on the two Americans who didn't finish yesterday, we should note that all three Ethiopians dropped out of the race. Who would ever think that would happen?

Side note - I seem to remember Abdi dropping out of XC Nationals because of the extreme cold. Am I remembering that correctly? That's the only time I remember him not finishing a race.

Oh and yes - great job MEB! My favorite runner

ranbarts2 wrote:

I don't live too far from the Hansons Track Club (home for Desi) so the next time I see one of the Hansons from Desi's track club, I will ask bluntly about who comes first, your runner or your country?

THERE WAS NOT A HEALTHY ALTERNATE.

Fact#1 USATF can only name one Alternate

Fact #2 Clara Grandt was the ONLY name submitted.

Fact #3 Clara is currently hurt and unable to run.

Fact #4 USATF can not change the name of the alternate after it has been submitted so no one else could go.

So how did the Hansons or Desiree choose their athlete over their country?

OK< let's move on...nothing to see here...USA mucked up and didn't medal in the Olympic marathon...AGAIN

NFL season's starting up, let's refocus and understand that the general public considers runners nuts to begin with

it has ever been thus

I was sad when I saw Hall had dropped out. But my initial feeling was that he didn't want to finish in 38th place. As for the injury......well, maybe. It looked to me like he couldn't handle the humiliation - and what that would do to his "brand".

Maybe he can come back in New York against a weak, diminished field, but he's never done very well in New York because it's not his kind of course. It's "too hard" for him.

I think most of us had great hopes for Hall but he basically blew it. He blew his natural talents because he's the classic "head case". Great natural (God-given) talent but wasted because of lack of mental discipline and his religious beliefs.

I imagine he might be happy as a preacher, but nobody's going to listen to someone who blew his chances so openly.

What a shame.

Kind of amazing to see how Hall has just slowly gotten worse.

In 2008 at the Trials I thought he would medal in 2012.

Meb is amazing, purely amazing, but does anyone really believe Hall should be losing to someone who is pushing 40? Nope.

I agree with Runnerdave, his mental limitations (and they are limitations) with religion has destroyed his career.

Hall is good for a couple more major marathon pay days where he can run 2:09ish and be the top American, but as for the Olympics I think his 10th place is the best he'll ever do.

One image that sticks in my mind and sums up Ryan Hall is when he was running Boston and was celebrating widely before the finish while another runner was right in front of him.

Instead of pushing on to catch him, he was content.

Uncivil Engineer wrote:

... It is inarguable that believing in things for which there exists no evidence (and lots of counter-evidence) is far crazier and dumber than calling those ideas into question, however harshly.

Really? You have counter-evidence? OK, this I've got to see. What counter-evidence can you point to exactly?

NJ Runner wrote:

H.E. Pennypacker wrote:

Same thing.

Will you stop saying that please. If you're not religious, fine. But calling someone crazy and stupid for certain religious beliefs makes YOU look crazy and stupid. And for the record, I am not a religious person but I respect others' beliefs even if I don't agree with them.

you can't decide to respect BS

it's not up to you be respect my belief in sasquaches

Hall shouldn't have been there. He earned it, but he had no business getting on the line that day after all this thinking he was recovered or claiming he felt good. It's a shame he's too into himself to realize when it's time to step aside rather than risking injury returning so quickly knowing you're still a bit dinged up.

Sad that it has to come to that, props to him for making the team. Boos to him for ruining the team.

You can't make the team, get that hurt and then not take blame when you DNF 10 miles into a 26 mile race.