agip wrote:
I would be surprised but not shocked if Al Sal takes a leave of some sort after Poland - he seems to have become unhinged this weekend.
I've also been wondering if something else might be going on with Al. He's always been a tightly-wound guy, and competitive as hell, but he did seem to become unhinged this weekend, in a Captain Queeg kind of way. There are a lot of people who are watching him now, not just in track and field, and maybe Al is melting down a bit under the pressure.
Regarding Lomong, I didn't see anything inappropriate that he did in that race. Of course, Rupp had to run very wide to pass him, but that's because Lomong himself was passing Hill at the same time. And unlike Hill, who had veered sharply and suddenly into lane two to move past Bumbi into the lead a bit earlier, Lomong moved very smoothly past Hill, giving Rupp ample opportunity to move to the third lane as the three of them briefly ran abreast. After Lomong took the lead, he didn't make it easy for Rupp to pass him and grab the rail, but that's obviously not inappropriate.
If Bumbi, Hill, and Lomong had really intended to work in concert specifically to hurt Rupp's chances to win or perhaps even finish in the top two places, they certainly could have done a much better job of it. Instead, they seemed simply to be trying to keep the train moving fast and maintain the lead as long as they could -- first Bumbi, then Hill, then Lomong. If anyone was likely to be hurt by that, it was Lagat, who would have been far too gracious to point that out even if he had lost. (I hasten to add that I don't recall any ungracious remarks by Rupp, who properly praised Lagat's running after the race.)